- Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: Pocket Books; New edition edition (July 1993)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0671850946
- ISBN-13: 978-0671850944
- Product Dimensions: 19 x 12.8 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 535,144 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
Gives a left-wing conservative assessment of Thatcherism in action - as ideology, style, monarchy, millenarianism, 19th-century liberalism, a set of moral values, right-wingery, or as a combination of them all - and its affects on the country and on tory policy during Thatcher's 11-year reign. Ian Gilmour's previous books include "The Body Politic", "Inside Right" and "Britain Can Work".
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very interesting even if one accounts for hindsight.,
By PygmyTwylyte (Citizen of the world) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Dancing with Dogma: Thatcherite Britain in the Eighties (Hardcover)
Gilmour was one of the "wets" purged by Thatcher in 1981,but he remained a critic on the backbenches.His hostility to Thatcher when she was at her height (or depths)marks him out from those who saw the anti-Thatcher light only after she bit the dust in 1990.Gilmour points out,correctly,that Thatcher was an abberation in the history of the Conservative Party in that she took ideology seriously,and also in that her models were non-British,such as the Chicago school of economics and Ronald Reagan.he also sees through the self-serving gibberish of how Britain went through a revolution-after all,the average British family were paying more tax in 1990 than they were in 1979. David Cameron has spent the last five years pretending that Thatcher never existed-why would he do that if Thatcherism was so wildly popular with the electorate?Gilmour's book explodes more than a few such myths.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining but oh, the benefit of hindsight,
By A Customer
This review is from: Dancing with Dogma: Thatcherite Britain in the Eighties (Hardcover)
Sir Ian Gilmour was one of the most prominent critics of the early years of Thatcherism. A memeber of her first cabinet and self-styled 'Wet' Conservative, he penned this missive in the twilight of the Thatcher era. A staunch Conservative of the older,patrician type, Gilmour believed that Thatcherism 'will be seen as an aberration in the long distinguished history of the Tory party'That this book is entertaining is not in doubt, a highly educated man, Gilmour dissects the follies of some aspects of econmic policy initiatives (the maniacal commitment to a bastardised form of monetarist theory) with vim and considerable cogency. This he proceeds to so with virtually every aspect of her rule. Crime, Welfare, foreign policy and unemployment all come in for attack from his pen. What does irritate however, is the rather vacuous nature of the philosophy underlying this work. Gilmour is committed to what he calls 'One-Nation' Toryism. In reality this seems to involve appeasing extreme left-wing lobby groups with as much good grace as possible, accepting a rather marxist look on the triumph of socialism as being inevitable. Thatcher, by contrast saw her role as rolling back the left-wing tide, a task which she undertook as vigorously as she could. That is not to deny that errors were made, but to argue that to have followed Gilmour's prescriptions would have left Britain mired in the rather depressing condition it was during much of the 1970's. Nevertheless, this book is very useful for the researcher both of political history, and poltical philosophy - seeing the outlook of those Conservatives that preceded Thatcher and who are now an almost extinct breed - a sad day for politics and the country
3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A demolition of Thatcherite dogma,
By A Customer
This review is from: Dancing with Dogma: Thatcherite Britain in the Eighties (Hardcover)
Ian Gilmour delivers a coup-de-grace to any sort of credibility Margaret Thatcher has post-Pinochet. She is shown to be dogmatic and narrow minded - and the mud sticks. Gilmour relentlessly chips away at the lies and half-truths of the Thatcher years - leaving the bare bones of failed policies and missed chances. Thatcherism is exposed as a historical anomaly - with no basis in the Conservative party of the UK but more in common with the US republican party. History has shown this book to be correct in a lot of it's assertions, particulary where it states that Thatcherism in fact never had a hold on the hearts of the majority of the British public - a fact born out by the speedy marginalisation of her since then. This book is one to make British right wingers squirm - and quite justifiably so. It is time to set the record straight, without the help of the Murdoch press.
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