TheBadPlaceNew Statesman | Thatcherism is still the problem by Ben Glover
As each week passes, a new theory of Labour’s trouble emerges. It’s the comms. The values. The vibes. The policies. The leaflets. The tweets. The TikToks. While there is some truth to these critiques, they fail to explain why the party’s time in office has been so bumpy. The problem runs deeper – and further back – than many in the party are willing to admit.
This starts with the party’s “problem statement”, to use the jargon of management consultants – who will tell you that every plan has to start with one, including programmes for office. Problem statements are by their nature time-bound: if you go to the doctor with an ailment, they will always ask: “When did your symptoms begin?”
For many in Labour, the answer is the financial crisis of 2007-08. It’s too often presumed that our politics was “normal” and the country was on a good course until the crash. And that after that, things got weird – leading to Brexit and other undesirable outcomes. But what if this diagnosis is mistaken? What if the crisis didn’t create our problems, but merely accelerated them? And what if the real turning point came with the continuation of Thatcherism under Blair?
Read more: https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2026/04/thatcherism-is-still-the-problem
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