'Thatcher's Britain was abysmal - why do the Tories still strive to recreate it?'

Tories still don’t get it

Given the depth of her humiliation as Britain’s briefest ever Prime Minister, Liz Truss’s attempt to shirk responsibility for the financial chaos she inflicted on Britain may be a personal survival tactic.

Yet at the Conservative conference in Birmingham, the finger-pointing at everybody else reminded us why the Tories were brutally kicked out of power at the General Election. Truss was the last Conservative leader to believe she was another Margaret Thatcher; Kemi Badenoch demonstrates her unfitness to lead by now declaring she’s the next.

Badenoch pretending she never threatened maternity pay and rights, when a radio recording clearly confirms she did, was not Thatcherite. It was pathetic wriggling. And that is before we even consider whether Britain in the 2020s would ever want to return to the 1980s – mass unemployment, soaring inequality, bitter strikes and the giveaway of vital national assets to fatcats and City spivs. Complacent due to Labour’s rough start, Tories are mad to dig in rather than change.

Shameful stat

Increasing numbers of pupils are going to school grubby – a tragic legacy of 14 years of Tory failure. Dirty uniforms, unwashed hair and unbrushed teeth are signs of neglect and poverty which could scar children for life.

The cost of living crisis, rising poverty, squeezed wages, struggling families and a breakdown in society are damaging hangovers from the Conservative era. Blaming parents will not get us anywhere, but helping them might. We applaud teachers who do what they can to save these kids. Every child matters. We all pay in the long run when so many grow up in difficult circumstances, unlikely to fulfil their potential.

Stripped down

ITV is not coy about why The Real Full Monty is to be ditched. The bare truth is naked celebs do not want to be seen warts and all.