Thatcher possibly gets other side to operate stripped back state (8)

I believe the answer is:

bareness

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'thatcher possibly gets other side to operate' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'stripped back state' is the wordplay.
'stripped' becomes 'bare' (synonyms).
'back state' becomes 'ness' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'bare'+'ness'='BARENESS'

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