European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 17, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Daily Magazine prime minister Margaret Thatcher aboard a tank during a visit to British forces stationed in fallin Bostel West Germany. Britons grumble Over Thatcher style by Maureen Johnson associated press prime minister Margaret Thatcher always More respected by britons than liked i antagonizing both her traditional critics an supporters As her right Wing revolution confronts the cherished welfare state. But despite parliamentary rebellions Public weariness with her combative style and polls showing widespread dislike of key aspects of her policies her dominance of her conservative party and the country appears unchallenged. The polls show Why most britons feel they Are better off and most believe that like it or not Thatcher s recipe for a free Enterprise society and ending the dependency culture will improve the Economy in the Long term. However there Are signs of unease within the conservative party about both the Thatcher style and the Radical program she is pursuing in the third five year term she won last year. They re going too fast they re too strident in their tone mrs. Thatcher s personal profile is too High sir John Nott who was her defense Secretary from 1979 to 1983, said in a recent television interview. You cannot conduct politics Over a continued period and Reform the country if everything is seen As the policies or not the policies of a single after two terms of assaulting inflation powerful labor unions and inefficient state owned industries Thatcher the longest serving prime minister this Century is treading into More sensitive territory. Her program now affects millions of britons personally through an overhaul of education a revision of welfare benefits a new property tax and tight funding of the state run National health service. Only now have the philosophical aspirations of Thatcher ism taken Concrete form the economist weekly commented. Thatcher ism is now on what worries some tories is that the Thatcher forcefulness that tamed the unions looks less admirable when used to push through measures directly touching people s lives and pocketbooks. Conservatives to the left of Thatcher winced for example at slashing the top income tax rate this year by one third to 40 percent while removing state housing subsidies from several million families As part of the changes in welfare benefits. Thatcher shows no such unease fueling charges she is becoming More abrasive and dogmatic and has reduced parliament where she has had big majorities since winning Power in 1979 to a rubber stamp. Increasingly she Rolls out the big guns to get her Way. In january she ordered a three line whip the toughest voting stricture parliamentary managers can impose to defeat a Bill introduced by a rank and file tory lawmaker who sought to liberalize Britain s strict official secrecy Laws. The Bill was lost but the Normal tory majority of 101 in the 650-member commons slumped to 37. Rebel legislator sir Ian Gilmour described the Thatcher order As wholly misconceived authoritarian and a sorry display of executive in april the property tax Bill which replaces the single House tax with a Flat rate Levy on every adult living under the same roof provoked the biggest revolt yet. An attempt by a rank and file tory member of parliament to relate the tax to income was lost by Only 25 votes. When the tax measure risked defeat in the unelected House of lords conservative parliamentary managers drafted in an array of land owning aristocrats to vote for the government. They included Peers who almost never attend sessions of the largely hereditary chamber. Moving Forward with Maggie is the slogan painted on Thatcher s Bullet proof Campaign bus. Sunday july 17, 1988 Thatcher maintains that making everyone pay the tax will bring Home the Cost of electing the higher spending labor party to local councils which impose property taxes. The Thatcher bos siness the fabled furies have become part of the National folklore a sort of joke in which she herself occasionally joins. A fellow Cabinet minister quipped that at a recent Cabinet committee meeting which had to be Cut Short she quipped there is Only time for me to lose my temper and get my own what Thatcher a Small town grocer s daughter who has taken Over the most traditionally male dominated party in Britain does not find amusing Are the continuing charges she lacks compassion. Recently she has taken to quoting the Bible and religious thinkers in support of her free Enterprise wealth creating philosophy. Political insiders say she both resents and is surprised by her personal unpopularity at Gallup s last sounding 45 percent of respondents rated her likeable compared with 60 percent for opposition Leader Neil Kinlock. They do not like my Success Thatcher told the sunday times of London. And of course some of them Are snobs. They can never forgive me for coming from a very Ordinary her remark touched on continuing tension in the tory party Between the go getter thatche rites with Blue Collar and Middle class backgrounds and the landed Gentry who used to be in charge. Britons generally see Thatcher s Britain As More materialistic and divided. The Yuppie in the City of London financial District is a Stock figure of satire. Television s most instantly successful new comedian Harry Enfield portrays a Brash Cockney whose hallmark phrase is i be got Nott the former defense Secretary interpreted the conflicting National attitudes voting for Thatcher policies while professing to dislike Many of them As evidence that old attitudes ingrained by four decades of Post War welf arism endure amid the new Prosperity. Forty nine percent of people questioned in a Market and opinion research International Survey in june told pollsters they favor a mainly socialist society As opposed to 43 percent who opted for mainly but a two thirds majority said that Thatcher policies were right for Long term economic Prosperity and 74 percent of the 1,030 voters surveyed said they were satisfied with their Standard of living the stars and stripes Page 13
