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On the political front, the country is being sharply polarized between the diehard right, represented by Thatcher's hair-shirt conservatism, and the increasingly strident demands for a "socialist transformation" issuing from the far-left ranks of the Labor Party. The opposition party itself has all but split asunder as a result of a ferocious internal struggle between its own right and left wings. Late last month Labor changed its rules for selection of its leader—a potential Prime Minister—giving much more power to the unions, with their huge bloc votes, and the left-leaning local committees. The action provoked the virtual defection of the leading members of Labor's right wing, which in turn could substantially alter the entire British political scene. An increasingly leftist-oriented Labor Party presents the potential for far-reaching national and international changes: a Britain bolting from the European Community, for instance, or the alteration of all NATO strategy if a Labor government should make good on its professed policy of unilateral disarmament and "sending the nukes back to Washington." Summing up the uncertainties felt by many Britons, Guardian Columnist Peter Jenkins observed: "We have all moved into unknown territory, and there is no clear vision of what the future will resemble."
At the heart of this political turmoil is the prime ministership of Margaret Thatcher, the Joan of Archconservatism. Does she have a clear vision of the future? Britons were asking. Is she leading the country out of the wilderness, or into it? The final verdict is not in, but the British public harbors considerable disillusionment with how she has fared to date. In recent weeks, the polls have shown her conservative party as much as 13 points behind Labor; the Prime Minister herself was given a mere 31% approval rating. No angry mobs were taking to the streets, no pitchfork militant was yet daubing down-with-the-rich slogans on the windshield of the nearest industrial executive's Rolls-Royce. Indeed, protest demonstrations by the unemployed were limited, and peaceable. As workers feared for their jobs, in fact, the number of strikes and other labor stoppages fell to a 40-year low. But there was no mistaking the public anxiety. With Britain at an economic and political crossroads, Thatcher's government is facing its severest time of testing.
Americans will be scrutinizing Thatcher with particular attention when she visits Washington later this month, because she is considered the political pioneer in the application of the frugal, budget-cutting policies that the new Reagan Administration itself would like to try out on the U.S. economy. It is no accident that she and Reagan are often regarded as ideological soul mates. Former Republican National Committee Chairman Bill Brock, who went to Britain for a look at the Thatcher campaign in 1979, was so impressed that he brought video tapes of Tory broadcasts back to the U.S. as models for his G.O.P. campaign strategists. To Britons, the Reagan campaign was a distant echo of Thatcher's, and when he delivered his Inaugural Address last