crisis into flame - with the abrupt resignation and dramatic denunciation of the Prime Minister by Geoffrey Howe. This in tum provoked the long-postponed decision of Heseltine to stand Heseltine was always likely to pick up over 100 votes: even the barmy 'stalking horse' Sir Anthony Meyer persuaded 60 Tories to back revolt, non-payment and political hostility it has aroused. Her defeat: but also our victory! EDITORIAL SCHOOLKIDS CHEERED; nurses whooped with joy; spontaneous as Prime Minister: a great weight had been lifted from the shoulders of the downtrodden. As with the assassination of President Kennedy, a new generation will recall just where they were and what they were Of course in some ways the celebrations were premature: John parties took place. Margaret Thatcher had resigned after eleven years Major is a Thatcher disciple who will continue her policies. But never- theless, there is no doubt that there will be a substantial change in doing when they first heard the news.
British politics. Eleven years of her domineering, inflexible, seemingly him or abstain last year. But Thatcher's outright victory in the first round would still have been as sured had Heseltine not played the trump card of his opposition to the Poll Tax and a woolly pledge to "review" it For MPs floundering in represents, this promise offered a stop Heseltine and preserve what All of a sudden, the two new candidates for the second ballot declared themselves critics of the same Poll Tax which they in cabinet right wing "No Turing Back' group, is to take the helm, and - with or possible life-raft; it was enough to Heseltine: - sufficient to deny viously servile ministers sharpen their knives for the final coup de they see as the essentials of Thatcherism. During the evening of Wednesday November 21 they had pushed onto the statute book: but predictably none of the can- Now the little-known John Major, grudgingly supported by the rabid without Thatcher (in her words) driving from the back seat' - is unlikely to veer dramatically from the political course charted by Thatcher her- marginal seats, angry at the dead weight electoral liability the Tax swing some waverers behind grace, driving her out in a bid to Only at this point did her pre didates would say how, if at all, they would alter the Tax, or when. Thatcher a first-round victory. persuaded her to stand down. country over the heads of Parliament in a referendum on the issue if party into at least three factions. Her strident opposition to European monetary and political union - followed up by her threat to go to the she remained as leader - played a central role in the final denoue- • Nor was she ousted by the voters of Eastbourne in their dramatic by-election rebuff - though the Tories' miserable showing in the polls and by elections had many backbenchers fearful for their • The state of the economy is bad and getting worse: but that alone was no reason for Tory MPs who had weathered previous ups, cessors could promise to continue in unstoppable rule reflected her distinc- tive personality and style of leader- ship: none of the three would-be suc- Indeed hier defeat came because many Tory MPs no longer wanted to go on in the same way. She was top- pled by a combination of circumstan- ces and a coalition of forces created and • She was not simply gored to death by Geoffrey "Dead Sheep" - though the fatal rift with her former Howe, or trampled by a herd of Ecus deputy arose from the profound Tory splits over Europe, which divide the own past actions the same way. decisions. by her
It is doubtful how long the electorate will grant Major as a and in private Industry will feel they stand a better chance of be reinforced in their opposition to the Tax, not least now that Michael Heseltine has been appointed Environment Secretary, port from Labour to the Tories triggered by Thatcher's departure and the three weeks of exclusive press attention on the Tory Party and its What is clear is that millions of workers in the public sector fighting and winning against the government and employers now she has gone. Millions of Poll Tax protestors and non-payers will charged with finding a decent escape for the government. They Page 1 honeymoon period, or how fundamental is the apparent shift in sup- have a right to celebrate their role in her downfall. leadership personalities. downs and recession to ditch their thrice-victorious leader: they knew of any serious Labour altemative - and in any event they were offered spiracy of cabinet ministers (though this clearly took shape after the first ballot). Had she won comfortably on the first round, we would never have seen the explosion of belated dissent. Hurd and Major, No: the explanation for Thatcher's abrupt departure involves that Thatcher's weakness on this was more than matched by the lack • Nor was Thatcher simply the subject of an ambush by a con- all of these factors, but is much simpler and more satistying. People are right to celebrate her downfall as our victory: it was caused - at the crunch - by the Poll Tax, and the scale of popular contenders for the succession, were her nominators in the first ballot! SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 29, December/January 1990/91 no change from John Major's basic strategy.
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 29, December/January 1990/91 reforms may be slowed down, or against such concessions in this how many of the 66 applicant hospitals and units he allows to "opt out" as Self Governing Trusts - with the real danger that most of them will he in dire financial straits or even bankrupt within 12 months. With the pres- sure relaxed by Thatcher's depar- ture, there is an outside chance hugely unpopular at least the opt-out list pruned tum by John Major himself this Waldegrave has found himself beds closed for cash reasons across the country during 1990, and more to go next year, while He has little scope to resolve this problem, unless Major is prepared to sanction a big in crease in spending this year and next - having only just fought Waldegrave also has to decide made much of choing Labour's ing. and Major, too, in a sop to the powerful education lobhy, pledged to review teachers' pay: in public spending (which would require an unlikely cconomic U- will remain hot air (as indeed it is pointed Health Secretary William monumental crisis, with around 5,000 hospital Heseltine - as an advocate of properly training the workforce for the needs of capitalism - but short of a substantial increase On the NHS, newly-ap- "big idea" of education and train- self had supported the idea. waiting lists soar upwards. autumn's spending round in Labour's programme!). Thatcher attempts to put on human face but falls On living in poverty seems certain to increase under the post- Thatcher Kenneth Clarke had dismayed the No Turing Back group, and shown a rare fash of defiance when he contemptuously brushed aside the right wing's cherished plan for education vouchers only goverment's income from taxa- Major plans to cope with this problem: benefits have already been brutally cut back and restrictions tightened to minimise the numhers eligible. The colos- sal increase in numbers of people Significantly, before her resignation, Thatcher's newly ap- a short while after the lady her On the welfare state and so cial issues, there is room for some slight adjustments, but little sign of any embarrassing about- The recession, and a new lurch upwards in numbers of un- employed, will intensify pressure on the cash-limited Social Fund and the whole Social Security tion. It is by no means clear how the thousand, forcing employers off militancy through higher than expected pay offers, and drawing from the 'new realist" Engincer- ing Union leaders a defeatist hearted campaign for a 35-hour more onto the offensive after a period of seeking to buy while reducing abandonment of their Social policy face reversals of policy. UPDATE guidelines. Hopes of an interest: rate cut appear to have been Nor is there much prospect of leviale the looming recession - ly dictated by membership of the Mechanism, which requires high interest rites to keep the British which is already slashing jobs by will also remain unchanged army tanks (now breaking down The new govemment might a little closer to the more cagey approach of the Europcan bour- geoisie, and pull a little further back from the US front fine. But there is no prospect of it withdrawing the 30,000 British troops or failing to use them in Major's own coonomic policy under Noman Lamont as Chan- cellor - and indeed is now largo- dashed by the German Bundes bank pushing in the other direc government intervention to al Heath in the Tory Party has ment of the Thatcher line on the Gulf has been an echo of his period as Defence Secretary, when he attacked the Greenham Women and CND, and posed in combat fatigues and clapped-out marginally adjust its line; to draw would be no easy re-run of gentina in the Malvinas, only Ted openly broken ranks to question the drive towards military con Heseltine's bellicose endorse- Though many have now realised that a war with Iraq Thatcher's short, nasty (and ex- tremely lucky) victory over Ar- and the Heselteenies after her resignation was Commons tea-rooms between the Thatcherites JOHN LISTER. A cabinet led by John Major will announced: but their political disagreements the event of a shooting war. The economy easily accomodate Michael Heseltine while are not by any means fundamental, argues for Thatcherism leaving most of Thatcher's policies intact The Gulf No human face THERE MAY have been punch-ups in the in the Saudi desert). contest: and little of substance is Only on the questions of contenders who challenged for European policy and (possibly) the Poll Tax was there any clear sign of serious disagreements, which could yer destahilise the vast new powers to the police, and incompetent ly challenged in the leadership There was little to separale the views expressed by the three and anned scabs with police and As it mercilessly robbed local government of its powers and position of the Poll Tax, the Thatcher government handed judges. None of this was serious- slasbed benefits and services It shackled the trade unions with every conceivable legal employers were encouraged to smash the strength of the shop aulonomy, culminating in the im- and shamelessly protected cor tently with the rich, the young. the fit, the employers and the racists against the poor, the elder- ly, the sick the unions and the It handed billions in huge lux concessions to the wealthy - bil- stolen through employed, claimants, and the restriction and financial penalty THATCHER'S GOVERN- MENT represented the most sus tained and brutal attack on the working class in Britain since the 1920s. For over eleven years it took sides ruthlessly and consis- High Court protection, now Major govemment. stowards movement. black communities. likely to change. Page 2
also knows that the pro-Europe' carry out her threat to take ber policy of rejecting a single: dum, she could have counted on a substantial majority, linking old- the waste and bureaucracy of the Sun-reading maximise Major's freedom of ac- tion in relation to European monetary union. He knows that the rifts in the Party on Europe could yet create new crises: be cause had Thatcher been able to European currency to a referen- chauvinists with those who reject wing are skating on thin ice - be fashioned EEC. for Hescitine's vague character of the Tax means that even if he did try this, many sen- silive areas would still wind up paying much "banding" the Tax in relation to income and ability to pay have all the administrative headaches of a local income tax with none aging trying to get Poll of the advantages (im non-payers more than others. proposals Tax UPDATE SAYS " TUFF T sa POLL TAX ALo BETA PAYING
greater of authority to impose his policy of Ir's no surprisc Neil Kinnock and his cronies Michael Heseltine, whose policies on education and the economy are so close to early clection victory progress were delighted that the Thatcherite Major won the latest "new realist" nonsense served up from towards monetary won. flat-footed Labour Major than cautious give rather would declare delails of their The option income!). John Harris NUJ derided by the Thatcherites as a ment intervention, and a blast from the had old Heathite past of concessions lo the unions, he, as much as Major and Hurd, was an active party to the onslaught on the miners and printworkers and Secretary Kenneth Baker in line with Europcan restrictions on im Though Hoseltine was widely "corporatist' advocate of gover- the imposition of Thatcher's hat- migration in the run up to 1992. The unions Poll Tax non-payment - key to Thatcher's defeat Housing is one of the issues consistent in demonstrating his sales of council houses, and has remining stock of public rector proposals to dispose of the back to a scleut handful of those least likcly to go hust in the short on which Heseltine has been most Thatcherite appetite for privatisa- tion. He masterminded the mass since advocated various dramatic housing - such us simply giving council houses is their present housing temil.
Yet Labour has little to celebrate. The Tories have ditched Thatcher as Graeme Cookson an electoral liability and sion of a new government. Major will be a much harder target for a labour leadership that has almost no altractive policies of its own to becoming the biggest "moderate" In this situation, even sections created the (temporary) impres offer, and has relied instead on opposition to Thatcher's ex- of Labour's right wing are now waking up to the fact that Kin- Walworth Road. prove scrapping the Poll Tax altogether, and returning to some form of homiliating in the extreme, or even trigger a new Thatcherite Another problem is that none mented quickly enough to affect Poll Tax bills for 1991, leaving of the options, other than pump- ing in new money from central goverment, could be imple- backlash inside the Tory Party- could system, rates establishing a collaboration recently offered Thatcher talks on rudely rehuffed): but the hest sions from the new government will be from a position of The crawlers of the TUC bureaucracy might conceivably helieve they stand a better chance with a Major government (they a new "social contract", only to be strength, based on industrial ac- Only under such pressure can workers draw wut what differen- ces of approach do exist in the chance of forcing any conces- lery of anti-union Taws. ing to tight limits on public The appointment of Heseltine as Environment Secretary offers bomeless goverment which will be work- shares Thatcher's hostility to any wel The Thatcher govemment set out in the late 1970s to steal the mantle of Britain's racist porty from the rag-lag fascist groupings Since then the door has been fare state provision and any inde- pendence of local govemment. Racist laws and which little change for the spending. of the day. icnants.
tivists who had gone along with the Policy Review will become ites have thrown out the haby with the bathwater, leaving little to attract the extra votes they opportunities to follow through the struggle against new realism. native to Thatcherism and its nock as leader in a liability. Ac- more aware that in ditching con The hard left will find now and the fight for a socialist alter- Page 3 troversial policies, the Kinnock- latest variant - the Majorettes. need. the issue a serious embarrassment The best scenario for Major "honeymoon' period, using Heseltine as a decoy to First jingoistic echoes of a war in the Gulf, before public revulsion An early election would also seems to be to exploit his few wholesale Poll Tax review is hap pening, and to go for an early election, possibly exploiting the trick voters into believing grows as the body-count rises. up to the next election. Europe months hoohy- prize job as Environment ing a new formula for Poll Tax, Jolin Major will take the credit: if With public spending nailed fimly down as Major has tried to te hope of using large subsidies to cut the level of Poll Tax bills: against limited options in hix new Secretary. If he succeeds in find squeeze out inflation, there in lit- indeed the inherently regressive he fails, he will be on his own. Michac| Heseltine Poll Tax SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 29, December/January 1990/91 new Tory leadership. Major and by the 'European' and ruming back slammed shut on black immigra- tion, callously dividing families. subjecting thousands of black visitors to humiliating checks and prolonged detention, deporting These policies have been upheld by the liberal" Hurd as Home Secretary, and by cahinets including the 'man of the people" Heseltine; they will be further thousands of black illegal im tightened under new thousands more refugees. migrants" Major
By Wednesday October 31. that the woman had been suffi ciently frightened by what had that it might happen again that the response from management In- stead management hit back, seek- ing injunctions under the anti- union laws and attempting to strikes!! They did not succeed in management were able to com- happened and sufficiently scared witch-hunt the strike as a regres- denting strikers' solidarity: to 1960s-style