1 Margaret Thatcher and the New Political Culture in the United Kingdom.

For the most part of the Twentieth century England has experienced a progressive increase in the role of the State, embodied in welfare measures and a massive intervention in the economy. The growth of the welfare state began in 1909 with Lloyd George, and the first half of the century was strongly influenced by the ideas of the Fabian Society, the Bloomsbury Group and John Maynard Keynes. This process saw the parallel growth of the Labour Party, driven by a socialist ideology and closely aligned with the Trade Union movement, although the Conservative Party was by no means immune from the socialist “virus ” that had “infected ” the whole British political body. Both the great crisis of 1929 and World War II played a very significant role in the progressive widening of the scope of State action. World War II, in particular, strengthened the process in two respects: under the guise of military necessity, it greatly increased the power in the hands of the government; on the other hand, it fostered the expectation of the public that after the war, their sacrifices were bound to be rewarded by a profusion of social benefits. The Cabinet of Clement R. Attlee (1945-51) begot the so-called “Welfare Labour”, which was broadly outlined in the “Beveridge Report ” (1942). 1945 saw the onset of the “welfare