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Turning points: Thatcher 40 years on

There is room once again for a new set of ideas to charge up the Square Mile

Margaret Thatcher campaigning in 1983.
Margaret Thatcher campaigning in 1983. Photo: Peter Jordan// Getty Images

Margaret Thatcher’s election as prime minister on May 3 1979 unleashed animal spirits that would transform the City, for better and for worse.

The Big Bang reforms revitalised the Square Mile and made London the financial capital of Europe, if not the world. Some would argue that the economic liberalisation that happened on Thatcher’s watch set in train a process that fuelled a revolution in greed and ultimately resulted in the global financial crisis.

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