Margaret Thatcher: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 10:26, 21 June 2017

1925-2013. British politician. Member of the Conservative Party. First female British Prime Minister (1979-1990)

Biography

On 13 October 1925 Margaret Hilda Roberts was born in Grantham, the second daughter of Beatrice Stephenson Roberts and Alderman Alfred Roberts. Her father was a prosperous merchant and became the Mayor of Grantham. After studying at the Somerville College in Oxford she became a research chemist. In 1951 she married a wealthy businessman, Denis Thatcher, and started studying law. After two years of marriage she gave birth to twins named Carol and Mark. Thatcher became Member of Parliament for the Conservatives in 1959 (representing Fichley). In 1975, she was became leader of the Conservative Party. After the general election in 1979, she became the first female British Prime Minister. She had to resign in 1990. In 1992, she was made a baroness and entered the House of Lords. She died of a stroke 8 April 2013 in London.

Thatcher`s Terms as Prime Minister

Margaret Thatcher is associated with strength and strictness. She was determined to end Consensus politics. In 1979 she was faced with the problem of high oil prices and low currency of the British pound. Moreover she had to deal with high unemployment rates and poverty. Her reaction to the economic crisis was a series of neoliberal reforms and a strict anti-Trade Union policies.

Towards the end of her first term of office, she sent troops to fight in the Falklands War (against Argentina) in 1982. The point that the offensive operation was successful may be one of the reasons why she won the election in 1983. In 1984 the miners went on strike and Thatcher attacked them as "enemies within". In 1990 when Thatcher resigned, John Major became Prime Minister. After her resignation she founded the Thatcher Foundation that aims at political and economic freedom of Britain. In 1991 she got the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Thatcher`s Policy

Thatcherism combines neoliberal ideas about the economy with traditional conservative ideas about society. Thatcher aimed at reducing social benefits. Lowering taxes (especially of higher incomes), spending, replacing what she called the “dependency culture” with an “enterprise culture” (others denounced this as replacing caring and solidarity by greed), privatising state-owned industries and utilities (e.g. British Rail, British Telecom, British Gas, British Airways), cutting welfare benefits, fighting against the influence of Trade Unions are some examples of her politics. She was sceptical of Britain`s integration into the European Union and took also an inconsiderate attitude towards the Soviet Union, for which she got the name of “the Iron Lady“. There was a privileged relationship between Thatcher and US-President Reagan.

Bibliography

Gomoll, Kimberly. "Margaret Thatcher". http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/imow-Thatcher.pdf. (accessed 3 June 2017).

"Margaret Thatcher: Timeline". The Independent, 8 April 2013. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/margaret-thatchers-timeline-from-grantham-to-the-house-of-lords-via-arthur-scargill-and-the-8564555.html (accesssed 8 June 2017).

Thatcher, Margaret. The Downing Street Years. London: HarperCollins, 1993.

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-Margaret Hilda Thatcher (maiden name: Roberts), Baroness Thatcher, was born on 13 October, 1925 in Grantham (Lincolnshire) as the daughter of a grocery retailer. She was the first female Prime Minister ever to serve Britain and she won three successive elections for the Conservatives. She was in office from 1979 until 1990. Thatcher holds a degree in chemistry and law. Thatcher has two children and was married to Dennis Thatcher († 2003).
-Margaret Thatcher started her political career in Dartford (Kent) and fought the constituency for the Conservatives in 1950 which she failed to win in the general election. Under Harold Macmillan Thatcher became MP for Finchley in 1959. During her time as MP, Thatcher took up a few government posts, such as Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance. In 1975, Thatcher challenged Edward Heath for the party leadership and wins on the second ballot. After the general election in 1979, Thatcher would be PM until 1991.
+-2013. British politician. Member of the Conservative Party. First female British Prime Minister (1979-1990)
-The term ‘Thatcherism’ refers to Margaret Thatcher’s time as PM and combines her policies and public appearance as one single form of conducting politics. The following points will illustrate the policies that together make up what is called ‘Thatcherism’.
+== Biography ==
-In 1979, Britain was in difficult socio-economic circumstances because of a declining economy, high inflation, and union strikes. This culminated in the so-called ‘winter of discontent’, which paved the way for Thatcher’s election campaign strategy with which she won the election. Thatcher was determined to stop Britain from its supposed economic and social ‘decline’.
+On 13 October 1925 Margaret Hilda Roberts was born in Grantham, the second daughter of Beatrice Stephenson Roberts and Alderman Alfred Roberts. Her father was a prosperous merchant and became the Mayor of Grantham. After studying at the Somerville College in Oxford she became a research chemist. In 1951 she married a wealthy businessman, Denis Thatcher, and started studying law. After two years of marriage she gave birth to twins named Carol and Mark. Thatcher became Member of Parliament for the Conservatives in 1959 (representing Fichley). In 1975, she was became leader of the Conservative Party. After the general election in 1979, she became the first female British Prime Minister. She had to resign in 1990. In 1992, she was made a baroness and entered the House of Lords. She died of a stroke 8 April 2013 in London.
-During her time, Thatcher was criticised for being neo-liberal, as she successfully reduced the power and influence of labour unions. She thought that labour unions were the source of economic downturn in Britain as they prevented companies or industries from innovating their businesses. Therefore, Thatcher introduced some measures that were intended to make it harder for unions to call out a strike, such as a majority strike system or illegalise go on sympathy strikes. Thatcher also reduced the amount of subsidies paid to businesses as this would mean a distortion of economic developments. In this regard, the former British Keynesian approach to economics was criticised under Thatcher as being too socialist, so that a change in economic policies brought about the closure of many factories. These measures of the ‘supply-side economics’ was mixed with the theory by Milton Friedman which broadly supported an economic approach based on companies rather than on society as a whole, which is also frequently referred to as ‘laissez-faire economics’. This also included less state regulation together with fewer social labour rights for workers. Thatcher also reduced the welfare system in order to encourage people to take on work. Additionally, one of the main economic aims of her time in office was to keep inflation as low as possible, in which she eventually did not succeed. She wished to transform Britain into an enterprise-culture with more privatisation (e.g. British Rail), and tax reduction for the middle class. Thatcher famously claimed that ‘there was no such things as society’ which meant that she approach was almost totally focused on the individual rather than society.
-On the contrary, Thatcher took advantage of the wider society when it came to foreign policy. Thatcher’s was at the height of her career during the ‘Falkland Wars’, when she promoted a strong and liberal Britain on the international stage. The war was a means of showing how strong Britain still could be with much focus on British grandeur, which from her point of view had to be restored. To Thatcher, Britain was an exceptional country whose civilisation progress had to be re-strengthened through the reversal of Britain’s decline. This notion was also conveyed in her time in office when it came to foreign policy. Thatcher’s form of foreign policy was classified as ‘handbag diplomacy’, and during European negotiations she often refused to cooperate but stressed the fact that British interests were paramount. Her form of diplomacy isolated Britain on the European stage and introduced a stronger form of ‘British Euroscepticism’. Rather than turning to Europe, Thatcher used to stress the importance of the ‘special relationship’ with the United States of America, whose former president Ronald Reagan was a close ally and a personal friend of hers.
+== Thatcher`s Terms as Prime Minister ==
+Margaret Thatcher is associated with strength and strictness. She was determined to end Consensus politics. In 1979 she was faced with the problem of high oil prices and low currency of the British pound. Moreover she had to deal with high unemployment rates and poverty. Her reaction to the economic crisis was a series of neoliberal reforms and a strict anti-Trade Union policies.
+Towards the end of her first term of office, she sent troops to fight in the [[Falklands War]] (against Argentina) in 1982. The point that the offensive operation was successful may be one of the reasons why she won the election in 1983. In 1984 the miners went on strike and Thatcher attacked them as "enemies within". In 1990 when Thatcher resigned, John Major became Prime Minister. After her resignation she founded the Thatcher Foundation that aims at political and economic freedom of Britain. In 1991 she got the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
+== Thatcher`s Policy ==
+Thatcherism combines neoliberal ideas about the economy with traditional conservative ideas about society. Thatcher aimed at reducing social benefits. Lowering taxes (especially of higher incomes), spending, replacing what she called the “dependency culture” with an “enterprise culture” (others denounced this as replacing caring and solidarity by greed), privatising state-owned industries and utilities (e.g. British Rail, British Telecom, British Gas, British Airways), cutting welfare benefits, fighting against the influence of Trade Unions are some examples of her politics. She was sceptical of Britain`s integration into the European Union and took also an inconsiderate attitude towards the Soviet Union, for which she got the name of “the Iron Lady“. There was a privileged relationship between Thatcher and US-President Reagan.
+'''Bibliography'''
+Gomoll, Kimberly. "Margaret Thatcher". http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/imow-Thatcher.pdf. (accessed 3 June 2017).
+"Margaret Thatcher: Timeline". ''The Independent'', 8 April 2013. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/margaret-thatchers-timeline-from-grantham-to-the-house-of-lords-via-arthur-scargill-and-the-8564555.html (accesssed 8 June 2017).
+Thatcher, Margaret. ''The Downing Street Years''. London: HarperCollins, 1993.