Awful as it was, Thatcherism did transform Britain. Starmerism just promises more of the same | Owen Jones

Those who believe the Labour leader will enact a progressive new dawn once inside No 10 are set to be sorely disappointed

There is nothing wrong with the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, noting the transformative nature of Margaret Thatcher’s administrations. It is, after all, a fact. Thatcherism bulldozed the postwar consensus of nationalisation, strong trade unions, public housing and progressive taxation in favour of privatisation, a cowed labour movement, flogged-off council homes and tax cuts that predominantly benefited the well-to-do. Britain was reshaped in her image: although she has been dead for a decade, to be a British resident is still to live in Thatcher’s world.

If Starmer wished to similarly transform Britain, but in ways that accord with Labour’s founding principles, this would be cause for celebration. Instead he praised Thatcher for how she “sought to drag Britain out of its stupor by setting loose our natural entrepreneurialism”. So while Gordon Brown described her as a “conviction politician” – objectively true – Starmer explicitly endorsed her in content rather than in form.

Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist

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