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The traditional view that New Labour was almost exclusively influenced by Thatcher proclaims that the policies and success of Thatcherism caused Labour to adapt to a political climate forever changed by what Thatcher accomplished in her years in office. Simon Jenkins argues that the New Labour governments didn’t reverse any of the key policies of the Thatcher ministries, stating, Blair and Brown brought their colleagues round to accept the Thatcherite settlement. He suggests that New Labour must have been influenced by Thatcher, as their core policy platforms were very similar. Jenkins claims do hold some weight, as Labour’s 997 manifesto shows with Blair admitting in his foreword; Some things the Conservatives got right. We will not change them. The manifesto also contained no commitments to renationalisation, and strengthening trade unions. This, and the commitment of maintaining Conservative spending for the first two years of government, is reliable evidence that Labour were being directly influenced by the economic policies of Thatcher. While manifestos have their problems as evidence (because governments don’t always follow through on their promises), they can be a useful indication of what parties intend to do and the general dir

ection they are taking.
Anthony Seldon argues that Blair owes much to her legacy and that her policies of reducing the role of central government, boosting individualism… have been directly copied by the Labour Prime Minister since 997. Seldon indicates that Thatcher’s cornerstones in terms of both policy and attitudes were copied by Blair and her influence is very significant, given that these policies and values had not been adopted by a Prime Minister before the Second World War. Therefore, it seems far more likely that it was her influence that inspired Blair into the New Labour transformation, rather than any other leader, especially not former Labour Prime Ministers. Seldon even goes on to say that Blair owed more to her than James Callaghan or even Harold Wilson. That opinion is given weight by accusations by those on the Labour left who referred to Blair as a neo-Thatcherite, many MPs even rebelling against more Thatcherite policies such as Tuition fees, which barely passed the House, despite Labour having an enormous majority. If it weren’t for the Conservatives voting in favour of the Education and Inspections Act 2006, it wouldn’t have passed, indicating that New Labour’s policies had strong Thatcherite elements.