I don't buy it that we'd have missed the IT boom had Kinnock or Foot been in No 10. Lots of countries experienced an IT boom in the early 1980s, we weren't unique. Right now, the only ongoing fruits of those labours seem to be ARM, the descendants of the RISC CPUs live in most mobile phones today. I can't think of any other British IT players who are still big today.
Don't forget that the lauded government IT contracts haven't necessarily gone to UK vendors either.
Anyway, aside from the grit shown during the Falklands conflict, I cannot think of anything that Thatcher did that was good for the country but I can think of a lot that she did that wasn't.
