Challenging the consensus: Scotland under Margaret Thatcher, 1979-1990

Stewart, David (2004) Challenging the consensus: Scotland under Margaret Thatcher, 1979-1990. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This thesis addresses the reasons why Scottish Conservative support contracted under Thatcher, challenges the assumption that Thatcher was ‘anti-Scottish’ and places her in the wider context of Scottish Conservative and Unionist history, whilst illuminating Scottish Conservative personalities.

This thesis has taken an overview of Thatcher’s tenure as Prime Minister, and illuminates key areas of Scottish society in the 1980s that have hitherto been under-researched. No historian or social scientist has attempted the broad perspective before.

The research has been split into six chapters, and each chapter follows a chronological pattern. Chapter One provides a historical overview of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party since 1886, which is interlinked with the development of the post-war consensus. The chapter concludes by analysing Scottish Conservative Party personalities and in-fighting, both of which are under-rated features of Thatcher’s premiership. Chapter Two examines Thatcher’s economic restructuring and the growing prominence of the European Economic Community (EEC). Chapter Three analyses Thatcher’s industrial relations reforms, and the 1984/85 miners’ strike. Chapter Four scrutinises the Conservatives’ overhaul of the welfare state. Chapter Five focuses on Thatcher’s reform of local government, including the introduction of the community charge. Chapter Six charts the development of the ‘Scottish question’.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Subjects: D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain; J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) > JN1187 Scotland
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > History
• Supervisor's Name: Maver, Dr. Irene
• Date of Award: 2004
• Depositing User: Angi Shields
• Unique ID: glathesis:2004-4316
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 27 May 2013 14:18
• Last Modified: 27 May 2013 14:18
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/4316