KEY INSIGHTS + Power was the point: Thatcherism centralised political power and privatised economic power — the formula Andy Burnham now promises to reverse. Thatcherism centralised political power and privatised economic power — the formula Andy Burnham now promises to reverse. Delors outlasted Thatcher: The EU ultimately followed the social democratic vision of integration, while Thatcher’s heirs voted Britain out. Avoiding technical language, Burnham sums it up by placing the question of power at the centre: “Political power was centralised and economic power was privatised.” The European dimensionThe titanic clash of west European economic philosophies over European integration took place between Thatcher and the European Commission president Jacques Delors.