Margaret Thatcher

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

Biography

On the 13th 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. Later on she lived with her family in London where she started working as a lawyer. After the election as the leader of the Conservative Party she became the first female British Prime Minister in 1979 and resigned after nearly ten years. On the 8th April 2013 she died of a stroke in London.

Thatcher`s Terms as Prime Minister

Margaret Thatcher is associated with strength and strictness. She was determined to end Consensus politics. As first female Prime Minister of the Conservative Party she set her sights on putting socialism back and stood for a free enterprise economy. 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 due to strikes and closing down of workshops. Her reaction to the economic crisis that Britain was confronted with was the first Trade Union Bill with the United Kingdom that confined protest marches and pointed out strict laws for the closed shops. 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. When the British government decided on using other options of power sources, there were strikes of many coal miners that were stopped by violence. However, in 1990 when Thatcher resigned, John Major became Prime Minister. After her resignation she founded the Thatcher Foundation that aims political and economic freedom of Britain. In 1991 she got the Presidential Medal of Freedom and also joined the House of Lords with the title of “Baroness“.

Thatcher`s policy

Thatcher`s policy (also called “Thatcherism”) is quiet complicated. In general one can say that she criticised the idea of socialism and proclaimed patriotism, nationalism and individuality. Her principle was based on the British population that had to be led; especially each citizen had to learn how to take personal responsibility. In addition to that she aimed for 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 the US-President Reagan.

Bibliography

Gomoll, Kimberly. Margaret Thatcher. www.womeninworldhistory.com/imow_Thatcher.pdf. (accessed on the 3th 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.