Word: britain
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...First Lady headlines distract from the real meaning of the Conservative victory at the polls: the new Thatcher government professes the most right-wing program seen in British politics since World War II. The Conservative majority of 43 seats in the new House of Commons was culled from a Britain increasingly divided into 'two nations...
...cent voter turnout, and a national voting swing of 5 per cent--the highest in decades--the electorate went decisively for Tory policies, scorning the middle-ground consensus on which both major parties had traditionally operated, and which had been considered indispensable both in winning elections and governing Britain...
Instead Carter will have to deal with Mrs. Thatcher--dubbed the 'Iron Maiden' by the Soviets--who has been openly skeptical of the value of detente and a SALT II agreement. And though the Conservative commitment to increased NATO defense spending may please the Pentagon, a Tory Britain acting more Europe-conscious and less, as the French allege, "as a stalking-horse for American interests," may well be rated a minus by the State Department...
...British can brace themselves for the possibility of bitterness and conflict on a scale hitherto unknown if the Tories carry through on their campaign rhetoric. The United Kingdom's energy self-sufficiency--thanks to North Sea oil--and the Labour government's achievement in paying off Britain's international debts will provide a base for the much-vaunted cuts in income taxes. Many argue that such revenues should be used directly to improve the quality of social services for ordinary people and to finance the modernization of British industry that is so desperately needed...
That leaves only drastic cuts in social and welfare programs to finance the tax-cuts--and here we come to an uncanny similarity between the position of Mrs. Thatcher and that of Gov. Edward J. King in Massachusetts--except that in Britain there will be no liberal state legislature to mitigate savage reductions in help for the elderly, poor, sick and disadvantaged...