Margaret Thatcher
Conservative Premiership, 1983-1986
The Conservative Party continues to be a supporter of British membership of Europe despite some ideological differences,. (*1)
Thatcher was the seemingly unlikely winner of the leadership election to succeed Heath as Conservative Party leader, and thus British Prime Minister. Coming to power as an apparently last ditch effort by the Commonwealth wings of the Conservatives (often nicknamed the
Empire Tories), they saw Britain's future as more actively engaging with Commonwealth partners, and a closer relationship with the United States, in contrast to the European wing spearheaded by her predecessor (Heath) who had taken the United Kingdom in to the European Community.
Thatcher did not last long in the role though, as the public perceived her as a sharp “turn to the right”, and with overly enthusiastic strategies for deregulation and free market reforms. She was, however, Britain’s first female Prime Minister, and set the stage for future female leaders - however, she was also the first Prime Minister in a long time to face a serious assassination attempt as the Provisional Irish Republican Army reacted unkindly to her statement in Parliament that “Northern Irish affairs were solely a matter for the people of Northern Ireland, the Northern Irish Assembly, and this Parliament alone” - the last words referring to the British Parliament, and a sharp rejection of Irish unification (*2).
Integration in to the UK also continued in the West Indies. The introduction of British taxation to the islands caused a shock - especially the new Value Added Tax, but the provision of publicly funded services and investment in to the islands brought new funding to the islands. Renovation of the main airport in Barbados began during Thatcher’s period as Prime Minister, serving a dual purpose as the key aviation hub in the British Caribbean, whilst also being a principal military base for both the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy in the aftermath of the Grenada affair. The integration of the West Indies to the United Kingdom (*3) also presented an element of regional integration; for the first time it produced full freedom of movement for citizens, and also freedom of movement for business and goods - even with the adjacent French islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique considering both were now European Community territories (as well as Dutch islands too). With full UK integration, West Indies goods and produce began to appear more frequently in UK shops, whilst a small trickle of people began to migrate, enticed by British universities & further education, or just the prospect of better jobs and wages.
Whilst again Thatcher would not welcome any new territory in to the United Kingdom; the focus was firmly on integrating what had already been accepted. Enlargement of the UK-Irish Common Travel Area occurred, which introduced the overseas regions of the United Kingdom in to the Common Travel Area, at the cost of requiring some form of official ID for flights (checked during boarding) - which kept Northern Ireland on the same level as the rest of the United Kingdom. Territory continued to slip away from the British Empire; Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia), Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, and several other smaller Pacific island territories gained independence. The embargo over Rhodesian trade had not been entirely successful, but had been enough of a pain to bring the Rhodesians back to the negotiating table, producing a roadmap to democracy and legal independence as the nation of Zimbabwe. A brief British flirtation with the United States commenced (*4), with Thatcher and Bush finding ample common ground on conservatism and reducing taxation. However, beyond the two of them, there were now a multitude of smaller issues in the relationship ranging from US Senators who saw the UK integration of the West Indies as the UK "barging in to the US yard" or an "outright violation" of the US Monroe Doctrine, whilst in the UK some resented what they perceived as US interference in British policy making or just resented some American viewpoints on the British integration of the West Indies.
Domestically however, things were creaking. Intentionally or not, much of Heath's Premiership had been focussed on foreign affairs, whether dealing with situations in Grenada or the Falklands, or accession to the European Community. Public services had received less attention in Parliament with such focus overseas, but the reality was that some services had been creaking, especially in England and Wales where no devolution existed. Reform began with a business led re-organisation of British Rail which sapped considerable public resources, and transformation (to a state-owned company) or outright privatisation of some public organisations such as the National Freight Corporation or the British Airport Authority. Many social housing tenants received the ability to purchase their homes, and several public utilities were reorganised such as the split of what would become the Royal Mail and British Telecommunications, as well as the reformation of the CEGB (for Great Britain, the Central Electricity Generation Board) in to British Electric which continues to market itself as
British Electrical Energy, and known domestically as "
the bee". Smaller efforts such as the liberalisation of Sunday trading laws also passed, despite significant opposition (*5).
Thatcher was also the first Prime Minister to visit China (People's Republic of), where initial discussions began over the future of Hong Kong - much of the territory being under a lease which would expire in 1997. Negotiations began over the future of the overseas territory, with Thatcher lobbying hard for some kind of future role for Britain in Hong Kong, but Zhao rebutted all attempts at a British continuation. Her key target with regards to Hong Kong, despite the ticking lease issue over the New Territories, was a commitment from the Chinese to pursue their aim of unification peacefully and diplomatically instead of marching in and taking it by force, and Thatcher appears to have succeeded in this regard (*6). Negotiations were paused by the holding of Thatcher’s 1986 election, something which further emboldened the Chinese negotiators.
The 1986 election, held 4 years after the previous election, was called for when Thatcher thought she was at her strongest. This followed some successful privatisations of businesses, along with continued success in integrating the overseas regions of the United Kingdom, and some grandstanding on the world stage. However, it wasn’t enough to win the election. Her economic methods, pursuing low inflation to attract investment over employment figures had caused significant disaffection, particularly in the north of England, within only 3 years of her taking charge of the country. 1986 would therefore see the end to 8 years of Conservative rule - the first time since the 1950s/1960s a British Government had stayed in power for more than one election.
Later historians have, however, credited her early election with avoiding a greater fall for the Conservatives. The election could have easily gone far worse then it did, but the rapid drop of Thatcher after the election and swing back to more "moderate Conservatism" led to the rise of the later Reformation party who sought to upset the political establishment with an anti-European, pro-US, free-trade and more aggressive deregulation philosophy - later merging with the remaining Liberal Party remnants (*7).
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Notes: Thatcher in, Thatcher out. There’s no Falkland shield around her this time - Heath holds that - and so her economic reforms have doomed her, even before her OTL larger economic reforms could take place. I debated whether to include Thatcher here, or have her replaced by someone else, but I figured the right-wing section of the Conservatives will manifest themselves one way or another.
(*1) Ironic picture I think, considering what was to come....
(*2) Although in this TL, Northern Ireland isn't as violent as OTL (especially without Bloody Sunday), it's still a highly divided community and comments as brash as Thatcher's won't be well received.
(*3) Continuing here, integration taking the form not just of investment in the overseas regions, but also in the elimination of vile rules such as racist employment policies.
(*4) Whilst I think the US-UK relations won't be negative, nor will they be bad, they just won't be as tight as OTL. There are a lot of common objectives, especially as part of the Cold War.
(*5) Some privatisations happen here, and some reformation of public bodies such as the British Airport Authority in to state owned corporations.
(*6) Hong Kong en route for a peaceful handover roughly as per OTL.
(*7) Whilst it won't pop up straight away, expect a right-wing UKIP/Brexit style party to pop up, even if it's not quite as popular as OTL.
