It was a love affair — platonic, but a love affair, all the same. As a former US diplomat put it, President Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were “political and philosophical soul mates”. The connection between Reagan and Thatcher secured the return of the ideal of the free market. Both aimed at rolling back what they thought an over-intrusive and incompetent state. Their marriage of ideas did not just reshape the politics and policies of their countries. It reshaped those of the world. But it did not do so, on its own. Arguably, Deng Xiaoping’s rise to power in China was a more fundamental long-run shift.
Fast forward to today. In his inaugural address in January, Donald Trump spoke not of Reagan’s “shining ‘city on a hill’”, but of “American carnage”. This was more than a change of mood. The leaders of the Republican party had long sought the votes they needed for their primary goals of tax cuts, spending cuts and economic deregulation by appealing to cultural, religious and ethnic anxieties. Mr Trump spoke directly to the angry and anxious, by promising to defend social security and Medicare, embrace protectionism and curb immigration. He said: “Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength.” This was neither traditional conservatism nor Reaganism. It was rightwing populism.
Theresa May repudiates Thatcherism still more explicitly than Mr Trump rejected Reaganism. Her Conservative election manifesto states: “We must reject the ideological templates provided by the socialist left and the libertarian right and instead embrace the mainstream view that recognises the good that government can do.” Moreover: “We do not believe in untrammelled free markets. We reject the cult of selfish individualism. We abhor social division, injustice, unfairness and inequality. We see rigid dogma and ideology not just as needless but dangerous.”