As Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher set herself the goal of transforming Britain into a consumer society where the customer was king from a producer society where people had to tolerate poor products and service.

Britain may have greatly changed under Mrs. Thatcher and her successor, John Major. But as grumbling Britons love to attest, there is still a way to go. Take electrical products: go into a store to buy an iron, lamp or toy train, and if you're lucky, the sales clerk will ask if you want a plug. Many electrical products in Britain are still sold without plugs.

Acknowledging that consumers may not yet be omnipotent, the Conservative Government has decided to give them a helping hand. Edward Leigh, the Consumer Affairs Minister, announced today that the Government would introduce legislation that would make it mandatory to put plugs on electrical products.

It seems that many Britons have never mastered the knack of putting on plugs. According to Government figures, between 1980 and 1989, 2,900 people required hospital treatment as a result of injuries caused by incorrectly wired plugs; in the 1980-88 period, 32 people died because of faulty plugs or plug-wiring problems. There Used to Be a Reason