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Austerity, Brexit and 44 days in purgatory: the key stages of Tory rule

Politics professor Tim Bale tracks the five main phases in 12 years of Conservative government

Up until the financial crash of 2007/8, chancellor George Osborne and PM David Cameron were ‘compassionate Conservatives’, keen to ‘share the proceeds of growth’. But when the shit hit the fan, they were all about balancing the book with cuts to public spending (particularly on welfare and local authorities), bearing a much greater share of the burden than tax rises.

Tim Bale is professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London and the author of The Conservative Party from Thatcher to Cameron

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/nhqEDsL
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