Margaret Thatcher

I

Introduction

Margaret Thatcher, born in 1925, British politician and the first woman to hold the office of prime minister of the United Kingdom. The winner of three consecutive general elections, Thatcher served as prime minister from 1979 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century.

II

Early Life and Career

She was born Margaret Hilda Roberts in Grantham, a small town in eastern England, the youngest of two daughters. Her parents owned a grocery store and her father served as the town’s mayor. Thatcher was educated at Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School and went on to earn a degree in chemistry at the University of Oxford’s Somerville College. Thatcher was active in student politics and was elected president of the student Conservative Association at Oxford. From 1947 to 1951 she worked as a research chemist. She married Denis Thatcher, a wealthy businessman, in 1951. In 1954, having completed legal studies for the bar, Thatcher became a tax lawyer.

While in her mid-20s, Thatcher made two unsuccessful attempts—in 1950 and 1951—to win a seat in the House of Commons, the lower house of the British Parliament. Although she lost the races, she achieved much publicity as the youngest female Conservative Party candidate in British politics. In 1959 Thatcher succeeded in winning a seat, representing Finchley in north London. She would continue to represent Finchley throughout her long political career, only giving up her seat in 1992 when she was made a member of the House of Lords.

In 1960 Harold Macmillan, Britain’s Conservative prime minister, appointed Thatcher the parliamentary secretary for pensions and national insurance. From 1964 to 1970, when the Conservative Party was in the opposition, Thatcher became a leading figure within the party’s ranks. When the Conservative Party regained power in 1970 under prime minister Edward Heath, Thatcher was named to a cabinet post as minister of education. In that role she provoked a storm of protest by ending free milk programs in public schools.

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III

Party Leader and Prime Minister

After the Conservative Party’s defeat in the 1974 elections, Thatcher challenged Heath for leadership of the party, easily winning the post in early 1975. An outspoken critic of the Soviet Union, Thatcher earned the nickname the “Iron Lady” after delivering a blistering attack against the Soviet leadership in a 1976 speech. In 1979 Thatcher led her party to an election victory against the Labour Party government of James Callaghan. During the election campaign, Thatcher vowed to reverse the United Kingdom’s economic decline and to reduce the size of government.

As prime minister, Thatcher emphasized the importance of free-market economics and entrepreneurialism. Her efforts to revive the economy were centered largely on monetarism, the theory that the supply of money in the economy affects such things as prices, output, and employment (See also Supply-Side Economics). In an effort to reduce Britain’s high rate of inflation, Thatcher raised interest rates and introduced extensive budget cuts. In addition, her government lowered direct taxes on income and raised indirect taxes such as the value-added tax, or VAT. Thatcher also led a legislative assault on the powers and freedoms of British trade unions, which had helped bring down the previous Labour government by staging a series of unpopular strikes during the infamous “winter of discontent” of 1978 to 1979.

Thatcher’s policies succeeded in reducing inflation and budget expenditures, but at a cost of cuts in spending on social services and rising unemployment. The policies, which also included privatization measures and reduced subsidies to businesses, hit many employers hard, especially manufacturing industries. In 1981, despite a severe recession, Thatcher’s government further increased taxes, driving up unemployment to its highest level since World War II. Unemployment only began to fall in 1986, when Thatcher’s policies were credited with bringing down interest rates, curbing inflation, and forcing British industries to become more competitive internationally.

In 1982, amid the difficult recession and growing pressures on Thatcher’s government to reverse its policies, military forces from Argentina occupied the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas). The islands, located off the Argentine coast, were claimed by both Argentina and the United Kingdom. Thatcher quickly dispatched a naval task force to the Falklands that defeated the Argentines, a policy that was enormously popular in the United Kingdom. Bolstered by success in the Falklands, and aided by divisions within the Labour Party, Thatcher led the Conservative Party to a sweeping victory in the general elections of June 1983.

With an expanded majority, Thatcher continued her economic policies. Many of the United Kingdom’s large public utilities were privatized, and labor reforms further reined in the power of trade unions. In a symbolic move that significantly weakened trade union resistance to Thatcher’s reforms, her government took a tough stand against striking coalminers. The miners—members of National Union of Mineworkers (NUM)—opposed the government’s plans to close down unprofitable mines and cut thousands of jobs. Following a violent and bitter year-long strike that lasted from 1984 to 1985, the miners were forced to return to work without a deal. In October 1984, amid the ongoing strike, Thatcher narrowly escaped injury when a bomb planted by a splinter group of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) exploded in Brighton’s Grand Hotel during a Conservative Party conference.

In foreign affairs, Thatcher cultivated a close relationship with United States president Ronald Reagan, a conservative politician with whom she was often compared. Thatcher backed defense policies championed by Reagan, including the doctrine of nuclear deterrence in the Cold War. A strong proponent of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Thatcher supported the 1979 decision to base nuclear-armed cruise missiles in the United Kingdom—a controversial move that aroused mass protests in Britain. In 1986 Thatcher permitted U.S. military forces to launch bombing raids against Libya from British air bases.

IV

Last Term and Fall from Power

Victorious in the June 1987 elections, Thatcher became the only British prime minister in the 20th century to serve three consecutive terms. However, Thatcher’s contentious third-term legislative agenda and autocratic leadership style, which led to conflict with her ministers, produced divisions within the Conservative Party and the larger public that undermined her political support. Among the most controversial of Thatcher’s policies was the notorious Community Charge (commonly called the poll tax), a flat tax paid by all adult citizens. The tax, first introduced in Scotland in 1989 (and in England and Wales in 1990), sparked mass protests. In London a violent riot broke out. Many Britons refused to pay the tax. Thatcher, however, refused to reconsider the tax, calling it the “flagship” of her government’s program.

In another controversial move, Thatcher’s failure to support the Conservative Party’s accepted policy of committing the United Kingdom to greater economic and monetary integration with Europe attracted severe criticism. Thatcher supported British membership in the European Community (EC, a forerunner of the European Union), but she vowed that Britain would never abolish the pound and adopt a common European currency. Thatcher’s skeptical view toward European integration angered many Conservatives and inspired a strong challenge to her leadership in November 1990. The challenge, mounted by former defense minister Michael Heseltine, failed to secure Thatcher a convincing majority. She agreed to resign and was succeeded as party leader and prime minister by her protégé, John Major.

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