Politics class: How the Thatcherites lost their Brexit dream and their party

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Specification:

• AQA Component 3.1.2: The politics of the UK: 3.1.2.3: Political Parties: the origins, ideas and development of the Conservative party and how these have shaped its current policies

• Edexcel Component 1. UK Politics: 2.2: Established Political Parties: The Conservative party: ideas and current policies on the economy, law and order, welfare and foreign policy

Background: what you need to know

This article focuses on the disillusionment of Thatcherite Conservatives, for whom Brexit has failed to deliver the kind of low tax, low regulation economic policy that they hoped for. It argues that to deliver Brexit, the party’s neo-liberals allied with culturally conservative populists, who favoured an economically interventionist approach that is alien to their worldview.

Click the link below to read the article and then answer the questions:

How the Thatcherites lost their Brexit dream and their party

Question in the style of AQA Politics Paper 1

• Explain and analyse three ways in which the modern Conservative party has moved away from the ideas and policies of Thatcherism. [9 marks]

Question in the style of Edexcel Politics Paper 1

• Evaluate the view that the Conservative party has abandoned the ideas and policies of Thatcherism in recent years.

  You must consider this view and the alternative to this view in a balanced way. [30 marks]

  TIP: Remember that you need to define ‘Thatcherism’ before you can begin to answer either question. What does it mean to be ‘Thatcherite’ on the economy, welfare policy, law and order, foreign policy? You need to look for ways in which the party remains Thatcherite, as well as those respects in which it has diverged from Thatcherism.

Graham Goodlad, Portsmouth High School