Page "Conservative Party (UK)" Paragraph 8

The second main grouping in the Conservative party is the " free-market wing " of economic liberals who achieved dominance after the election of Margaret Thatcher as party leader in 1975.

Their goal was to reduce the role of the government in the economy and to this end they supported cuts in direct taxation, the privatisation of nationalised industries and a reduction in the size and scope of the welfare state.

Supporters of the " free-wing wing " have been labelled as " Thatcherites ".

The group has disparate views of social policy: Thatcher herself was socially conservative and a practising Methodist but the free-market wing in the Conservative Party harbour a range of social opinions from the civil libertarian views of Michael Portillo, Daniel Hannan, Douglas Carswell and David Davis to the traditional conservatism of William Hague.

The Thatcherite wing is also associated with the concept of a " classless society.