Introduction

Thatcherism in 1979 seemed very like the standard Conservative product: tax cuts, promises of a review of the social services to eliminate extravagance and wastage, law and order, curbs on trade unions, reduction in Government intervention and in subsidies-down with nationalisation, up with free enterprise. These were the slogans believed to be election winners in those constituencies where winning and losing mattered. Then, after victory, very large hand-outs followed to those with the highest incomes, while VAT increases cancelled out the tax reliefs at the lower levels.