Historical Figure
Margaret Thatcher
1925–2013
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990
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"10th G7 Summit Statement" — 1984
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Biography
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the first woman to hold the position. As prime minister, she implemented policies that came to be known as Thatcherism. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the "Iron Lady," a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style.
Timeline
The story of Margaret Thatcher, told in moments.
Born Margaret Hilda Roberts in Grantham, Lincolnshire. Her father is a grocer and local alderman. She lives above the shop. No indoor plumbing. She wins a scholarship to Oxford and studies chemistry at Somerville College. Works briefly as a research chemist developing soft-serve ice cream at J. Lyons. Passes the bar. Marries Denis Thatcher, a wealthy businessman, in 1951.
Defeats Edward Heath to become leader of the Conservative Party. Nobody expected it. She's a backbencher who'd served as Education Secretary. Heath is stunned. She's the first woman to lead a major British political party. A Soviet military newspaper calls her the "Iron Lady." She adopts the name.
Becomes Prime Minister after a landslide victory. Britain is coming off the Winter of Discontent: uncollected garbage, unburied dead, a collapsed economy. She raises interest rates, cuts spending, breaks strikes. Unemployment doubles. Her approval rating drops to 23%, the lowest ever recorded for a PM. She tells the Conservative conference: "You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning."
Argentina surrenders in the Falklands War, 74 days after invading. Thatcher dispatches a naval task force 8,000 miles to the South Atlantic. 255 British troops die. 649 Argentines. Her approval rating soars from 23% to 59%. She wins a 144-seat majority in 1983.
Resigns as Prime Minister after 11 years, driven out by her own party over the poll tax and her hardening stance against European integration. She weeps in the back of her car leaving Downing Street. She'd survived an IRA assassination attempt in Brighton in 1984 that killed five people. She gave her conference speech the next morning at 9:30.
Dies of a stroke at the Ritz Hotel in London at 87. She receives a ceremonial funeral at St Paul's Cathedral attended by 2,300 guests. In some parts of northern England, people hold street parties. She remains the most polarizing figure in modern British politics.
In Their Own Words (20)
The feminists hate me, don't they? And I don’t blame them. For I hate feminism. It is poison.
As quoted by Paul Johnson in Failure of the Feminists, The Spectator, 12 March, 2011., 2011
It may be the cock that crows, but it is the hen that lays the eggs.
As quoted in Animal Sciences: The Biology, Care, and Production of Domestic Animals (2009) by John R. Campbell, M. Douglas Kenealy, Karen L. Campbell, p. 68, 2009
In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman.
Speech to members of the National Union of Townswomen’s Guilds, delivered at the Royal Albert Hall (May 20, 1965) ; as quoted in Why Women Should Rule the World, HarperCollins (2008), Dee Dee Myers, p. 227 : , 9780061140402 . The Margaret Thatcher Foundation gives the following additional information : MT spoke on the theme ‘Woman – No Longer a Satellite.’ The Evening News report of this speech is the origin of a phrase often attributed to her : ‘In politics, ... (etc., as above).’, 2008
It seems like cloud cuckoo land... If anyone is suggesting that I would go to Parliament and suggest the abolition of the pound sterling – no! … We have made it quite clear that we will not have a single currency imposed on us.
Remarks to the media immediately after the EEC Rome summit meeting (28 October 1990), quoted in A Conservative Coup: The Fall of Margaret Thatcher (1992) by Alan Watkins., 1992
When people are free to choose, they choose freedom.
Speech to the Industrial League of Orange County (14 March 1991), 1991
Artifacts (15)
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