General Chat

John, Ted Heath was a very weak leader, Gave in to the unions expanded the welfare state then had to introduce cuts because his policies where not affordable and although the media made a meal of Thatcher under Heath when they nicknamed her "Thatcher the Milk Snatcher" yet 3 years before Labour did the same and withdrew free school milk from secondary schools without protest


3 day week was due to industrial action by the coal miners As I said he was weak


Roy

caught some of the speeches on the news

thank god for glenda jackson at least she had the guts to turn up and speak her mind

in some ways I am inclined to agree - who needs more than one house etc?

Roy, If she had not decided to oust Ted Heath, he would have remained leader of Tories and would almost automatically have been swept in on a large majority in 1979.

What people forget is that he was pretty ruthlessly steering the ship through the period of 3 day weeks and was tackling the problems of loss-making heavy industry. He was just as tough a cookie as her, but had a more consensual approach.

I do not believe he would have allowed the get rich quick mentality that Mrs T thought was success. Yes, it was nice to have houses worth ten times what we were earning - but what good has it done. You can only sleep in one bed each night and have one roof over your head - why want more?

next week this will be old news and something new will become news to hit our headlines,then a whole new debate will begin......... :-D.


like they are stopping the more expensive cancer treatments because we cant afford them, :-(

I dread to think what would have happened to this country had Margaret Thatcher not been leader of the conservatives at that time.

Income Tax at 33 and a third% the next tax bracket was 75% Most of which was subsidising nationalised industry,

every visit to the shops the price of everything was higher than yesterday with inflation at over 20%

If you where lucky and could afford a holiday abroad their wasn't much point going because of the £50 cap on money you could take out of the country,

And thats the good bits

Roy

yes errol it was Major,,,,,,why GB I dont know,,,,,,,, :-D :-D :-D :-D,,,,,,,

Errol


but it is true ................ I meant to say something last night.


Far too often, threads on GR that could be interesting degenerate into something else entirely.

and you have managed to keep this one on track.

:-P to Cyn

:-D :-D :-D

Double 'Humph' to Sylvia...... :-D

Thank you Sylvia

......................


but, boy, you do not want to see Cyn when she gets angry :-D :-D :-D :-D

Errol is correct and Neil Kinnock was leader of the labour party until the 92 election

Roy

Errol ......

I must also say that I congratulate you on keeping this thread mainly trouble free.



It is quite true ........

........ the party in power does not lose power just because the PM changes ...........................

The Brits elect the PARTY not the PM plus members.

The PM is just the Leader of the Party in power.


It is the system in all Commonwealth countries, I believe .... certianly it is in Canada, Australia, NZ, etc.

Unlike the US where the President is elected separately from his Party members.



Margaret Thatcher took over from Heath when he was ousted as Leader of the Tory Party, then in opposition

The Tories then won the next Election, and she became Prime Minister for the next 13 years, winning the next 2 elections, until she was ousted as Leader of the Tory Party in 1990.


John Major took over as Leader of the Tories, and thus PM, in 1990, and served until 1997, when the Labour Party led by Tony Blair defeated the Tories.

Tony Blair was Leader of the Labour Party, and PM, until 2007, when he was replaced by Gordon Brown, who was PM until 2010.

The Conservative Party, and the Lib-Dems then took over

Numpty indeed Gins! Huh! I meant that so many people are angry and bitter about events connected to Mrs Thatcher that I'm glad I'm not politically minded...... I don't 'do' bitter and rarely get angry :-D

Well I voted for her three times and think she was an inspiration, very saddened to see the morons who all seem like teenagers protesting, think they would protest about anything, nothing better to do.

Carol :-(

Yes John Major took over...won another election then Labour won by a landslide in 1997.

Lyndi - thank you that is very kind of you indeed.

Kay - is that quite right? I don't think Gordon Brown was leader of the Labour party then - he took over from Tony Blair.
And I don't think the party that "comes second" takes office when a prime minister leaves the post.
It was John Major who succeeded Margaret Thatcher after Michael Heseltine challenged her leadership.
Forgive me if I have got it wrong.

I never used the word 'bitter'!

I think that was you numpty ;-)

Errol, can I just say that I like the way you have kept a fair non-judgmental grasp on this thread. Don't always agree with you, but on this occasion well done :-D