A Nation of Mortgagors, 1970–1989

Abstract

Between 1970 and 1989 the two main parties began to diverge on the sale of council homes, particularly after the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979. The chapter explains the widening ideological fissures on social housing and home ownership. The spread of home ownership during this period continued the ‘tenurial revolution’, which began in the interwar period. In the same period, a co-relationship had developed between mass markets in consumer durables and owner occupation. The relationship was amplified further in the 1980s amidst a credit boom and rising levels of home ownership. This chapter focuses on the role of the Conservatives’ renewed focus on the right-to-buy policy that turned many council tenants into members of the expanded property-owning democracy.