MARGARET Thatcher's free-market reforms were controversial, but they fundamentally changed the British economy and still provide a yardstick against which her successors are judged.
During the 1980s, her Conservative government deregulated the financial markets, broke the power of the trade unions, privatised the utilities and the national airline, and promoted individual responsibility wherever possible.
Debate still rages about the impact of these changes, from supporters who say it put Britain on a more competitive footing, to detractors who say it wrecked communities and left the country exposed to the vagaries of the markets.
But like them or loathe them, the reforms had an enduring legacy in attitudes to work and welfare in Britain, and are now the point of comparison for all policies introduced by Thatcher's successors.
Ever since Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron begin introducing deep spending cuts following his election in May 2010, his efforts have been viewed through the prism of whether he is more or less radical than the Iron Lady.
Labour prime minister Tony Blair, in power from 1997 to 2007, was also branded an heir to Thatcher when he advocated bringing competition into public services.
But where that would have once been toxic for a Labour leader, the electoral success of Blair's New Labour project, which combined market-friendly policies with heavy investment in health and education, proved Britain had changed.
"Whether you like Mrs Thatcher or not, she changed the British economy forever and she also changed the way British people think about money, capitalism and enterprise," said Tony Travers, a lecturer at the London School of Economics.
But while proclaiming his admiration for Thatcher, who he received at Downing Street shortly after his election, Cameron has distanced himself from the more controversial aspects of his predecessor's policies.
Learning the lessons from a decade in opposition, he tried to soften his party's image, offering a vision of "compassionate Conservatism" that embraced the liberal principles but was more concerned about the social impact.
In retort to her claim that there is "no such thing as society", Cameron's supporters insist that there is - "it's just not the same as the state". And of course, he has joined a coalition with the centrist Liberal Democrats.
However, his plan for a "Big Society", which envisages transferring many state responsibilities to civil society, has echoes of Thatcher.
The coalition is also selling off the state-owned postal service the Royal Mail, and is mulling new strike laws to limit union action against the cuts.
Michael Portillo, a leading Conservative figure in the 1980s and 1990s, praised the coalition's "breathtaking" ambition to reform government practice and bring in economic changes "at least as challenging" as Thatcher's.
From which Travers concludes: "Cameron's supporters like to think he looks like her. The truth is he is a younger and more modern politician ... acting at a different time."
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