Ideological Concepts of Thatcherism :Thatcherism represents something qualitatively new in British politics

... IDEOLOGICAL CONCEPTS OF THATCHERISM: Thatcherism represents something qualitatively new in British politics." `This statement, made by Stuart Hall in 1980, is a good starting point for a discussion of Thatcherism, raising as it does, several key questions. `Firstly, what is Thatcherism? Is it an ideology or is it, as Riddell believes, "an instinct, a series of moral values and an approach to leadership rather than an ideology"? (A view shared by Gamble, who regarded Thatcherism as being "essentially statecraft rather than ideology.") `Secondly, if Thatcherism is an ideology (and the majority of political commentators clearly see it as being so) then is it, as Hall claims, a new ideology or is it simply a continuation of traditional Conservative philosophy? Is it possible to distinguish between Conservatism and Thatcherism or are we in danger of losing sight of them altogether under an "overelaborate edifice of theory"? `We might even ask legitimately if Thatcherism is purely a

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