The Sunday Times Magazine • 41wisdom that, in her view, had doomed
Britain to stagnation. Then, after
winning the next election, she would
carry out fundamental reforms to
overcome conventional wisdom, the
doctrine of complacency, and the
existing passivity with respect to the
ravages of inflation, the power of the
trade unions or the inefficiency of
state-owned enterprises.
For Thatcher, there were no sacred
cows, much less insurmountable
obstacles. Every policy was up for
scrutiny. It was not sufficient, she
argued, for Conservatives to sand down
the rough edges of socialism; they had
to roll back the state before Britain’s
economy collapsed in catastrophic
fashion. In the realm of foreign affairs,
she was disarmingly honest about her
inexperience, confessing that she had
yet to formulate detailed ideas of her
own. But she made clear that she
believed passionately in the “special
relationship” with the United States.
Our meetings continued long after
Thatcher left office and through the rest
of her life. I describe our relationship in
this way to make a point: unlike the
president of the United States, the
British prime minister does not have the
ability to override the cabinet and still
maintain his or her government. Thatcher
was aware of these limits. To help her
compensate, she would discreetly call
on friends in Britain and around the world
to discuss her vision and her options.
Thatcher’s economic reforms
changed Britain irrevocably. She had
assumed high office after years of
apparent national decline. Inflation had
been at 18 per cent in 1980 but had
been cut to 8 per cent by 1990, whenshe left office. Likewise, unemployment
had been reduced to 7 per cent by 1990.
In 1983 nearly 100,000 workers left
Britain, but by 1990 more than 200,000
were arriving annually. The number of
working days lost to labour disputes
plummeted from 29.5 million in 1979 to
1.9 million in 1990.
As the economy improved, she led
the Conservative Party to three
consecutive electoral victories. On the
other hand, Thatcher never succeeded
in winning a broad consensus in favour
of her economic reforms, even after they
began to show results. She was admired
by many, loved by some, but resented
by much of the working class and left-
leaning intellectuals for the exertions of
the reform period. In 1988 the
perception of Thatcher as cold-hearted
was revived by her embrace of the
“community charge” (a flat tax imposed
to fund local government that was
dubbed the “poll tax”), which sparked
widespread protests and contributed to
her eventual political downfall.
By contrast, Thatcher achieved a
lasting impact on the economic views
of the median voter and politicalelites. When Tony Blair’s New Labour
government was elected in 1997 —
seven years after Thatcher’s departure
from office — I wrote her a letter of
congratulations for laying the
groundwork for this major turn away
from the left:
“I never thought I’d congratulate
you on a Labour victory in the British
elections, but I cannot imagine
anything that would confirm your
revolution more than Blair’s program.
It seems to me well to the right of the
Conservative government that
preceded yours.”
While Thatcher continued to be
pained by the circumstances under
which she was forced from office, on
this occasion she managed good cheer.
“I think your analysis is the correct
one,” she replied, “but to make one’s
political opponent electable and then
elected was not quite the strategy I
had in mind!”
Two weeks after Blair took office —
and much to the consternation of
his left flank — he invited Thatcher to
tea at 10 Downing Street. Ostensibly,
the meeting’s purpose was to seek
her advice regarding an upcoming
European summit, but there was
clearly also an element of personal
admiration. Likewise, ten years later,
Blair’s successor, Gordon Brown, made
a point of extending a similar invitation
within his first three months as prime
minister. On that occasion, Thatcher
was seen leaving the prime minister’s
residence with a clutch of flowers in
her hands. It was proof that she had
met the objective she had laid out in
the baleful 1970s: creating a new centre.Leadership: Six Studies in World
Strategy by Henry Kissinger is
published by Allen Lane on
June 28 at £25Left: Kissinger with Thatcher in New
York, 1992. Below, from left: Thatcher
with Tony Blair, 2007; and with
Gordon and Sarah Brown, 2007When Tony Blair’s government was elected
I wrote Thatcher a letter of congratulations
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