The View from 22 — Francis Maude and Liz Truss on Margaret Thatcher

How does Margaret Thatcher’s legacy impact Tory MPs today? This week’s Spectator magazine contains a 16-page supplement considering the premiership of Baroness Thatcher, both high and low points. On this week’s View from 22 podcast, Francis Maude debates whether Thatcher was the original moderniser. One of the few ministers to serve under both Thatcher and David Cameron, Maude offers his insights into what Thatcher thought of the present-day Tory party, why she actually avoided some particular battles, and how she is seen by the Prime Minister, who Maude suggests is completing the Thatcherite project.

The Children and Families minister Liz Truss — a self-proclaimed Thatcherite — also joins us to discuss what the 2010 intake of Tory MPs think about Margaret Thatcher. Truss contends some of her radical-thinking colleagues in the Free Enterprise Group are true believers in Thatcherism and continue to take inspiration from her reforms. Plus, James Forsyth analyses the reaction across the political spectrum to Baroness Thatcher’s death, why it proves she won and what effect it might have on the standing of the parties today.