Editing Middle England (section)

==Origins==
The origins of the term "Middle England" are not known. Writer [[Ian Hislop]] found evidence of the British Prime Minister [[Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury|Lord Salisbury]]'s using the term in 1882, but it did not gain popularity at the time.<ref>Moran 2005 p. 232</ref> Modern popular usage of the phrase has been attributed to [[Margaret Thatcher]] who, according to the historian [[David Cannadine]], introduced the expression into political phraseology by adopting [[Richard Nixon]]'s concept of "[[Middle America (United States)|Middle America]]".<ref name="reeves">{{cite journal |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2007/10/middle-england-class-social |first=Richard |last=Reeves |title=Middle England. They're nicer than you think |journal=[[New Statesman]] |date=25 October 2007 |accessdate=30 October 2012}}</ref> However, [[Joe Moran (social historian)|Joe Moran]] found that, although the concept originated in Thatcherism, the term itself was rarely used by Thatcher, or by national newspapers until the 1990s [[premiership of John Major]].<ref>Moran 2005 p. 233</ref>