Posted on 09/06/2006 1:34:48 PM PDT by RWR8189
The bitter infighting in Prime Minister Tony Blair's party over when he will quit Downing Street is reminiscent of the rancorous way Margaret Thatcher was forced out, knifed by her own side in 1990. The vultures are circling over the Labour Party leader, demanding his immediate exit, just as they did with titanic Conservative prime minister Thatcher 16 years ago.
Both delivered an impressive three straight general election victories for their parties, but Blair now faces the same situation Thatcher did after 11 years in Downing Street: clinging on to power while their rank and file turn against him.
Mindful of Thatcher's brutal departure -- forced out by discontented colleagues fearing electoral defeat -- Blair thought he had ensured he would leave on his own terms by saying before the last general election in May 2005 that he would not fight another one.
Blair's stance worked temporarily, helping him get re-elected with a reduced but nonetheless comfortable parliamentary majority despite public opposition to the war in Iraq.
However, it also gave opponents the scent of blood at last, and let loose his MPs, many of whom were uncomfortable with Blair's "New Labour" project of moving the party from the left towards the centre ground.
Thatcher's stubbornness in office left her increasingly isolated. Colleagues complained that toward the end she increasingly believed in her own invincibility and would not listen to her cabinet.
Back in 1990, many Conservative MPs thought defeat was looming in the 1992 general election if an increasingly remote "Iron Lady" was not forced out. Her own allies began publicly turning against while she was away from Downing Street, at a European summit in Paris.
On Tuesday, Blair cut a lonely figure speaking in York, while the bandwagon against him gathered pace in the capital.
Resignations triggered Thatcher's demise. On Wednesday six junior members of Blair's government handed in theirs.
Thatcher was knifed at close quarters and her downfall was swift, and highly dramatic.
Thatcher's deputy prime minister Geoffrey Howe resigned in a protest over her European policy and delivered an eloquent, stinging attack on her, all the more potent given that he was formerly one of her staunchest allies.
The turncoat assault is considered one of the most dramatic speeches in parliamentary history and politicians still talk of the electric atmosphere in the House of Commons that day.
Sniffing blood, the ambitious former minister Michael Heseltine, a long-standing opponent of Thatcher, challenged her for the leadership.
Thatcher won the ballot, though she fell a few votes short of the majority required to avoid a second vote.
"I fight on; I fight to win," she declared in typical bullish fashion. Cabinet ministers said they would support her -- but added that she would lose.
Thatcher described the rebellion as "treachery with a smile on its face".
Her reign was over and she withdrew from the contest, allowing others to enter. Her finance minister, John Major, was elected party leader and therefore became prime minister.
The change of leadership worked, temporarily, and the Conservatives under Major narrowly won the 1992 general election.
However, the savage infighting continued and scuppered Major's administration so badly that Blair's Labour Party won a landslide victory at the 1997 election.
Blair's MPs were once famously "on message", fed lines on their pagers to regurgitate to the media to ensure nobody stepped out of line.
But now that all bets are off, Labour may face similar problems controlling their dissenters. The Conservative infighting has only recently begun to die down.
Blair's finance minister, Gordon Brown, is the clear front-runner for the premiership and is waiting in the wings.
Should history repeat itself, he could find the shadow of Major over him as the ghost of Thatcher lurks over Blair.
There's nothing new under the sun
Thatcher saved Britain from what it had become - a socialist mediocrity, fallen out of the first rank of European economies. Blair largely left the Thatcher economy in place. Both were stalwarts against totalitarians.
And the British people are throwing both on the rubbish heap.
The last time I was in Britain I ran into so many people who hated the Thatcher legacy; it's as if they loath the success of modern Britain, of themselves.
The Iron Lady is going down in history as one of the greats!
There are no leaders like Maggie anymore. They threw away the mold.
I would vote for her for US president over anyone alive today.
Britain was lucky to have such a great person in charge. She got the usual thanks... a kick in the pants on her way out the door.
They threw out Churchill. Whats Blair to that?
" And the British people are throwing both on the rubbish heap."
Well, factually the 'British people' did no such thing to either. A small number of Members of Parliament, belonging to their own parties wield the knives. In Blair's case, he made known his intention to step down during this Parliament a long time ago. It was inevitable when he did that that the precise timing would be a subject of speculation and the fact that he is now something of a lame duck is a situation of his own creation.
"More woman than you'll ever have. More man than you'll ever be."
Margaret Thatcher shares 1/3 of credit, along with President Reagan and Pope John Paul II, for finally liberating Eastern Euope. Tony Blair is just another socialist opportunist who managed to figure out a way to insure that historians on both the right and the left will not treat him kindly.
Blair, whatever his faults and however misguided his domestic policy is, will always be remembered as one of the few true friends of America that showed the courage to stand by us in our time of need, and was able to recognize the threat Islamofascism presented to the Western world.
Who says gratitude has any place in politics? The Tory party has always been very good at ruthlessly cutting away dead wood, and for all Thatcher's achievements the truth was that the Conservatives stood to lose the next election with her remaining as leader- byt his stage she had too much baggage and the tendency to believe her own spin that all governments eventually get after a long time in office. Of course, the fact that 1992 turned out to be a good election to lose is beside the point...
Given the results of the next decade plus, I'd say they had some trouble telling good wood from bad.
"And the British people are throwing both on the rubbish heap."
I'm sure others will have answered the same before I scroll down, but the British people have done no such thing.
Maggie T. won every single election she ever stood in for Prime Minister. Likewise Tony B.
MT was kicked out mid term by her own party. It seems TB will suffer the same fate. Both seem to have suffered from ambitious disloyal allies more than bitter enemies. Such is the curio of politics.
Well, as I said- in retrospect, 1992 was a good election to lose. For a while the Conservatives lost their precious ruthless streak and seemed to prefer to remain ideologically pure then gain power, but from the evidence of the brutal toppling of Iain Duncan-Smith back in 2003 I'm glad to say that they've regained the instincts that has made them the natural party of government for most of the rest of the century.
Technically you are correct. The opinion polls, however, show that neither party was acting contrary to the wishes of a majority of the electorate.
There was nothing brutal about the toppling of Iain Duncan-Smith. It was an act of charity; like putting a pained dying dog out of its misery!
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