Wilson v Thatcher
Britain was in such dire Straits in the late 70's that it wasn't a question of personalities that would deliver the change needed but philosophy. Labour had the characters ,Healy was far more charismatic than Geoff Howe and similarly Wilson would ege MAggie as she was in the 70's.
What labour couldn't do was face down the unions who had a strangle hold on the economy. Britain was a busted flush in the late 70's and only a radical plan and change of direction could deliver a way out. Callaghan was a consumate politican and negotiator but even he had no wriggle room with the situation. In 1979 we had 1.4m on the dole, by 1983 we had 3m+ on the dole. In 4 years we saw a radical increase in unemployment and misery in large parts of Britain and more was to follow with the privatisation of nationalised industries. The car industry at the time was producing unreliable vehicles very expensively. Inward investment did occur against the backdrop of old industries although in the case of the car industry the Nissan plant was built in Sunderland rather than the unionised and dominated West Midlands where cars had traditonally been made. If you dug coal, made steel, ships or british cars or relied on any of the above then you would no doubt have a different view to Maggie. Because the unions and managment in british industry had failed to adapt after the war and put off reform, closed shop practices and the like when the change came it was much worse than it could have been. Despite all the pinko lunatics dancing on her grave earlier this week its interesting to note that new labour, the coalition and the more successful economies in europe have adopted most if not all of her monetary policies. the countries that still have nationalised industries, over blown public sector workforces and radicla unions are the Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal in Europe.
RIP Maggie