The Politics of the Thatcher Revolution

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

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2. What Kind of Revolution?

   • Geoffrey K. Fry

   Pages 1-18

3. The Conservative Ascendancy: The Pattern of British Politics, 1979–90

   • Geoffrey K. Fry

   Pages 19-42

4. The Thatcher Cabinets and Governments, Her Court, and ‘an Old Whore’ of a Party

   • Geoffrey K. Fry

   Pages 43-70

5. The Economic Liberal Crusades I: The Quest for an Economic Renaissance

   • Geoffrey K. Fry

   Pages 71-104

6. The Economic Liberal Crusades II: The Recasting of the Welfare State

   • Geoffrey K. Fry

   Pages 105-136

7. The Economic Liberal Crusades III: The Reconstruction of the Civil Service

   • Geoffrey K. Fry

   Pages 137-158

8. The Economic Liberal Crusades IV: The Confrontation with Local Government

   • Geoffrey K. Fry

   Pages 159-179

9. The Governments of the ‘Iron Lady’ and the Defence of the National Interest

   • Geoffrey K. Fry

   Pages 180-221

10. The Unfinished Revolution

    • Geoffrey K. Fry

    Pages 222-237

11. Back Matter

    Pages 238-293

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The Thatcher era was the most dramatic period in British politics since the 1940s. As Conservative Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher proved to be the 'Iron Lady' at home and abroad. This book analyzes the politics of the Thatcher era in an incisive and challenging manner.

• government
• politics
• revolution
• Thatcher
• British Politics

'This is the best non-partisan short book on 'Thatcherism' and the 1979-1990 era to have appeared to date. It is wide ranging, all encompassing, massively referenced with a great Bibliography and very fair. It digs out a lot of facts, gives useful insights and accords credit where credit is due'. John Blundell, Director General, The Institute of Economic Affairs, UK

'My only disappointment as I came to the end of this excellent book was when I realised that it was the last in Professor Fry's enjoyable and informative series of books about British political history.' - Christie Davies, The Salisbury Review

'...a thought-provoking book...' Parliamentary History

'Professor Fry has produced a detailed account of the Thatcher years for which students wishing to get a sense of what was going on in the 1970s and 1980s will be grateful. The chapters are arranged thematically but logically and, rather contradicting the book's title, economic and administrative affairs are given substantial, and entirely appropriate, emphasis. This is more than a study of British politics.' - Contemporary British History

• University of Leeds, UK

  Geoffrey K. Fry

GEOFFREY K. FRY is Emeritus Professor of British Government and Administration at the University of Leeds, UK.  He has written eight previous books, including Statesmen in Disguise, which has established itself as the standard history of the British Higher Civil Service, as well as The Politics of Crisis and The Politics of Decline, to which this book is a successor volume.

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