ABSTRACT
It might be thought that the business of the Conservative Party is to conserve. One of the main criticisms of Margaret Thatcher has been that she broke with Conservative traditions by leading the Party in dangerous new directions. One of Thatcher’s monetarist gurus, Milton Friedman, asserted – more it has to be admitted on a knowledge of economic theory than of political history – that she is not a true Conservative at all, but a nineteenth-century Liberal.1 Her misleading assertions about Victorian values (see pp. 121 3) might seem to offer support for this interpretation. The Conservative Party, however, has not historically been a party of narrow reaction. It has usually been receptive to new ideas, whether generated from within or outside. Looked at from this perspective, Thatcher’s period in office, however much it shook the country up, hardly represents a betrayal of Conservative values.
