Have the Conservatives changed enough?  

One of the triumphs of Labour spin over the last twenty years has been to caricature Thatcherism. Because they so feared its success, economically and electorally, they set out to associate it with a set of unpleasant characteristics so we would “never go back to it”. Their presentation of Thatcherism was a tissue of lies, but quite successful with some people. Labour sought to endow Thatcherism with five disagreeable features: 1. The economics of boom and bust 2. Belief in or acceptance of great inequalities 3.Run down of manufacturing 4.Intolerance of minorities 5. Cuts in “front line public services” They also attempted to tarnish popular Euroscepticism with these alleged failures, branding the “old” Conservatives as too Eurosceptic, and seeking to associate this mindset with the rest. The truth is, of course,...