Blatcherism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Blatcherism is a term formed as a portmanteau of the names of two British politicians, Tony Blair (Labour Party) and Margaret Thatcher (Conservative Party). It is used by critics of neo-liberal economics to refer to the thesis that a policy model of the Thatcher government, distinct from One Nation Conservatism, was resurrected when Blair came to power. It mimics the much older Butskellism frequently used to describe the post-war consensus on a mixed economy with moderate state intervention to promote social goals, particularly in education and health.

Editorial comment by Red Pepper before the 1997 General Election that brought Blair to power may be the earliest usage [1]. Another early sighting of this term was in 2001, used by Brian Lee Crowley[2], a Canadian commentator. The term has also been used, for example, by the journalist Alexander Cockburn, in preference to Blairism.

[edit] Definition

Blatcherism can be defined as an emphasis on free-market policies, support for privatisation or the private ownership of former public services, a monetarist/neo-classical economics economic policy, and a retention of anti-trade union legislation. A convergence of such policies between the Labour and Conservative parties first emerged when Neil Kinnock was leader of the Labour Party. In 1990, the Labour Party launched a policy review which largely accepted and embraced many of the economic reforms instituted by the Thatcher governments. Such a trend continued within the Labour Party under the leaderships of John Smith and Tony Blair. The latter (in conjunction with Peter Mandelson, Gordon Brown and Alastair Campbell) created the New Labour ethos by embracing many aspects of Thatcherite beliefs, whilst also recognising some virtues of "Old Labour-esque" statism (otherwise known as the "Third Way").

The term is also used as shorthand by Ye. V. Ananyeva (On Modern Ways of Reformism, or On Reformism as Modern Way, Polis Journal - Political studies - No.5, 2001), according to whom Blatcherism is currently "personified by T. Blair", has "substituted for the previous postwar political consensus", and is "consensual" with "neoconservatism as embodied in thatcherism" in the approach to a solution to Britain's modernisation problems.