London: Margaret Thatcher remains despised by many on the left of British politics, but the main Labor opposition appears reluctant to cite her as she woos the right ahead of this year’s election.
Labor leader Keir Starmer and senior colleagues recently referred to the Tory icon, highlighting the party’s shift to the center since Starmer replaced left-wing Jeremy Corbyn.
In December, Starmer described Thatcher as having brought about “meaningful change” in the UK during her controversial 1979-1990 premiership, while foreign affairs spokesman David Lammy this week called her a “visionary leader”.
Such comments would be unthinkable under Corbyn.
He also cited Thatcher in the 2019 general election, but said her government “waged a war on working-class communities in the 1980s” and warned that “Boris Johnson’s Tories are more of the same”.
Corbyn lost in a landslide to Johnson and then ended up as Labor leader.
Quoting Thatcher is “a good way to show that you’re a completely changed party,” Sophie Stowers, a British researcher on UK politics at the Changing Europe think tank, told AFP.
This approach is also reminiscent of former prime minister Tony Blair’s “New Labour” party of the 1990s and 2000s, which adopted some Thatcherite policies.
His successor Gordon Brown even welcomed her to Downing Street.
“It shows a Labor party that is much more pragmatic than ideological,” Stowers said.
Labor has a double-digit lead over the Conservatives in the polls as the UK waits for current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to announce an election date, likely in the second half of the year.
The center-left group positions itself as business-friendly and responsible stewards of the economy – historically not always seen by voters as party strengths.
It also draws parallels between Britain today and the one Thatcher – who died in 2013 – took over when she became Britain’s first female prime minister in May 1979.
Then Britain had just endured the “Winter of Discontent”, when widespread industrial action calling for higher wages amid soaring inflation resulted in piles of rubbish on the streets and bodies left unburied in cemeteries.
Today, Britons are feeling the pinch of a life crisis brought on by high energy prices and inflation, stifling economic growth and triggering widespread strikes.
Sharper critics say the effect of the Conservative austerity policies of 2010 is still being felt.
Labour’s finance spokeswoman Rachel Reeves said this week that the UK was “at an inflection point” as it was “at the end of the 1970s”, setting the stage for Thatcher’s radical free-market economic reforms.
Starmer, 61, wrote in the right-wing Sunday Telegraph last year that Thatcher “tried to pull Britain out of its doldrums by unleashing our natural entrepreneurial spirit”.
The “Iron Lady” remains beloved by the right for privatizing state-owned companies, reducing the influence of unions and deregulating Britain’s financial markets.
She is equally disliked by the left for her perceived callous disrespect for working-class communities by shutting down parts of heavy industry, particularly the mines.
Experts consider Labour’s recent remarks about her to be subtle, given the strength of feeling she still evokes.
Reeves did not specifically mention Thatcher, while Starmer’s article cited her alongside Blair and Clement Atlee, the Labor prime minister from 1945-51.
Starmer later clarified that he was merely emphasizing Thatcher’s “sense of purpose” and not agreeing with her.
Lammy dismissed his remarks to Politico, adding that “you may have a problem with Mrs Thatcher’s recipe”.
“You will struggle to find anything that looks like support or much praise for Margaret Thatcher’s legacy. They are very careful with their language,” Karl Pike, a political expert at Queen Mary University of London, told AFP.
Still, leftists were angry. Campaign group Momentum, which backed Corbyn, said the current Labor leadership was “out of touch with the Labor movement and Labor values”.
“We want to reverse Thatcher’s disastrous settlement, not recreate it,” said a statement about Reeves’ speech.
