Thread by @labour_history

#OTD 1975. Margaret Thatcher becomes Conservative Party leader.

Seen as a party in terminal electoral decline, pundits wondered whether they could ever win again with their first woman leader

A thread revisiting the contest, the state of the nation and how Labour responded

By February 1975, the Conservatives were seen to be in electoral decline.

Under Heath the party had lost the 1964, 1966, 1974 Feb and 1974 Oct elections to Harold Wilson’s Labour.

Thatcher became the ‘stalking horse’ candidate to challenge Heath with few expecting her to win the contest.

Thatcher’s rationale was that the party was out of touch because it did not listen to the voters:

‘Listen to working families the length and breadth of Britain. They don’t want growing state direction of their lives. They want more say over how the wealth they earn is used’

‘Listen to men and women at work. They don’t want to be propped up by subsides but to see their industries profitable and Britain again the workshop of the world’.

She boldly claimed her leadership would: ‘encourage the workers not the shirkers’

However, Thatcher’s challenge was seen as ‘turmoil’ for a party that had often avoided ‘public self-destructive orgies more normally associated with the Labour Party’.

The Sun claimed that ‘it is not the Leader but the Party which has lost its way’

For Enoch Powell the party was ‘diseased’:

‘The cure will come, if it comes at all, from the same source as the disease – from a change in public expectation. Maybe the spectacle of the Conservative Party as it is today will help produce that change. One never knows'

Lord George Brown observed:

‘The mess in the Tory Party concerns us all. For it just mirrors a general and national malaise. Britain is no poorer today than it has ever been. We just give the impression of being more easily frightened; less willing to stand up for ourselves'

As the contest kicked on, Prime Minister Harold Wilson outlined his alternative vision for a prosperous future:

‘In five or six years’ time we move into a very different era. When we can meet our energy requirements from our own sources: offshore oil and onshore coal’

On the 5th February, Margaret Thatcher shook the Tory establishment by knocking Heath off the top in the first ballot of MPs.

The Sun paid tribute to Edward Heath:

‘History will probably show that his greatest achievement as Prime Minister was to take Britain into Europe’

Immediately, four other Conservative MPs entered the race.

The bookmakers @LadPolitics made Willy Whitelaw the favourite at evens and Thatcher second favourite at 5/4

By the 8th February, Labour ‘insiders’ claimed that Thatcher was now their big fear.

She pitched her campaign at winning back the ‘industrial north’ that had turned away from the party in the past decade.

The Daily Mail urged the party to back her

‘She is a self-made woman whose appeal transcends class. She's nobody’s fool and her rise owes nothing to privilege or to political establishment’

‘Margaret Thatcher could be just the kind of tonic the Tories – and the country – need’

Willy Whitelaw offered his own ‘domesticated’ pitch in a bid to stop Thatcher

In the end, Thatcher beat Whitelaw by 146 votes to 79

After her victory, the Daily Mail pondered whether ‘one day they’ll put a statue of her’ in the Commons

Anthony Shrimsley claimed

‘There is in Margaret Thatcher the potential of a formidable political leader. Whether she will succeed brilliantly or crash spectacular it is not possible to know…heaven help anyone who stands in her way’

On the Labour side, their female MPs were quick to praise its historic significance

Shirley Williams claimed:

‘I cannot help admitting privately as a woman, being pleased to see that in the Tory Party, of all parties, a woman has broken through. This is staggering for them’

Gwyneth Dunwoody said:

‘I am very pleased. It is a very interesting example of how men frequently underestimated women’s ability’

Joyce Butler was said to be:

‘Absolutely splendid. I am delighted. It is time we had women in the top jobs

For Renee Short

‘Fancy that. With all the male chauvinism in the Conservative Party. It is a staggering result and she has done very well’.

Others did not see it as a positive. For Labour backbencher Robert Kilroy-Silk

‘Mrs Thatcher is the champion of the new disgruntled, resentful, middle class’.

For Tony Benn, it was an opportunity for Labour to shift to the left

‘I think the quality of the debate will be raised because the Tory Party will be driven to the right and there will be a real choice offered to the electorate’

For the Sun:

‘For the country’s sake...they must rebuild themselves swiftly into an effective opposition, rallied behind policies that add up to a coherent programme of alternative government and behind a leader who looks convincing as an alternative Prime Minister’

The Bookmakers did not however expect Mrs Thatcher to alter the party’s fortunes.

In the hours after her victory, they cut the odds on a Labour victory at the next election to 2/5

END

@LadPolitics @paulmotty One for @ConHistGrp @Thatcher_legacy