The Health and Safety Executive is now far more powerful than the House of Commons

Before the 1979 election, many senior Tories believed that Thatcherism was dangerous nonsense. If Margaret Thatcher did become Prime Minister, they assumed that she would either learn sense rapidly or have to be replaced by a sensible man. Otherwise, as Ian Gilmour later put it, her government would be heading straight for the rocks.

It seemed obvious to these wise figures that a Tory government could only succeed by working within the system it would inherit. Minor modifications apart, nothing could be done about the nationalised industries and the same was true of the trade unions. Keith Joseph had complained about the ratchet of socialism. Labour governments always pushed it on a few notches while Tory governments seemed incapable of reversing it. The senior Tory pessimists did not dissent from Sir Keith’s judgment. But they did not think that much could be done. Some members of Mrs Thatcher’s first Cabinet believed that a Tory government could achieve little more than the orderly management of decline.