Tory! Tory! Tory! Episode 1: „Outsiders“

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Synopsis (adapted from Wikipedia):
This edition tells of the radicals in the political wilderness after World War II, who saw the foundation of the Welfare State as the thin end of a totalitarian wedge. At first, they were seen as cranks, but gradually they attracted supporters within the political mainstream. It was only when Margaret Thatcher became the leader of the Conservative Party that they saw a champion.

The re-emergence of classical liberalism began with Antony Fisher, an old Etonian chicken farmer, who made a fortune by introducing battery cage farming into the UK. Fisher had lost his younger brother fighting against Nazi Germany in the Battle of Britain and was determined to use his fortune to combat what he saw as the totalitarian tendencies of the Labour Government’s policies e.g. nationalisation, price controls, and the welfare state. Influenced by the Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek, he established the Institute of Economic Affairs under the directorship of Ralph Harris.

Harris and his research director, Arthur Seldon, were both economists from working-class backgrounds who had grown to support the free market. After being warned by Fisher that their task could take twenty years, they grew old together, beavering away at their small Westminster office and churning out a stream of pamphlets designed to influence academics, journalists and politicians to the view that the free market is the most efficient and liberal way to organise social affairs, and that government intervention is often wasteful. They were widely dismissed until 1964, when Edward Heath championed their policy in his abolition of price controls.

The Editor of The Times, William Rees-Mogg, sent Peter Jay to the U.S. as economic correspondent where he learned of the Monetarist theories of Milton Friedman. Enoch Powell became the champion of free market economics in British politics, fighting with Heath, a more centrist politician, for control of the party: he was the second biggest loser from Heath’s election win, as it prevented Powell from taking control of the party. Heath had attempted to reduce the power of the trade unions but was eventually beaten by the strikers.

Following the February 1974 election defeat former Health Minister Keith Joseph turned against Heath and his neo-Keynesian policies to become a champion of free market economics, but lost his position and influence after his controversial „human stock“ speech. Joseph’s close friend and ally, Margaret Thatcher, put herself forward as the free market candidate in the subsequent leadership election and won a surprising victory. Jay met with Thatcher at a dinner where he explained to her the monetarist theories that she would subsequently adopt.

A Mentorn Production, commissioned by Controller of BBC Four Janice Hadlow. First broadcast March 8th, 2006.

Note: short clips from the TV shows “Hancock’s Half Hour“ and „Yes Minister“ have been removed to satisfy YouTube’s copyright requirement.

Director: Don Jordan
Producer: Dan Hillman
Series Producer: Don Jordan
Executive Producer, BBC: Lucy Hetherington
Executive Producer: Sam Collyns
Associate Producer: Maggie Gu
Production Executive: Anna Clement
Production Manager: Fiona MacCuish
Production Coordinator: Will Yates
Dubbing Mixer: Steve Cookman
Dubbing Editor: Robin Green
Colourist: Tim O’Brien
Online Editor: Sue Giovanni + Richard Wilding
Film Editor: Paul Trevor Bale
Photography: Colin Rogal
Sound: David Calvert + Bob Withey
Film Researcher: Sue Tiplady
Narrator: Haydn Gwynne
Music composed by Elizabeth Parker

Cast (in order of credited appearance)
Linda Whetstone
Shirley Williams
Robert Skidelsky
Peter Clarke
Ralph Harris
Marjorie Seldon
Simon Jenkins
Peter Jay
William Rees-Mogg
John Nott
Neil Hamilton
Norman Tebbit
Cecil Parkinson
Antony Jay

Also featuring (archive footage):
Clement Attlee
Cherie Blair
Tony Blair
Paul Eddington (as James Hacker)
Derek Fowlds (as Bernard Woolley)
Tony Hancock
George Harrison
Nigel Hawthorne (as Sir Humphrey Appleby)
Edward Heath
Sid James
Keith Joseph
John Lennon
Paul McCartney
Enoch Powell
Ringo Starr
Margaret Thatcher

Kategorie: BBC Panorama

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