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Prosperity, productivity and competitiveness returned to Britain with the culture of enterprise. Almost 70% of homes now belong to those who live in them, and 20% of adult Britons own stock shares, up from just 7% in 1979. There is a price for this, of course, and Britain pays it in the form of inflation, currently at 10.9%; unemployment, at 6% and rising; and disrepair in the social-safety net that Labour had so carefully woven. Roads and railways are showing signs of neglect, homelessness has visibly increased, and Thatcher's critics charge that her kind of individualism implies greed and selfishness.
The final challenge to her position arose over a foreign policy issue: Britain's role in the European Community. But throughout the years, she benefited greatly from her skillful, high-profile handling of international affairs. Her re-election in 1983 was ensured by her unhesitating dispatch of British forces to recapture the Falkland Islands from the Argentine invaders.
Reinvigorating the special relationship with the U.S., she became Reagan's closest ally in placing new nuclear missiles in Europe to counter Soviet deployments in the early 1980s. Moscow christened her the Iron Lady, a title she savored. Playing an intermediary role between the superpowers, she realized more quickly than Reagan that Mikhail Gorbachev really meant it when he called for the healing of Europe. She affixed her seal of approval during a Gorbachev visit to England in late 1984, before he became leader of the Soviet Union. "I like Mr. Gorbachev," she said. "We can do business together."
Thatcher relinquishes power this week, but her legacy is firmly in place. Her potential Tory successors proudly describe themselves as disciples of Thatcherism and pledge to continue it. More impressive still is the opposition Labour Party's turn from leftist economics and unilateral nuclear disarmament in the past three years toward more centrist policies to compete with Thatcherism at the polls. Even if Labour wins the next election, the public will not allow it to reassemble the huge governmental edifice Thatcher pulled down.
Four years ago, Thatcher predicted, "I think, historically, the term Thatcherism will be seen as a compliment." As the proclaimed policies of her potential successors and the opposition demonstrate, that has already come to pass.