Blair built on Thatcher’s legacy. That’s a simple fact | Phil McDuff

Labour MP Zarah Sultana's comments linking the two provoked wrath. But why were they even controversial?

In her maiden speech to the House of Commons, the new Labour MP for Coventry South, Zarah Sultana, said, "In 10 years' time, at the start of the next decade, I want to look teenagers in the eye and say with pride: my generation faced 40 years of Thatcherism, and we ended it."

Related: Stuart Hall: New Labour has picked up where Thatcherism left off

The energised, aspirational, entrepreneurial economy was Thatcher's gift to Blair