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• Born: 13 October 1925
• Birthplace: Grantham, England
• Best Known As: Prime Minister of Great Britain, 1979-90

Name at birth: Margaret Hilda Roberts

Margaret Thatcher was the United Kingdom's first woman prime minister, and she held the office of PM for longer than anyone in the 20th century. Elected in 1979, Thatcher shored up a Conservative-led government, favored privatization plans, led the country through the Falklands War with Argentina, and did it all with a stern no-nonsense flair that earned her the nickname "The Iron Lady." Although Thatcher was elected to three consecutive terms, widespread discontent and political disputes within her party forced her to resign in 1990. She was succeeded by John Major.

In 1992, Thatcher entered the House of Lords as Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven... She has often been compared with her conservative American counterpart, Ronald Reagan... Thatcher's husband, Denis, died in 2003... The couple's twin children, Carol and Mark, were born in 1953... Mark Thatcher was arrested in August of 2004 on suspicion that he was involved in a coup plot in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea.

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(b. Grantham, 13 Oct. 1925) British; leader of the Conservative Party 1975 – 90, Prime Minister 1979 – 90; Baroness (life peer) 1992 Margaret Thatcher was the longest continuously serving Prime Minister for over a century and a half, and the only one to have won three successive general elections. In addition, she was one of the few twentieth-century prime ministers to have lent her name to an "ism". She helped to change the political agenda in the 1980s in Britain and overseas and overturned much of the post-war conventional political wisdom. She is a model of a successful peacetime Prime Minister stretching the powers of the office to the limits.

Yet there was nothing remarkable about Margaret Roberts's background, apart from her intelligence and determination to succeed. Her father was a major influence. He was a shopkeeper and served as mayor of Grantham, a small Midlands town. She attended the local grammar school and Oxford, where she read chemistry. She became president of the university Conservative Association. Wishing to pursue a career in politics she then read for the bar. Her career was helped by marrying the wealthy Denis Thatcher.

Margaret Thatcher entered parliament as the member for Finchley in 1959 and remained its member until 1992. She held a number of junior posts but her breakthrough came when she was made shadow spokesman for Education in 1969 and entered the Cabinet in 1970 as Education Minister. She went along with the "U-turns" in the 1970 – 4 government of Ted Heath. As Education Minister she accepted a number of schemes for comprehensive reorganization and expanded nursery provision. She was not close to Heath nor a member of his inner Cabinet.

Like Sir Keith Joseph she repented of her role in the Heath government, once the party was in Opposition. She stood against Mr Heath for the leadership in February 1975, in large part because nobody else of weight would. It was a surprise to many when she won the first ballot by 130 votes to 119; she went on to win the second ballot easily.

At the time she had few supporters and her views were not widely shared in the party. She also inherited a shadow Cabinet who were largely sympathetic to the views of the ousted leader Ted Heath. Conservative leaders usually came from the centre left. Mrs Thatcher, from the free market right, disturbed that continuity.

As Prime Minister from 1979 she faced a tough first two years. Unemployment soared, the government was deeply unpopular, and the policies did not seem to be working. The 1981 budget, which raised taxes at a time of economic recession, showed that the government was in earnest. The economy gradually improved, she brought more supporters into the Cabinet, and made her reputation as a successful war leader — recapturing the Falklands in 1982. She won a landslide election victory in 1983 — helped by a weak Labour Party and the opposition forces being fragmented between Labour and the Alliance parties.

Mrs Thatcher was often lucky in her opponents — a weak Labour leader in Michael Foot, unpopular trade union leaders, the Argentine General Galtieri. The Russians only added to her credibility when they named her the "Iron Lady" in 1976 on account of her robust views on defence. She was also helped by the electoral system which gave her landslide majorities in parliament, with only 42 per cent of the vote.

As Prime Minister she had only a handful of close colleagues and never had a Cabinet which was largely Thatcherite. A succession of quarrels, and resignations of senior colleagues, at first stamped her as a strong leader but in the end proved to be her undoing. She was argumentative and forceful.

She was critical of many establishment institutions, notably the senior civil service, local government, the universities, the BBC, the Church of England, and even the professions. She was out to smash the consensus which had prevailed in post-1945 politics and, in her view, led to Britian's decline. Her abrasive attitude to the European Commission and much of the public sector, and her support for capital punishment, found a popular echo, although one which was not to the liking of many senior colleagues.

The government pursued radical policies of privatization for state-owned industries and utilities, reformed the trade unions, cut income taxes, and introduced more market-orientated mechanisms into health and education. The government, largely at her behest, also introduced an unpopular poll tax. The aim of the policies was to reduce the role of the government and make people more self-reliant and end the culture of dependency. Mrs Thatcher was also a commanding figure on the international stage and had good relations with Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev.

It was her abrasive attitude to the European Community, however, which upset a number of her senior colleagues. This was the main reason that lay behind the resignation on 1 November 1990 of Sir Geoffrey Howe. She was, at heart, a nationalist. Her view of Europe was that it would be a union of states co-operating in those areas where it was in their interests to do so. Howe and others believed that Britain's future lay in pooling its sovereignty with other states. Two weeks later he made a personal statement in the House of Commons which bitterly attacked her leadership and accused her of being a liability to her party and her country.

At her most vulnerable, she was challenged in a leadership election by Michael Heseltine, who exceeded expectations by gaining 152 votes to 204 for Mrs Thatcher. Mrs Thatcher ended up four short of an overall majority. Many colleagues regarded her as an electoral liability, not least for her determination to retain the poll tax. Some 40 per cent of Conservative MPs wished for a change. Senior colleagues told her that she should stand down and in the end she accepted that advice. She announced to colleagues on 21 November that she was standing down. On 28 November, after the election of her preferred choice, John Major, she tendered her resignation to the Queen. In subsequent years she made clear that John Major was failing to meet her expectations. In retirement she raised funds for her Thatcher Foundation, campaigned against closer British integration with Europe, and wrote her best-selling memoirs.

Conservative Party leader for 15 years, Margaret Hilda Thatcher (born 1925) became the first female prime minister of Great Britain and served in that post from 1979 to 1990, longer than any other British prime minister in the 20th century.

Margaret Thatcher was born to grocery shop keepers in the small railroad equipment manufacturing town of Grantham. Alfred and Beatrice, her parents, were hard workers and careful savers, living over their shop and taking separate vacations so that the grocery would not be left unattended. Her father co-founded the Grantham Rotary Club, became president of the town Grocers' Association, local head of the National Savings Movement, and a member of both the boys' and girls' schools of Grantham. He served for 25 years on the Borough Council, beginning in 1927, and became chairman of its finance committee. For nine years, he was a town alderman, and became the mayor in 1943, as well as a justice of the peace at quarter sessions. He was also a Methodist lay preacher. Beatrice kept the house, sewed, baked, and helped to run the store. Thatcher's childhood family life revolved around the Methodist church, attending services three times a week, saying grace before every meal, and strictly observing the Sabbath. From age five to fifteen, Thatcher took piano lessons and sang in the church choir.

In October 1943, Thatcher was admitted to Somerville College to study chemistry at Oxford. After winning a second-class degree, Thatcher found employment as a research chemist. In 1950 and 1951, she studied to become a barrister and ran as the Conservative candidate in industrial Dartford in North Kent. During this campaign she met Denis Thatcher, who managed his family's company in North Kent. The two were married on December 13, 1951 and became the parents of twins, Mark and Carol, in August 1953.

Political Life

Thatcher became the youngest woman in the House of Commons in 1959, at the age of 34. She became known for sticking to her deeply felt, but unpopular beliefs which included quality, standards, and choice in education, for equal opportunity, and for aligning universities with industry. Thatcher ran against Ted Heath in 1975, winning the second ballot to lead the Conservatives with 146 votes. She became prime minister in May 1979, when the Conservatives won the majority of seats. In June 1987, her Conservative Party won its third consecutive general election victory. Thatcher appeared likely to continue as prime minister for many years. In the election, she had turned back a strong challenge from the Labour Party by renewing her commitment to conviction politics. She had boasted of the economic successes of her two previous governments as well as her strong foreign and defense policies. Yet Thatcher's third term was to be her least productive. With public opinion turning decisively against her, she was forced to resign from office in November 1990 after a struggle for leadership within the Conservative Party. She was succeeded by John Major, the chancellor of the exchequer since October 1989, who was a supporter of her policies.

Thatcher's third term was marked by controversy from the outset. She pursued a radical conservative agenda, in line with her earlier policies. Her aim was to promote individualism through a further dismantling of state controls. Before 1987 several key industries and public utilities had been transferred to private ownership, including the telephone system, the ports, British Gas, and British Airways. Thatcher continued this policy of privatization, notably in two key areas: water and electricity. Legislation was passed setting up private companies and selling stock in them to the public. This had the double advantage of producing short-term financial gains for the government and helping to create what Thatcher referred to as a property-owning democracy.

Similarly, the sale of council houses to their tenants, begun in 1980, proved to be a controversial if popular measure. By 1988 nearly one million municipal properties were in private hands. The private ownership of homes in Britain was about 70 percent in 1990, one of the highest figures in the world.

Thatcher's government also initiated dramatic changes in the National Health Service, established in 1948. Thatcher favored a significant increase in private medical care and insurance to complement the state-run system. Some of her plans had to be modified, but a major reorganization of the N.H.S. was commenced in 1989 after the publication of a White Paper at the beginning of the year. Market principles were introduced into the N.H.S. Family doctors were given control over their budgets and hospitals were encouraged to opt out of local health authority administration.

Similar market provisions were introduced into state education. Schools were given the power to free themselves from local authority control and to make budgetary decisions, while a national curriculum was developed. The principle of free higher education was virtually abandoned, with universities being encouraged to seek private support. While local authorities continued to provide mandatory stipends to university students, a system of supplementary loans, based on American ideas, was adopted.

Thatcher likewise sought to reduce monopoly control of the professions. Legal reforms were initiated with the intent of lessening the traditional division of functions between solicitors and barristers. Solicitors previously had lost their exclusive power to conduct real estate transactions. Further legislation gave them the right to try cases in the higher courts along with barristers.

The reform that turned public opinion against Thatcher and ultimately led to her downfall was the introduction of the poll tax, or community charge, in 1988. This tax was levied on individuals in a particular district at the same rate, although rebates were available for the poor. It was intended to replace property taxes, hitherto the mainstay of local finance. Since local councils determined the rate of the tax, Thatcher believed that voters would repudiate the higher-spending councils dominated by the Labour Party. There were violent demonstrations against the poll tax in London and other cities, and opposition to it developed within the Conservative Party itself. Major, the new prime minister in 1990, promised to take steps to make the tax more equitable.

Thatcher's economic policies also began to fail during her third term. Her chief successes had been a significant reduction in income tax and a lessening of inflation, from more than 21 percent annually in 1980 to under 3 percent in 1986. However, inflation began to increase again, and by 1990 it had exceeded 10 percent. When combined with a persistently high level of unemployment and a severe downturn in the balance of payments, the economic gains of the Thatcher era began to be called into question. Her solution of attacking inflation by maintaining high interest rates only made matters worse for ordinary people because it increased their monthly mortgage payments.

Opposition to European Integration

The immediate issue that brought about Thatcher's resignation as prime minister was her unyielding opposition to European integration. Britain had joined the European Community in 1973 when Edward Heath was prime minister. Although Thatcher supported integration at the time, in subsequent years she turned down every proposal that seemed to bring the concept of a federal Europe closer to reality. She aligned her foreign policy with Washington rather than Europe in the belief that a special relationship existed with the United States. In economic matters, she firmly rejected proposals for a single European currency.

Thatcher's "Little England" feelings towards Europe antagonized many voters, including a large number of Conservatives. Three leading politicians in her party resigned from office over matters related to Europe: Michael Heseltine, her defense minister, in 1986; Nigel Lawson, the chancellor of the exchequer, in 1989; and Geoffrey Howe, the deputy leader of the party, in November 1990. It was Howe's resignation that produced the leadership crisis and Major's emergence as prime minister. The issue of European integration was closely related to Thatcher's other policies. Once again she championed individual sovereignty, while arguing vehemently against the encroaching bureaucratization of government.

Thatcher's 11½ years as prime minister were remarkable. She held office longer than any other prime minister in the 20th century. She impressed her vision upon Britain in a distinctive way, making the word "Thatcherism" a part of that nation's political vocabulary. By her attacks upon central government and the welfare state she undermined a political consensus that had existed since the 1950s. She helped to invigorate the economy, particularly by encouraging small businesses to develop. She challenged powerful institutions and brought about necessary reforms in industrial relations.

Yet the case against Thatcher is a strong one. She was a divisive leader, as on the issues of the poll tax and European integration. Her strident attitudes on social issues upset many people. Economic inequality increased under Thatcher, as did homelessness, and many social services deteriorated. She was accused of weakening basic civil liberties. Her foreign policy, though defined by a spectacular victory over Argentina in the Falklands War in 1982, was marked by Cold War rhetoric which seemed increasingly outdated by her third term in office. Ironically, the Soviet Union gave Thatcher the nickname she was best known by: the Iron Lady. She was proud of it, and her policies, though controversial, reflect a determination and consistency of vision that few political leaders can hope to equal.

In the month following the Thatcher resignation Queen Elizabeth II appointed the former prime minister a member of the Order of Merit, one of only 24 members (a vacancy occurred with the 1989 death of Laurence Olivier). The new Lady Thatcher's husband, Denis, received a baronetry (to become Sir Denis). A second honor came March 7, 1991, when Thatcher received the U.S. Medal of Freedom from President Bush. Although she was no longer prime minister, Thatcher remained politically active. She became president of the Bruges Group of British lawmakers opposed to a full political union with Europe, as well as of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation, designed to help bring order to the world.

On June 28, 1991, Thatcher wound up 32 years of a legislative career by announcing she would not seek to retain her seat in the House of Commons at the next election (which was called in July 1992). She had been MP for Barnet, Finchley, two suburbs northwest of London. She has remained active with lectures and appearances over the entire world, and somehow found the time to write her memoirs.

Further Reading

Margaret Thatcher wrote her memoirs in two volumes: The Downing Street Years (1993) and The Path to Power (1995). Two previous biographies of Thatcher are particularly worthwhile: Kenneth Harris, Thatcher (1988), and Hugo Young, The Iron Lady: A Biography of Margaret Thatcher 1989; (published in Britain under the title One of Us). Both books are by journalists who offer balanced, if critical, accounts of the Thatcher years. A number of recent studies focus on the events of the Thatcher era rather than her personality. The best of these is Thatcherism and British Politics: The End of Consensus?, 2nd edition (1990), by Dennis A. Kavanagh. More sympathetic to Thatcher than Kavanagh's volume is The Thatcher Decade: How Britain Has Changed During the 1980s by Peter Riddell (1989). Dennis Kavanagh and Anthony Seldon have edited a stimulating collection of essays titled The Thatcher Effect (1989), which includes contributions by leading scholars and journalists. Yet another perceptive work is Mrs. Thatcher's Revolution: The Ending of the Socialist Era (1987) by Peter Jenkins, who maintains that Thatcher destroyed the political order prevailing in Britain since the late 1950s. The so-called special relationship between Britain and the United States is ably covered by Geoffrey Smith in Reagan and Thatcher (1991). Thatcher's press secretary and long-time retainer, Bernard Ingham, gives a favorable account of Thatcher in his memoir Kill the Messenger (1991).

For more information on Margaret Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (of Kesteven), visit Britannica.com.

Thatcher, Margaret (b. 1925). Prime minister. Britain's first woman prime minister and one of the most controversial, she won three resounding election victories in a row for the Conservatives (1979, 1983, and 1987), before they rejected her as party leader and premier in 1990, a ruthless act of political ingratitude. Educated at Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School and Somerville College, Oxford, she entered Parliament in 1959. Beforehand she had been a research chemist (1947-54) and a lawyer (she was called to the bar in 1954). Between 1970 and 1974 she was secretary of state for education. As leader of the opposition, between 1975 and 1979, under the influence of Sir Keith Joseph, she moved towards that ideal of political patriotism, low taxes, private ownership, balanced budgets, and individual initiative which later became known as Thatcherism. However, if the goal was financial stability, permanently low inflation, reduced government spending, and lower taxes, it proved illusory. Her record as prime minister began and ended with severe recessions (the worst since the 1930s) leading to a reduced industrial base and low overall growth rates. The trade unions were tamed; most state-owned companies were privatized; and income tax was significantly lowered. However, rising indirect taxes, rising interest rates, rising inflation, plus the introduction of the hugely unpopular poll tax meant that when a crisis erupted over Europe in 1990, Mrs Thatcher lacked the political support needed to survive.

Just as she had not been expected to win the Tory Party leadership against Heath in 1975, her rapid rise to international fame took many by surprise. From the start of her premiership, she made her mark in international affairs. In 1979 a peace settlement was negotiated at Lancaster House which ended the Rhodesian question and paved the way for an independent Zimbabwe. Her next triumph, which made her an international celebrity, came with victory over Argentina in the Falklands War of 1982. The bravery and efficiency displayed by the armed forces, the collapse of the reactionary Argentine dictatorship, and the leadership provided by the prime minister, all enabled Mrs Thatcher to win a remarkable triumph in the 1983 general election. Thereafter she developed a ‘very, very special relationship’ with the US president, Ronald Reagan, and despite some differences worked closely with him to end the Cold War. She also managed to develop a close relationship with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. When she finally visited Moscow, she received a triumphal welcome.

Her policy towards the European Community was, however, most controversial of all. Her first instincts had been conventional. She had campaigned enthusiastically for a Yes vote in the 1975 referendum and always believed that her approach was constructive. On the other hand, she was horrified by Jacques Delors's ideas regarding a European Social Charter, and even more so by European economic and monetary union. In her famous Bruges speech (1988), she declared her opposition to future integration, although she was persuaded by her cabinet colleagues Sir Geoffrey Howe and Nigel Lawson to promise to enter the exchange rate mechanism. By 1990, however, after having rejected economic and monetary union at a summit in Rome, she was deserted by Sir Geoffrey Howe, who resigned from her government and challenged Michael Heseltine to contest the party leadership. In the ensuing contest, Mrs Thatcher won the first round, but withdrew from the leadership race, rather than submit to a second ballot. She was succeeded by John Major as Tory leader.

1925–, British political leader. Great Britain's first woman prime minister, Thatcher served longer than any other British prime minister in the 20th cent. In office she initiated what became known as the “Thatcher Revolution,” a series of social and economic changes that dismantled many aspects of Britain's postwar welfare state.

Thatcher studied chemistry at Oxford and later became a lawyer. Elected to Parliament as a Conservative in 1959, she held junior ministerial posts (1961–64) before serving (1970–74) as secretary of state for education and science in Edward Heath's cabinet. After two defeats in general elections, the Conservative party elected her its first woman leader in 1975.

After leading the Conservatives to an electoral victory in 1979, Thatcher became prime minister. She had pledged to reduce the influence of the trade unions and combat inflation, and her economic policy rested on the introduction of broad changes along free-market lines. She attacked inflation by controlling the money supply and sharply reduced government spending and taxes for higher-income individuals. Although unemployment continued to rise to postwar highs, the declining economic output was reversed. In 1982, when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, a British colony, Britain's successful prosecution of the subsequent war contributed to the Conservatives' win at the polls in 1983.

Thatcher's second government privatized national industries and utilities, including British Gas and British Telecommunications. Her antiunion policies forced coal miners to return to work after a year on strike. In foreign affairs, Thatcher was a close ally of President Ronald Reagan and shared his antipathy to Communism. She allowed the United States to station (1980) nuclear cruise missiles in Britain and to use its air bases to bomb Libya in 1986. She forged (1985) a historic accord with Ireland, giving it a consulting role in governing Northern Ireland.

In 1987 Thatcher led the Conservatives to a third consecutive electoral victory, although with a reduced majority. She proposed free-market changes to the national health and education systems and introduced a controversial per capita “poll tax” to pay for local government, which fueled criticisms that she had no compassion for the poor. Her refusal to support a common European currency and integrated economic policies led to the resignation of her treasury minister in 1989 and her deputy prime minister in 1990.

Disputes over the poll tax, which took effect in 1990, and over European integration led to a leadership challenge (1990) from within her party. She resigned as prime minister, and John Major emerged as her successor. In 1992 Thatcher retired from the House of Commons and was created Baroness Thatcher. In the mid-1990s Thatcher was publicly critical of Major's more moderate policies, and she has continued to criticize publicly Conservative and Labour positions she disagrees with.

Bibliography

See her memoirs, The Downing Street Years (1993) and The Path to Power (1995), and her collected speeches in The Revival of Britain, compiled by A. Cooke (1989); studies by R. Lewis (1984), P. Jenkins (1987), and H. Young (1989).

An English political leader of the twentieth century, who became prime minister of Britain in 1979. A member of the Conservative party (Tories), Thatcher stressed private enterprise and attacked socialism and the welfare state. She resigned from office in 1990.

Quotes:

"It pays to know the enemy -- not least because at some time you may have the opportunity to turn him into a friend."

"The battle for women's rights has been largely won."

"I owe nothing to Women's Lib."

"I seem to smell the stench of appeasement in the air."

"Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy."

"To wear your heart on your sleeve isn't a very good plan; you should wear it inside, where it functions best."

See more famous quotes by Margaret Thatcher