THATCHER NOUN (POLITICS)

The name of Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister 1979-90, used in Thatcher's Britain to summarize the effects of her policies, and as the basis for derivatives such as Thatcherism, Thatcherite, etc. Etymology: The surname of one of Britain's longest-serving Prime Ministers. History and Usage: Thatcherism and Thatcherite (a noun or adjective) both date from the second half of the seventies, when Mrs Thatcher was rising through the ranks of Tory MPs and her policies were becoming influential. At the end of the seventies another adjective, Thatcheresque, was coined: this essentially means 'akin to Mrs Thatcher or her policies, Thatcher-like', but has been used particularly in relation to public spending cuts and unwavering resolve in carrying out a policy. Within two years of the start of Mrs Thatcher's administration, journalists started to use the term Thatcher's Britain as a shorthand for British society as it was supposedly affected by Mrs Thatcher's policies; although some uses were positive, the emphasis tended to be on the economic effects or on the social divisions which Conservative policies of the past decade were seen to have produced. Providing a positive counterbalance to all this, an admirer or devotee of Mrs Thatcher is called a Thatcherphile. When one of them said 'make sure you tell them what Thatcher's Britain has done to young people,' I agreed with that young person wholeheartedly. Guardian Weekly 5 June 1988, p. 2 Pauling manifested a quite unnerving certitude and Thatcheresque disregard for even the remotest possibility that he might be wrong. New Scientist 9 Dec. 1989, p. 55 Christopher Hogwood and...Barry Tuckwell are some of the weltklasse artists converging on a corner of England that looks, unfortunately, forever Thatcher. 20/20 July 1990, p. 99 Because of the Thatchers...a Chinese couple has already been to look round, and an American Thatcherphile has booked a visit. Daily Telegraph 18 Dec. 1990, p. 15