Margaret Thatcher

"The right-of-centre parties still often compete with left-of-centre ones to proclaim their attachment to all the main programmes of spending, particularly spending on social services of one kind or another. But this foolish as well as muddled. It is foolish because left-of-centre parties will always be able to outbid right-of-centre ones in this auction - after all, that is why they are on the left in the first place. The muddle arises because once we concede that public spending and taxation are than a necessary evil we have lost sight of the core values of freedom."

3 likes

Source: Speech at Monash University, www.margaretthatcher.org. October 6, 1981.

About the author

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher

Politician

Margaret Thatcher was the first female Prime Minister of the UK, known for her strong leadership and economic policies that transformed Britain.

All quotes by Margaret Thatcher →

Same author

More quotes by Margaret Thatcher

See all →
Margaret Thatcher Politician

"Watch your thoughts for they become words. Watch your words for they become actions. Watch your actions for they become habits. Watch your habits for they become your character. And watch your character for it becomes your destiny. What we think, we become. My father always said that... and I think I am fine."

Read quote
Margaret Thatcher Politician

"What we should grasp, however, from the lessons of European history is that, first, there is nothing necessarily benevolent about programmes of European integration; second, the desire to achieve grand utopian plans often poses a grave threat to freedom; and third, European unity has been tried before, and the outcome was far from happy."

Read quote
Margaret Thatcher Politician

"Socialists cry “Power to the people”, and raise the clenched fist as they say it. We all know what they really mean - power over people, power to the State."

Read quote