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Does Britain needs 'spirit of Maggie'?
SHEFFIELD MP Nick Clegg has come under fire after praising former Tory Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
In an interview with the Spectator magazine Mr Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, says he believes Baroness Thatcher's victory over the unions was "immensely significant".
He said: "I'm 43 now. I was at university at the height of the Thatcher revolution and I recognise now something I did not at the time: her victory over a vested interest, the trade unions, was immensely significant.
"I don't want to be churlish, that was an immensely important visceral battle for how Britain is governed.
"And what has now happened to the British economy? It has gone belly-up because, once again, we have allowed a vested interest - the banking sector - to run riot."
Mr Clegg said the spirit of Baroness Thatcher's assaults on the unions is what the country now needs to tackle the banks.
And he compared the Lib Dems' tax policies with those of former Tory Chancellor Nigel Lawson, declaring: "What I am advocating is a Lawson policy."
But his comments have been seized on by Labour MPs in Sheffield, who point out Thatcher's battle with the coal miners ravaged areas of South Yorkshire and her economic policies decimated the region's manufacturing industry.
Brightside MP David Blunkett said: "I think most people in Sheffield will see these comments for what they are - an attempt to cosy up to the Conservatives in anticipation of what is predicted to be a very close General Election.
"Bearing in mind what Margaret Thatcher did to our city, I'm disappointed - but I'm not surprised, as Nick Clegg's entire strategy in his area has been to mop up the Tory vote for the local Liberal Democrats.
"Nick Clegg may not remember Nigel Lawson virtually brought Britain to her knees without the help of any bankers or a global economic meltdown, with all the mass unemployment and deprivation we remember from the early 1990s."
Sheffield Central MP Richard Caborn added: "I think it's fairly naive of Nick. It's not in keeping with what many in his own party would agree with."
Only a year ago, Mr Clegg launched an outspoken attack on life in Britain under Mrs Thatcher, blaming the former prime minister for sewing the seeds of the current economic crisis.
At last year's spring conference, Mr Clegg blamed Baroness Thatcher for creating a "brutal" and "soulless" Britain, and condemned the former leader for "cut-throat, sink-or-swim materialism".
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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