Worse Than Thatcher

Over on Comment Is Free, for which his critics (and mine) maintain that he has never written, Neil Clark writes:

Ask any genuine socialist or progressive which was the most extremist British government since the war and it's long odds-on that they'd say one of the three administrations of Margaret Thatcher. But I believe that is now an outdated judgment. For when it comes to political extremism the present government has already outdone Thatcher.

The coalition, which its supporters ludicrously claims occupies the centre ground, seems hellbent on privatising the entire British state. Everything must go: our publicly owned forests, our postal service, our state-owned bookmaker, our air traffic control. And though the government denies that its health bill represents the privatisation of the NHS, there can be little doubt that it's real aim is to open the door for profit-hungry private companies to take over surgeries and hospitals.

Thatcher may have started privatisation in Britain, but even she knew when to stop – for instance, when it came to the Royal Mail. She also said that the NHS was safe in her hands and, in broad terms, it was. In just seven months, David Cameron – for all his pre-election pledges – has shown that the NHS is certainly not safe in his.

The haste with which the coalition is proceeding in its ideological crusade to destroy the last vestiges of the post-1945 settlement is in stark contrast to the more cautious approach taken by Thatcher when she came to power in 1979. The dominant neoliberal narrative is that she came in all guns blazing to rescue Britain from the horrors of socialism. The reality is that the Iron Lady's first term wasn't that radical at all. The really hardcore (and extremely damaging) neoliberal reforms (Big Bang, demutualisation of the building societies, the cutting of the top rate of income tax and the privatisation of the utilities), came later on in her second and third terms – when the threat of a Labour comeback was reduced after the SDP split. But the coalition, using the excuse of cutting the deficit – which as a percentage of GDP is significantly lower than it was in 1945 when the Labour government built the NHS and the welfare state – has gone into extremist mode right from the off.

Those who hoped that the Lib Dem presence in government would help moderate Conservative excesses have had a rude awakening. The Lib Dems have proved less of a moderating influence than One Nation Tories – such as Lord Hailsham, Willie Whitelaw, Jim Prior, and Sir Ian Gilmour – were in Thatcher's first years.

The reason is that Clegg, and his fellow Orange Book Liberals, are actually more keen on market forces and globalised capitalism than the so-called Tory wets were. In last year's election, the free market fundamentalism of the Liberal Democrats was ignored by many commentators and voters who saw their opposition to Labour's security measures, and their advocacy of electoral reform, as evidence that the party was progressive. But progressive parties don't enthuse over plans to privatise Britain's motorway network, as the "moderate" Vince Cable did, nor do their leaders make speeches in which they bemoan the fact that "we have nationalised education, nationalised health, and nationalised welfare". Under Clegg's leadership, the Lib Dems have moved from being a genuinely social democratic party – one which fought the 2005 election on a manifesto to the left of Labour – into a British version of Germany's pro-market FDP. That's why the Lib Dems of 2011 can quite happily vote for the effective destruction of the NHS, the sell-off of the Royal Mail and support Osborne's spending cuts.

Up and down the country, people are asking why their much-loved public libraries have to close, why the Royal Mail, in state hands in 1516, has to be privatised, and why our ancient woodlands are being flogged off. And why, if money is too tight to mention, doesn't the government make the bankers and financial speculators pay their fare share?

It's becoming clear that the coalition acts not in the interests of the majority, but the tiny few. A government that genuinely occupied the centre ground would be renationalising Britain's railways (as around 70% of the population desire), not giving even longer, 15-year franchises to the profiteering train companies, who are responsible for British commuters having to pay the highest train fares in Europe.

Despite strong evidence that his draconian economic policies are pushing us towards a double-dip recession, the chancellor, George Osborne, carries on regardless, blaming unions for holding Britain back.

As opposition to the government's market fundamentalism intensifies in the weeks and months ahead, expect those who resist to be labelled wreckers and extremists. But it's the trade unions, the student protestors, the library campaigners, the people who are joining groups to save their local youth service, or who are fighting against Andrew Lansley's health bill, who are the moderates. The real wreckers and extremists are those currently occupying the corridors of power.