I have been busy so missed the opportunity to post this closer to the actual anniversary of Mrs Thatcher's first election victory. In any event, I thought it important to reflect on Mrs T's oft-cited policies on the environment.
She tends to be lauded by those in favor of immediate action on global warming, on account of her early interest in the issue. However, as I describe here, she has been dismayed by the direction in which global warming policy has gone, and anyone who suggests she would be in favour of the sort of policies currently being talked about clearly hasn't read Statecraft.
In The Downing Street Years she talks about the "cranks and romantics" of the environmental movement and how effectively Nicholas Ridley dealt with them. I shudder to think how Nick Ridley would respond to, for instance, the 80% emissions reduction target and the bind that puts on so much of a Conservative government's policy in other areas, something that I believe Matt Sinclair plans to write about here soon.
