I’ll always hate what Thatcher stood for – but I’ve come to respect her | Joseph Harker

The more one compares her with later politicians, both Labour and Tory, the more she towers above them. And she wasn’t always wrong

Margaret Thatcher was the dominant political figure of my early adulthood. I never liked what she stood for: from the moment I saw her 1978 World In Action TV interview in which she talked of Britain being “swamped by people with a different culture” – and in so doing dog-whistled to the racism of the National Front – I knew I would never vote Conservative. Not only that – she put millions on the dole without a care, and crushed those who defended workers’ rights. Her reputation as evil incarnate was sealed for all time.

Or so I thought.

Continue reading...

from The Guardian http://ift.tt/2DITkie