When Thatcher took office, a third of the housing stock was owned by local governments. She allowed tenants to buy their own properties for a large discount. People did that because they knew that they'd be getting an asset relatively cheaply. So it was a great exercise in promoting a capital owning democracy. But generally speaking, we haven't reversed any of those privatizations. Parking is still private and telephones are still private and steel is still private.
Economists and politicians have turned him into a mascot for free-market ideology. Some on the left say the right has badly misread him. Prepare for a very Smithy tug of war. (Part 2 of “In Search of the Real Adam Smith.”)