ABSTRACT
This chapter sets the scene in the years before Thatcher came to power, examining how neoliberal ideas began to gain traction in political discourse during the post-war period. The main focus will be the 1970s and the years the Conservatives spent in opposition. The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), however, was not the only think-tank that became linked with neoliberalism. The Bow Group was founded in 1951 by members of the Conservative Party and although not free of political influence like the IEA, it became an important proponent of the free market. The road from 1945 to 1979 has been portrayed as one where economic liberalism struggled to exert influence in Britain, except for a few marginal think-tanks and eccentric Tory politicians. New leader Margaret Thatcher was sympathetic to the principles of economic liberalism but was not, in public, zealously pro-market at this time.
