Margaret Thatcher (Britain’s first female prime minister)

Biography:

Margaret           Thatcher       (1925-2013)       was Britain’s          first    female                prime   minister (1979-90).   She  was known for her  tough uncompromising,        conservative  political views, and  became    dubbed   as  ‘The Iron Lady’.   On the     UK                 domestic  front   she instituted   many       free         market     reforms, implemented     the      controversial  poll    tax and  reduced  the power of trades unions. In   international     affairs,  she   cultivated a close                relationship                   with        American President   Ronald             Reagan           and         also developed      a     working     relationship    with Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev as the Cold War drew to a close.

Early life

Margaret   Hilda     Roberts       was    born        13 October    1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire. Her  father     owned a      grocery    store     and was active  in the local Methodist Church and      Liberal          politics.     Margaret   won      a scholarship    to     the  local   Kesteven        and Grantham               Girls’    School,      where           she became                  head-girl.           She        applied        to Somerville College, Oxford University, and was          accepted      to        study chemistry       in 1943.        She        graduated        in            1947      with second-class honours. During her time at Oxford, she was elected   President of the Oxford    University                                                 Conservative Association in 1946.

After          graduating,          she                moved                  to Colchester,      where               she    worked     as     a research    chemist      for     BX   Plastics.            In 1951,   she  was    invited     to  stand    as      the Conservative      candidate      in            the           safe Labour    seat    of    Dartford. Although       she lost,    she   impressed      many     in    the party with   her            strong,  articulate      views.  She also married   Denis   Thatcher  in    1951. In 1953, she      gave birth    to  two twins  Carol and Mark.

Member of Parliament

In 1959, she was    elected  as   MP      for the seat               of                             Finchley.       Mrs     Thatcher progressed        through     the         ranks  of     the Conservative party to become   education minister in  Ed Heath’s government of the early 1970s. It was as education minister that   Mrs      Thatcher developed      a       rather crude     nickname of  “Maggie     Thatcher – the milk   snatcher”  This       was   due to   her policy as education  secretary to end free school   milk.  However,  although she was tipped as a rising star in the Conservative party,       even     as    a  cabinet   minister,   Mrs Thatcher     proclaimed  that Britain     would never have a female prime minister.

“I don’t think there will be a woman Prime Minister   in  my  lifetime.” (BBC Television, 5 March, 1973)

However,     just  a  few   years later  in 1975, Mrs  Thatcher   defeated            Edward   Heath and  was                              elected     leader   of                      the Conservative Party,  and she   became  the leader      of             the      Opposition.   During    the 1970s,         Thatcher          became     acquainted with          the         ideological                       ideas                           of neo-conservative                             economists                    – influenced  by figures such  as Hayek and Friedman,                     they                  proposed                     less government, lower   taxes   and   an  end    to Keynesian      economics.                  This                   gave Thatcher a        strong         ideological     stance, which        she     used   to    influence                     party policy.

Prime Minister 1979-90

Mrs Thatcher was elected Prime Minister in     the      Conservative  landslide  of       1979. Mrs     Thatcher       wasted      no              time                  in introducing           controversial                  economic policies. She      believed    that                      a         strict implementation       of             Monetarism        was necessary to overcome the economic ills of      inflation  and low     growth,   which    she blamed    on            the                           previous          Labour government. However,  although she was successful    in                                    reducing        inflation, deflationary  monetary policies    caused a serious  economic     recession,         in    which unemployment  rose to 3  million.  Opinion was         strongly    against       many              of        her policies. In a  famous    letter to   the Times newspaper,        360      economists   wrote          a letter    arguing    the     government          should change                         its                policies      immediately. However, in   true   Thatcher                   style,      she refused. Instead,  she              stood     up  at   the Conservative     party             conference              and stated: “You  turn   if you  want    to,  but this lady     is       not            for             turning.”               It             was characteristic of her whole premiership – fierce  in  her     beliefs   and    unwavering     in her   commitment.   (See:      UK                economy under Mrs Thatcher, 1979-84)

“To   me,    consensus  seems   to          be:        the process             of        abandoning   all                beliefs, principles,  values, and policies    in search of something in which          no   one believes, but to which  no one objects; the  process of     avoiding  the very    issues  that need to be solved,   merely     because   you       cannot get agreement on    the  way   ahead.   What great cause would have  been fought and won  under                      the     banner         ‘I  stand     for consensus’?”

–  Mrs    Thatcher,    The          Downing         Street Years (1993)

Margaret      Thatcher  eIn  the  midst  of  the recession,     the       Falklands     islands    were invaded   by         the  Argentinean    army.  Mrs Thatcher          sent       a    British   expeditionary force                           to  reclaim      the        islands. With relatively light casualties (although many hundreds died in  the conflict) the islands were              retaken. This             military            victory brought  a   fillip in      support  for    Thatcher. However,       it     is      worth     noting  she        was criticised for both her decision to sink the Belgrano  (which  was     sailing away   from the conflict  zone)     Others  also   criticised her triumphalist spirit.  On reclaiming   the islands, Mrs Thatcher proclaimed:

“Just      rejoice    at                     that              news               and congratulate our forces and the marines. .. Rejoice.”

Many    felt    this   was  inappropriate     given the recent casualties  on     both the British and Argentinian sides.

Another defining  feature    of     the                 early Thatcher  administration   was        her battle with   trades      unions.  Thatcher wanted to reduce      the power   of trades          unions;    in particular,     she         wished       to        reduce  the influence       of   the        militant    mineworkers union,  the    NUM,   led   by    Arthur      Scargill. Mrs Thatcher prepared  the country  for  a long strike; when  the miners went   all out on strike    in   1984,         they were   eventually forced  back    into    work   after  a  year-long bitter struggle.

In  foreign  policy, she       got          on  well    with American          President             Ronald    Reagan. They   often    met  and    talked of  a  ‘special relationship’ between the US and UK. Mrs Thatcher           also     expressed    respect       for Russian     President          Mikhail   Gorbachev. She famously said of Gorbachev, that ‘he was  a   man    who   we  could     do  business with’

Mrs Thatcher   visited the    Soviet Union  in 1987,                  and      was     well         received       with thousands      turning   up       to     see     the   Iron Lady.  The term      ‘Iron       Lady’  was   initially designed   as a  critical label   by a Russian newspaper    in                  regards    to     Thatcher’s criticism       of     the        USSR,       but        Thatcher seemed                   to revel        in   the  label,       and  it stuck.

On a domestic front, the remaining years of  her premiership    were     overshadowed by                 her       controversial     and         dogmatic decision   to    stick    with   the poll tax.     This was  widely  regarded     as            an  unfair   tax because        everybody                 paid        the     same amount                      regardless  of                                income. Opposition  to   the      poll tax  spilt over  into violent protest         and        her                          popularity plummeted. She also became associated with policies to promote individualism. In one quote     (often       taken    out of   context) she said:

“They’re casting their problem on society. And,  you   know, there is no   such thing as society.  There              are   individual   men  and women, and there are        families.   And    no government        can            do      anything   except through  people,  and people  must look  to themselves first. It’s our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to  look after our neighbour.                         People    have                    got     the entitlements too   much  in    mind,    without the                  obligations.”                   (transcript                      of interview)

Because  of   her   declining popularity,  she was      eventually   forced     out   as  leader of the   party and  PM   in  1990. Although  she was  bitter  about  her   perceived   betrayal, she left an   unprecedented mark       on    the UK economic and political landscape. For good                  or    ill, she  changed  the           British economic  and         political             situation.          In particular, Thatcher  marked a break with ‘One                    Nation  Conservatism’       and      the post-war consensus.

It    is      ironic  that  when Labour   eventually regained  power      in         1997,  it was  largely due       to                   the  fact Tony  Blair        and   new Labour         took                on    board   many of        the economic policies that Mrs Thatcher had initiated.     There            was        often      a    mutual respect between Mrs  Thatcher and  Tony Blair.

Thatcher   died  on 8 April 2013  at  the age of 87 after suffering a stroke.