ABSTRACT
Mrs. Thatcher’s relations with her Chancellors were crucial to economic policy. The priority that the Government gave to the reduction of inflation caused an unnecessary loss of economic growth. The new radical policies designed to stem relative decline by means of higher growth resulted at first not just in relative but in absolute decline. The Government’s record was thus, like the curate’s egg, good only in parts. It was nothing like the brilliant success that Mrs. Thatcher and her entourage persuaded many voters she had achieved. There were seven clearly successful policy outcomes: labour productivity, business profitability, economic independence for the individual, trade-union reform, home ownership, public debt management and tax cuts. The system of cash planning acted as a curb on public expenditure. The reform of corporate taxation shifted the balance against manufacturing and in favour of services investment. Economic freedom was increased by privatization, particularly that of industrial companies in competitive markets.
