Wets and dries

Part of the politics series on
Thatcherism
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People Margaret Thatcher Friedrich Hayek Milton Friedman Arthur Seldon Keith Joseph Ralph Harris Alan Walters Geoffrey Howe Nicholas Ridley Norman Tebbit Nigel Lawson John Redwood Michael Portillo Francis Maude
Organisations Conservative Party / "Dries" Bow Group Centre for Policy Studies Conservative Way Forward The Freedom Association The Heritage Foundation Institute of Economic Affairs Mont Pelerin Society No Turning Back Selsdon Group
Related movements Conservatism (United Kingdom) Economic rationalism (Australia) Libertarianism (United Kingdom) New Right Powellism (United Kingdom) Reaganomics (United States) Rogernomics (New Zealand)
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Wets and dries are British political terms that refer to opposing factions within the Conservative Party. The terms originated in the 1980s during the premiership of Margaret Thatcher: those who opposed some of Thatcher's more hard-line policies were often referred to by their opponents as "wets"; in response, supporters of Thatcher were referred to as "dries".