Then there are the public services. Academy schools were the flagship policy of Tony Blair's last term, but he ended up creating just 17. Now there are nearly 450; soon, there will be thousands. John Major doubled the number of universities, but Blair and Gordon Brown failed to double their funding; tuition fees, from which even Sir Keith Joseph resiled in 1984, went through this Parliament in seven months.
The last Tory government wasted a lot of time rearranging the NHS ? setting up district, area and regional health authorities before stumbling towards GP fundholding. Labour did it all over again, endlessly reforming trusts and authorities. But David Cameron and Andrew Lansley are cutting to the chase ? scrapping the bureaucracy and giving GPs real incentives to manage their budgets better.
Then there is the Royal Mail, which for years has been badly in need of modernisation and investment. Thatcher left it well alone; Major hadn't the strength to tackle it; Mandelson flailed ineffectually. Now Ed Davey, a tough-minded Liberal Democrat, has driven its part-privatisation through the Commons in just six months.
Or what about welfare reform? The number of people claiming invalidity benefits increased from 1.2 million in 1979 to 1.7 million in 1990, and now stands at 2.6 million. No previous government, Labour or Tory, got a grip: now there will be a much more rigorous test, insisting that people must work if they can, and face tougher sanctions if they refuse.
Then, of course, there is Europe. We are already withdrawing from the bail-out fund so rashly agreed by Labour: our commitment ends in 2013. David Cameron has established a vital new principle that the next EU budget should reflect cuts in national budgets: in effect, a rebate for all Europe's taxpayers. And the House of Commons has legislated for a sovereignty lock, ensuring that we will get a referendum on future treaties. Ken Clarke is seeking major changes to the operation of the European Court of Human Rights, and a commission will review the working of the Human Rights Act. Parliament is reasserting its authority against the unelected judges of Strasbourg: witness its strong stand against votes for prisoners. National sovereignty is being regained, not lost.
For a first-term prime minister leading an entirely novel coalition, the essential tasks might be enough: growing the economy; weaning it off its over-reliance on public spending, financial services and an unsustainable property boom; and pulling our finances back from the brink over which Greece and Ireland plunged.
Yet far more significant is the quiet revolution that is turning government inside out ? away from Whitehall and targets and regional authorities and back to councils, GPs, head teachers, police commanders, community groups and charities. Ending the state monopoly in almost all public services, encouraging new providers, ensuring competition and choice ? these are the most radical reforms since the Attlee government.
Major tried consumer power and Citizen's Charters. Blair wanted more choice, but failed to provide the means, and gave up too easily in the face of opposition. As for Thatcher, her introduction of privatisation helped to liberate Britain's economy and forge a more self-reliant enterprise culture. But her wider mission of really handing back power to the people is only now getting fully under way.
Michael Fallon is MP for Sevenoaks and deputy chairman of the Conservative Party
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