Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Harry Phibbs
“Fifty years ago today, on February 11, 1975, Margaret Thatcher was elected leader of the UK’s Conservative Party. She had served in the Conservative Government of Ted Heath which had been voted out the previous year. But she was in the awkward position that it had been Conservative in name only. It was increasingly drifting towards socialist policies: nationalization, income policies, subsidies, increased state spending, and state borrowing. The expansion of the money supply produced a short-term economic stimulus, but left a legacy of inflation. The new Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, finds herself in a similarly awkward position — having to repudiate a Conservative Government (in which she had been a minister) for steering the country in the wrong direction.” (02/11/25)