Margaret Thatcher, the first female prime minister of the United Kingdom, died on Monday, leaving behind her a legacy of conservative values that American politicians still cite to this day. Upon learning of her death, Republican House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said she was the “greatest peacetime prime minister in British history.”
But while Thatcher stands as a role model for modern conservativism here in the United States, her policies likely wouldn’t hold up under the scrutiny of a modern-day GOP:
Thatcher was far from a progressive champion. Her policies threw the United Kingdom into recession, decimated British labor unions, and sharply divided the country she reigned over for nearly 12 years. But despite that track record, and even if she is a “political heroine” to modern Republicans like former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, Thatcher’s old school conservatism would never mesh with the ideology of the modern Republican Party in the United States.
Update:
Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) released as statement praising Thatcher for taking a “sledgehammer to the machinery of liberalism” and “embracing conservative values.” He then used her death to attack Obama and Democrats: “The best way to honor Baroness Thatcher is to crush liberalism and sweep it into the dustbin of history. What are you doing this morning to defeat liberal politicians?”