Discussion: If no Thatcher, who founds political neoliberalism?

Selsdon is actually pretty important, RB. I read about it even before Internet 2.0 as an undergraduate. The British Right thinktanks consider it a great lost opportunity (a great WI?)

Edward Heath sticks to the Selsdon man

He didn't really have the stomach to deal with the consequences, similarly you have the problem that the unions are at the peak of their power and Heath has organised no way to beat them.

You'd need a POD to change those to factors to make it work really
 
He didn't really have the stomach to deal with the consequences, similarly you have the problem that the unions are at the peak of their power and Heath has organised no way to beat them.

You'd need a POD to change those to factors to make it work really

It's funny, but Heath was the only person to beat the Postal Workers Union in a strike action. I think that Heath, had he managed to cling on in 1974 may have be able to establish a more moderate version of neo-Liberalism within the Conservative Party. Whitelaw, Howe could have also managed it, Keith Joseph was only ever a kingmaker, I can't really see him becoming leader at any point.

However, a possibility would be Callaghan winning an election in 1978 and resigning soon after. If we were to get David Owen as Prime Minister or Chancellor, it is possible that we could see a similar situation to Roger Douglas in New Zealand, in other words, a nominally left-wing party following a radical right-wing economic policy. It is unlikely, but possible.
 
Did Selsdon use the word "privatization" or dare I say "NHS internal market"?

Yes but think about how radical it was in the context of the period, I mean not even Thatcher dare bring down the NHS; she even boasted that spending had gone up! - No think about it in the context of the post war consensus, baby steps
 
That was because the A & B voters of the ABC1 coalition were dependent on the welfare state's "basics" like the NHS. Without those they wouldn't be middle-class. If there had been a way to privatize or Americanize the NHS without electoral extinction, she'd have done it.
 
That was because the A & B voters of the ABC1 coalition were dependent on the welfare state's "basics" like the NHS. Without those they wouldn't be middle-class. If there had been a way to privatize or Americanize the NHS without electoral extinction, she'd have done it.

Thats just the thing, I can't really see how Heath could do it either. Also It's only really C1 that relies on it.
 
Well, another way would be to encourage private healthcare and leave the NHS just for those who can't afford it. Unfortunately that would be a full-on class war.
 
He didn't really have the stomach to deal with the consequences, similarly you have the problem that the unions are at the peak of their power and Heath has organised no way to beat them.

You'd need a POD to change those to factors to make it work really

How about a form of Tory 'Selsdonism' after a Labour Government (Gaitskell lives?) introduces In Place of Strife? (I know I wrote above about IPoS making the implementation of neoliberalism impossible, but on second thought I don't see why it should prevent some form of watered down market reforms, in the same way John Howard's government introduced several market reforms after Hawke/Keatingism in Oz.)

RogueBeaver said:
That was because the A & B voters of the ABC1 coalition were dependent on the welfare state's "basics" like the NHS.

You use a lot of this advertising demographic terminology when writing about recent uke history: where is it from, Lord Saatchi?

I remember a funny Observer caption from the '97 general election, Saatchi & Saatchi--Their Ads Aren't Working Anymore.
 
You use a lot of this advertising demographic terminology
I actually always thought these were Office of National Statistics terms, but I was wrong, learn something every day.

They always remind me of Brave New World.
 
Top