Margaret Thatcher (Margaret Hilda Roberts)

Margaret Thatcher

Born: October 13, 1925, Grantham, United Kingdom, 

Died: April 8, 2013, London, United Kingdom

  

Thatcher, Margaret (1925- ), was prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. In 1991, she was elevated to the peerage as Baroness Thatcher.

She was the first woman to hold the post of prime minister, and served longer as prime minister than any Briton of the 1900's. Margaret Thatcher was elected leader of the Conservative Party in 1975. She became prime minister after her party defeated the Labour Party in a general election in May 1979.

During Thatcher's terms in office, there was some economic expansion in the United Kingdom. This was accompanied by high unemployment and a decline in many manufacturing industries. Thatcher's government transferred many state-owned industries, such as gas, oil, and telecommunications, into private hands. The power of trade unions was reduced by new laws.

In foreign affairs, Thatcher  presided over the creation of Zimbabwe, the strengthening of UK nuclear forces, and a military victory over Argentina during the Falk- lands conflict of 1982. She maintained close links be­tween the governments of the UK and the United States. But she was frequently critical of Britain's partners in the European Community.

Early life. Margaret Hilda Roberts was born in Grantham, in Lincolnshire, England. Her father owned a grocery shop and her mother was a dressmaker before she married. Margaret Roberts and her elder sister, Muriel, had a strict upbringing. Alfred Roberts invested heavily in his children's education. He was a prominent figure in Grantham, serving as a Conservative council­lor, alderman, magistrate, and mayor of the town. He was also a lay minister in the Methodist Church.

Margaret Roberts was a good student. At the age of ten, she won a scholarship to Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School. Roberts was also a keen sportswoman. At Kesteven, she was captain of games. She became head girl of the school.

While studying, Roberts read steadily about politics and world affairs. She spent part of her school holidays serving in her fa­ther's grocery shop and at­tending local magistrates' court hearings. From 1935, she ran errands for the local Conservative Party during election campaigns.

In 1943, Roberts won a scholarship to study chem­istry at Oxford University.        She was elected president of the university's Conservative Association in 1945. She graduated with a degree in natural science in 1947. From 1947 to 1951, Roberts worked as a research chemist. During this period, she also began to study law in her spare time.

In 1951, Roberts married Denis Thatcher, a farmer officer in the Royal Artillery who had become a successful businessman. In 1953, Margaret Thatcher gave birth to twins, Mark and Carol. A year later, she completed her law examinations and began practising as a barrister the fields of taxation and patents.

Political career. Margaret Thatcher entered the House of Commons in 1959 by winning the north London constituency of Finchley. In Parliament, she introduced a bill that was eventually passed and became the Public Bodies Act. This called for a closer watch over public organizations such as educational boards and permitted the press and public to attend their regular meetings. In 1961, Thatcher was appointed parliamentary secretary to the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance. She held that post until the Conservatives were defeated in the 1964 general election.

During her six years in opposition, Thatcher spoke on issues ranging from the economy to transport and energy. Her belief in the free market, self-help, and private ownership of industry all strengthened, and she became increasingly critical of state support for industry.

In 1966, Thatcher made a speech on the Labour government's management of the economy. She criticized the principle of high income tax to pay for public services, arguing that lower direct taxes would help revive the economy. Thatcher pledged that a future Conservative government would lower taxes.

From 1969 to 1970, Thatcher acted as opposition spokewoman on education. She criticized the introduc­tion comprehensive schools. Thatcher disliked the school interest in equal opportunity, preferring the tra­ditional grammar school system, which, she believed, concentrated  on reward for excellence.

In 1970, the Conservatives returned to government, led by Edward Heath. He appointed Thatcher education secretary, her first and only cabinet post before becoming prime minister. Her term in the cabinet was controversial. Late in 1970, she launched a government pro­gramme to raise the price of school lunches and end the provision of free milk. She also reduced funds for collage and universities, and tried to set new legal limits on political freedom of students' unions. Unable to halt comprehensive programme, Thatcher campaigned for educational authorities to be able to preserve independent schools and parental choice.

In 1974, the Conservatives lost office. Appointed as a party spokeswoman on the economy, Thatcher soon became a leader of its radical right wing. She argued for increase home-ownership, a feature of her later policies as prime minister. However, her suggestions that housewives should hoard food to limit the effects of inflation was unpopular with her party. It was seen as unworthy of the traditions of the Conservative Party.

At the end of 1974, Thatcher began to challenge for the party leadership. Her campaign amounted to a revival of middle-class values. Thatcher emphasized competitiveness and profitability in industry, personal responsibility, low direct taxation, and a cut in government borrowing. In February 1975, after two rounds of voting, Thatcher defeated Heath and his supporters to take the as leadership.

From 1975 to 1979, Thatcher, as leader of the opposition, repeated her promise to pursue "sound-money" policies to reduce inflation and streamline the economy. Her speeches coincided with an increase in public sector strikes and economic strain. In 1979, Thatcher became prime minister after a victory over Labour in the general election.

Prime minister. Thatcher's first government, from 1979 to 1983, tightened monetary policy, allowed unemployment to rise, and scrapped price controls, in an attempt to restore free market forces in the UK economy, inflation, interest rates, and the exchange value of the sterling all rose. Public opinion polls indicated by the end of 1981, Thatcher’s government had become one of the popular British leaders on record. Thatcher's government had, however, launched its programme of privatisation (selling state-controlled companies to the private sector), and of permitting the sale of homes d by local councils to their tenants.

In April 1982, Argentinian military forces occupied the British-run Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic, after a long-running dispute over sovereignty. Thatcher sent a task force to reclaim the islands. In June 1982, after serious losses on both sides, the Argentinian com­manders surrendered. The victory transformed Thatch­er's position in Britain. In the general election of 1983, she led the Conservatives to a sweeping victory over the Labour Party. Her campaign was based on national pride and opposition to unilateral nuclear disarmament.

In 1985, the country's miners abandoned a year-long strike after the Thatcher government refused to revise the National Coal Board scheme for mine closures.

In 1986, Thatcher is reported to have considered re­signing over a cabinet crisis known as the Westland Af­fair. The government was divided over securing Ameri­can or European financial support for Westland, a British helicopter company. The issue raised serious questions about Thatcher's style of leadership. Two sen­ior cabinet ministers on opposing sides of the dispute resigned. There were also questions about the integrity of the prime minister's officials.

By 1987, Thatcher's government had privatized the gas, oil, airline, telecommunications, and shipbuilding industries; legislation had curbed the power of trade unions, and the profitability of companies was rising steeply. Thatcher won a further victory in the general election that year. This was the first time a British politi­cal leader had won three successive national elections.

In foreign affairs, Thatcher agreed to the establish­ment of the Lancaster House conference in London. This was to determine the future of Rhodesia, one of Britain's African colonies. Robert Mugabe was elected prime minister of the country, which changed its name to Zim­babwe after independence. In 1984, Thatcher became the first western leader to receive Mikhail Gorbachev before he became leader of the Soviet Communist Party. In 1985, the Thatcher government signed a treaty with China which pledged to maintain the capitalist economy of Hong Kong, a British colony, for 50 years after its re­turn to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.

A number of policy decisions by the Thatcher govern­ment produced lasting controversy. Besides the Falk- lands conflict, they include Thatcher's personal decision in 1986 to allow U.S. military aircraft based in the UK to take part in an attack on Libya. In 1989, the repatriation of Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong received almost universal condemnation. Throughout the 1980's, Thatcher set herself against all the other Commonwealth governments by opposing economic sanctions against South Africa. In the European Community (EC), she strongly supported moves to create a free market, while trying to preserve political sovereignty.

During 1990, opposition to Thatcher's leadership grew. Many people, including other Conservatives, ob­jected to her attitude to the European Community and her tendency to make decisions without consulting col­leagues. There was widespread opposition to the com­munity charge (also called poll tax), introduced in Scot­land in 1989 and in England and Wales in 1990. In November, she was opposed on these issues by Mi­chael Heseltine, in an election for the Conservative lead­ership. She resigned when it was clear that she could not win, and John Major was elected as her successor.

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