Cameron embraces Thatcher
David Cameron will make his clearest appeal to Thatcherite economic policy today when he calls on the country to start living within its means.
In a major economics speech in Birmingham, the leader of the opposition – who entered the Tory party in the last two years of Thatcher’s reign – will say the UK has reached “the limits of acceptable taxation”.
“After a decade of reckless spending under Labour, Britain needs good housekeeping from the Conservatives. We need to start living within our means,” he will continue.
The comments echo two of Ms Thatcher’s infamous statements. The housekeeping comment harks back to Ms Thatcher’s claims to the Observer that any woman who knows how to run a home knows how to run a country.
The second, that Britain should live within its means, echoes her comments to the News of the World in 1981, when she said her economics policy was not based on economic theory but the common sense of British households: “An honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay; live within your means; put by a nest egg for a rainy day; pay your bills on time”.
It is the clearest indication yet Mr Cameron intends to adopt a more conservative economic policy than the current government and that he will endeavor to cut taxes when in power, a claim he has poured cold water on when it is brought up during interviews.
