The manifesto on which the first Thatcher government was elected in 1979 was a relatively modest document compared to the radicalism which followed as the 1980s progressed, but nonetheless, it was clear that a significant change of ideological direction was envisaged, as delineated in the previous chapter, which entailed new political priorities and policies. Although there were clear pledges on cutting direct taxation and selling council houses to their tenants, on many other flagship Thatcherite policies, such as privatization, and trade union reform, the 1979 manifesto was rather restrained in what it promised. There were four reasons for this modesty, the first being that election manifestos aim to present voters with a political party's overall objectives and priorities, albeit including a few attractive policy pledges, rather than a detailed itinerary of every proposed measure and legislation.

Second, the inclusion of too many specific or detailed policy pledges might alienate some potential voters, either because they might dislike some of the pledged policies, or because the more detail provided, the more political ammunition this will provide to the party's rivals, who will then seek to frighten voters about the implications of a particular policy, and how it will detrimentally affect them.

The third reason for the relative opacity of the Conservatives 1979 manifesto was that the party was itself ideologically divided between Thatcherites and One Nation Conservatives, or “dries and wets” in common parlance, and hence the manifesto reflected the need for compromise by only offering pledges and policies that both philosophical wings of the party could endorse; more contentious or controversial policy proposals needed to be omitted or toned down.

Fourth, Thatcher herself was not yet sufficiently confident about how radical she and a Conservative government could be. As we noted in the previous chapter, she had many ideas and instincts about what shewanted to change and achieve, but was unsure about how far, or how fast, she would be able to implement the policies and reforms which she favoured. Consequently, some Thatcherite policies were pursued incrementally, while others were not enacted until the latter years of her premiership, by which time her confidence (along with that of her closest ministerial colleagues) had increased, and sources of opposition – both inside the Conservative Party and far beyond – had been weakened.