Conclusion

Abstract

If the eighties were the decade of Margaret Thatcher, one of its many effects has been to popularise the term ‘Victorian values’. A political project which was committed to privatisation, the restric-tion of trade union power and the restoration of Britain’s standing on the world stage was also committed to a revival of discipline and standards. As part of that vision, the Prime Minister and other prominent Conservatives launched attacks on the sixties and ‘the permissive society’.