Prestwich_Blue said:
She didn't hate the poor or the working class as such but she had no time for those that had no interest in bettering themselves as she had done or those that wanted to rely on the state. As a grammar school girl who had to fight for everything I'd say she was determined that those who had aspirations could achieve them. Many working class people did very well out of her but it depended where you lived to a greater or lesser degree.
She also equally hated those who felt privilege could get them what they wanted for the same reason and that was mainly her motivation for the changes that opened up the financial world, which had been dominated by stuffy men who got their jobs because of who their father was and where they went to school.
This is spot on and a much more contextualised analysis than the gross over-simplification that she "hated the working classes".
She loved the working classes as long as they were "her" working classes. If they displayed all the qualities of self-improvement, thrift, social conservatism and hard work that she saw in her father (who she idolised) and herself, then I imagine they were the people she admired and respected the most. More than Royalty or her "friends in the City", even.
It goes back to what mackenzie posted last night about her complete absence of empathy. She could not relate to anyone who did not share her values. She could not appreciate that not everyone had her brains, her stable upbringing, or her (relative to them) comfortable living standards from which to better themselves. She assumed that families always provided the necessary support mechanism for people to self-improve. She probably assumed those with disabilities had adequate help from their loved ones. She possibly even assumed that redundant miners could use their redundancy money to start their own business.
She singularly failed to appreciate that not everyone can grab life by the horns and "make something of themselves". That can be for reasons of opportunity, luck, health, family circumstances and general predisposition, and the fact that she failed to appreciate that is why she is so reviled, and with some justification. It was her biggest downfall as a person and as a politician and why whilst she may have been a great leader of the Conservative party, she could never be described as a great Prime Minister.
