There’s a sobering moment in one of Stuart Hall’s reflections on Margaret Thatcher’s triumph. “History,” he lamented, “is not waiting in the wings to catch up your mistakes into another ‘inevitable success.’ You lose because you lose because you lose.” The bleakness was blinding. No future seemed possible. Thatcher’s Conservative Party’s vote share grew from 35 percent in 1974 to nearly 44 percent in 1979 in the face of rising unemployment. She was not just winning over an electorate; she was leading the creation of a new one.
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