Thatcherism and the Reshaping of Policy Consensus in Britain (1979–1997)

In this chapter we explore the temporal ordering of policy change in Britain from 1979 until 1997. We explore this with regards to economic policy, housing policy, social security policy, education and schooling policies, and the criminal justice system. We show that there was a cascading radicalism during this period, during which each of the policy areas we refer to above became the target for radical right (that is Thatcherite) reform. This chapter, therefore, as well as highlighting the changes which took place, also explains why it was that criminal justice policies were not radically reformed until the early 1990s, by which time Thatcher had left office.