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Margaret Thatcher would have been 100
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years old today. This is why she's still
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more relevant than ever. Even though she
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left office 35 years ago, no Tori can
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ever stop talking about the Iron Lady.
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There was even a display of her clothes
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at this year's Conservative Party
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conference, preserved behind glass like
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the corpse of Lenin. Why? I believe it
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is because she gave conservatives moral
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and intellectual clarity which we have
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since struggled to regain. It is
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scarcely possible to imagine a
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politician today telling a journalist as
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she did once that she was in politics
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because of the conflict between good and
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evil and out of the conviction that in
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the end good will triumph. She was no
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Liz Trust style free market ideologue.
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Her economics were underpinned by her
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strong Christian faith and undying
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conviction in the greatness of Britain
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and in the evil of socialism. She gave
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conservatives something to believe in.
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She also got results. When she took
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office in 1979, Britain was the sick man
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of Europe. Such was the reach of the
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state that we even had a nationalized
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sugar company. Her free market reforms,
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privatizing sways of industry, curbing
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union power, and championing enterprise,
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not only turn the economy around, but
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reshaped the national psyche. Disney's
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adaptation of the late great Jill
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Cooper's rivals is a glorious
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celebration of the brash, confident, and
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individualistic culture she inspired.
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Today, we face problems similar to those
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she wrestled with. Decades of near
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stagnant growth have left Britain in the
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palpable grip of decline. People aren't
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just materially poorer. Shuttered shops,
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graffiti dog tube trains, and public
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services that just don't work make us
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feel worse off, too. Abroad, we face
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enemies no less hostile to our
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democratic way of life than the Soviet
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Union was. And in the BMA, we have a
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militant trade union holding the nation
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to ransom for its own political agenda.
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These doctors are no better than Arthur
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Scargill just because they wear white
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coats. Such challenges demand real
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conservative solutions. But the party
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Thatcher led is now under existential
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threat. With reforms surging in the
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polls, many are urging the tries to make
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a pact with Farage and unite the right.
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I think Thatcher would have been
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appalled by the idea, not just because
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she was a conservative to her core, but
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because she would have distrusted the
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intellectual slipperiness of Faraj's
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agenda. For her, leadership meant
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conviction within the framework of
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responsible government, not a populist
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revolt from the sidelines. She would
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have urged today's conservatives to stop
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looking for salvation in alliances or
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slogans and instead rediscover their
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moral purpose to defend freedom, reward
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hard work, and restore national
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confidence. Margaret Thatcher's 100th
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birthday is as good an opportunity as
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any to remember that what Britain and
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the Conservative Party need right now is
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resolve. Let us know what you think of
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the legacy of the Iron Lady in the
