The Search for a Brexit-Era Margaret Thatcher
Forty years after Margaret Thatcher’s era-defining election victory in 1979, Britain once again appears divided and ungovernable, with a decision to make.
In the Gothic grandeur of London’s ancient Guildhall, the great and the good of trans-Atlantic conservatism gathered to search for the conviction they once had.
The conference was in honor of Margaret Thatcher, 40 years after her era-defining election in 1979 as Britain’s first female prime minister. The event was slated as an opportunity to examine the “special relationship” between Britain and the United States and what relevance—if any—it still had in the era of Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, and Brexit. It was supposed to be about the future, but in reality was more like a wake for the certainties of the past. The confidence had gone.
Thatcher took over as prime minister at a time of crisis in the U.K. Britain was the
