From about 1951-1979 British politics had what is called the "Post-War consensus". After the shock defeat of 1945 the Conservative party moved itself to largely align with Labour on key issues. Both parties believed in the welfare state - that Britain needed to offer generous welfare programmes to look after its citizens from the cradle to the grave. Both agreed that key industries should be nationalised and that the state should be the main economic actor, and both agreed to a policy of corporatism. Where the trade unions led by the TUC and private businesses led by the CBI would play an active role within the government when it came to economic policies and that new policies needed to be agreed upon by the "tripartite" of the government, CBI, and TUC

By 1969 however the British economy was seen as sluggish, and unemployment was growing. There was also the issue of frequent union strikes and industrial disputes. Labour floated the idea of introducing some union controls but faced significant opposition. the Conservative party under Edward Heath won the 1970 election and begin institution some what would now be seen as Thatcherite reforms with increased privatisation and new controls over trade unions to try and prevent industrial action and to bring trade unions under legal control. Heath also pushed for the UK to join the European Union, seeing the EU as a force of modernisation which would aid the British economy. But Heath eventually lost faith in his reforms and committed a series of U-turns. The government used public money to bail out rolls-royce after declaring it would let "lame duck" companies fail, after the 1973 world oil crisis and recession Heath reinstituted price controls and income policies (where the government would decide how much people are paid basically). Heath also struggled to find a solution for the Troubles in Northern Ireland trying to secretly negotiate a settlement with the IRA which leaked and alienated protestants.

With a wave of industrial unrests (most notably leading to the 3 day week when miners went on strike and there wasn't enough electricity for people to work more than 3 days), rising unemployment and inflation Heath called for an early election to ask who ran the country: the government or the unions. The result was nobody as the result was a hung parliament, there was a second election in 1974 without a clear winner and Labour formed a minority government.

The Labour government agreed to a policy with the unions of no wage rises above 5% in return for a rent freeze which was quite remarkable and from 1974-78 real wages dropped by 13%. With the economy improving as the world recession ended however unions felt frustrated with these policies and began to break their agreement with the government, most notably with workers for Ford demanding a 30% wage rise. There was another series of strikes which coincided with a storm which hit the UK and resulted in a particularly cold winter in 1978. Graves went undug and corpses lay around as grave diggers went on strike, rubbish piled up in the streets as binmen struck and the media particularly latched onto a call for doctors to strike which saw staff walking out of childrens hospitals en-mass, leaving the sick children alone inside. Prime Minister James Callaghan was on holiday in Spain and gave a press conference when he returned. Callaghan didn't have much knowledge of what had been happening while he was away and mocked the idea of Britain being in chaos when asked about it by a journalist.

Many Conservatives were enamoured by Heath's early government and were frustrated with his backtracking which some attirbute to the later embrace of Thatcher's authoritarian style. The Conservatives saw the wave of strikes, and inability to find a solution to the Troubles as the signs of a weak and ineffective government. Heath had by this point lost 3 elections and his seemingly arrogant demeanour had turned many Conservative politicians against him. Margaret Thatcher decided she'd call a leadership election against Heath with most of the most influential Conservative MPs remaining loyal to Heath. Thatcher shockingly won the first round of voting and seeing as she'd been the politician brave enough to challenge Heath she was given the support of most of the party.

In 1979 82% of the public thought trade unions were too powerful, 17% wanted more nationalisation. Thatcher won the 1979 election and immediately reduced the powers of trade unions, unleashed a series of privatisations, aggressively cut taxes, deregulated industries, and tried to withdraw the powers of the state over the economy, government owned housing was put up for sale and aspects of the welfare state were left to "wither on the vine" with the government refusing to give more money for welfare, whilst instituting harsher standards on those applying for welfare.

The Falklands war along with the 84-85 miners strike (when miners went on strike over mine closures for almost a year, but eventually returned to work when the union ran out of money to pay them and workers were unable to pay their bills with the government refusing to meet their demands) set Thatcher apart. The government of the UK had been seen previously as incredibly weak and controlled by the trade unions, whilst Prime Ministers were "first amongst equals" who weren't especially more important than other members of government. Thatcher increased the importance of being Prime Mibnister by taking a more active role over government whilst also been seen as standing up to Argentina and the trade unions.

But the withdrawal of the state from the economy also meant many unprofitable industries or sectors were forced to close. Thatcher is most often blamed for the collapse of Britain's coal industries but this isn't particularly true, coal mines were already closing rapidly and more closed before Thatcher than afterwards. But many areas in the North and Wales saw heavy industries and manufacturing disappear, while being replaced with nothing. The South and in particular London saw an unprecidented boom in the financial industry due to deregulation. Whilst the UK's economy did improve overall growth was unequal accross the entire country and many came away with different impressions of how competently the government was running the economy.

Thatcher also reestablished Britain's role in the world which had been unclear after the second World War. Britain was initially a 3rd super power in the cold war, then a member of NATO and reluctant ally of the US who refused to enter Vietnam, then Heath saught to bring the UK closer to Europe and saw its future there. Thatcher was never anti-European Union whilst in office but did criticise it and push for a rebate which reduced the amount of money the UK gave to the EU. She was also close to Reagan and pushed the UK into the role of Americas closest European ally whilst being separate from the rest of Europe. Many eurosceptics praise this reorientation, many europhiles see Thatcher as legitimising Euroscepticism particularly within the previously pro-eu Conservative party.

The public also never really accepted many of the key ideas of Thatcherism. As a whole people were still in favour of some nationalisation, wanted strong-ish trade unions, wanted wealth to be redistributed, thought big business was to powerful, were okay with higher taxes in return for increased funding for social services. But Thatcher and the Conservatives were seen as strong, competent leaders in contrast to a weak and divided Labour party and many had personally seen their living standards improve.

Thatcher's government also introduced legislation stating that homosexual relationships weren't allowed to be taught as normal to children, villanised single mothers, were seen to have worked with the fascist National Front party, and at a Conservative conference (after Thatcher had left as Prime Minister but in a government still seen as Thatcherist) head of welfare Peter Lilley sang about having a "little list of benefits scroungers", single mothers and socialists he'd stop giving welfare money to whilst Conservative politicians and party members laughed. He was compared afterwards to an SS guard and many felt that there was a streak of cruelty within Thatcherist policies summed up by Lilley.

The public still believes that Thatcher is the best Prime Minister Britain has had since the Second World War but some see Thatcher as an authoritarian who cruelly persecuted the poorest and most vulnerable in society, destroyed many communities who relied on manufacturing, and forever broke the Post-War consensus, fundamentally changing the way in which the British government is seen and acts , to others she was a strong leader who remade a weak and failing British state, renewed British confidence in our own country, reestablished Britain's place in the world, and led to an unprecidented economic boom.

sources:

Contemporary British Conservatism - Steve Ludlam

Public Policy Under Thatcher - Lynton J. Robins, Stephen P. Savage

A History of Conservative Politics - John Charmley

The Conservative Party: From Thatcher to Cameron - Tim Bale