Image copyright Steve Eason/Hulton Archive/Getty Images It was Margaret Thatcher"s biggest political misjudgement – and brought her career as prime minister to an ignominious end.
The poll tax (or community charge) was supposed to make local council finance fairer and more accountable. Instead it triggered civil disobedience and riots and a rebellion in the Conservative Party.
Cabinet papers for 1989 and 1990, released today at the National Archives in Kew, reveal the reaction to the crisis at the heart of government. They show how involved the prime minister herself was.
And they pinpoint the moment it dawned on her that her flagship policy had turned into a political disaster which was hitting, not Labour local councils, but her natural supporters.
The size of the files alone – there are nine thick manila folders compiled over 18 months – are evidence of how far the poll tax dominated government thinking. Mark Dunton, a specialist in modern records at the National Archives, cal..
Read More
ليست هناك تعليقات:
إرسال تعليق