Introduction

Margaret thatcher became conservative leader in 19 75. Thatcherism hadn't yet been invented, but it was plain she meant to make a break with the census the party had accepted for the previous 30 years. Weren't conservatives meant to conserve society, not turn it upside down? Isn't that the meaning of conservatism? Nearly half a century later, the party has been turned upside down again, with boris johnson on the way out. An influential section of conservatives is convinced that the way ahead lies in returning to thatcher's inheritance. They want johnson to be replaced by believer in a small state, low taxes and untrammelled free markets. This thatcherite ideology