Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher (born 13 October 1925) was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She made history in being the first and only woman to be Prime Minister. A staunch Conservative who led her party to a series of landslides in 1979, 1983 and 1987 by preaching "Thatcherism" as a tough remedy to reverse Britain's steady decline. Thatcherism meant she weakened labour unions, privatised some industries, rejected Keynesian economic policies for the monetarism of Milton Friedman, and helped reinvigorate the British economy. In foreign policy she collaborated closely with American President Ronald Reagan, especially in his efforts to end the Cold War by working deals with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. She was the first prime minister in modern British history to win three consecutive terms, and her "Iron Lady" image and toughness in action and optimism for the future impressed Britons. After proposing a head tax that alienated voters, and continuing with a domineering style that alienated politicians, she was ousted from power in 1990 and took a peerage. Historians rank her impact alongside Winston Churchill, David Lloyd George and Tony Blair--indeed she forced Blair to abandon socialism and incorporate elements of Thatcherism into his New Labour policies.

Life

She was born Margaret Roberts at Grantham, England, on October 13, 1925 to a middle class family. She won a scholarship to Oxford University, where she studied chemistry and became chairman of the Conservative Association, graduating in 1947. She worked as a chemist until her marriage in 1951 to Denis Thatcher, a businessman. She qualified as a lawyer in 1953 and then practiced as a tax specialist

Early career

Thatcher entered Parliament in 1959. She held a junior office from 1961 to 1964 and from 1970 to 1974 was education minister in the government of Edward Heath. After its defeat in the two elections of 1974, the Conservative Party in the House of Commons forced Heath in 1975 to defend his leadership. In the first round of voting he trailed Thatcher, a dark horse candidate. Heath then resigned, and the Tories elected Thatcher party leader.

Thatcher pledged to change direction from Heath's policies, advocating tight control of the money supply and of public expenditure as the principal remedies for inflation. She declared that the nation was overtaxed and overgoverned; that individual initiative was being repressed; that only if people were permitted to keep more of the rewards of their work and entrepreneurship would Britain's industrial decline be halted; and that stricter controls should be imposed over black and Indian immigration.

Prime Minister

Thatcher united her party around these positions. In the election of May 1979 a strong Conservative majority emerged, and she was named prime minister. Her monetary and spending restrictions contributed to a doubling of the unemployment rate by 1981, but did curb inflation. Thatcher's popularity rose in 1982 when she sent British troops to drive out an Argentine invasion force from the Falkland Islands. She retained her office after a strong Conservative showing in the June 1983 elections.

Under Thatcher, the Tories widely broadened their electoral base, extending it into the large middle class made up of skilled blue collar workers and professionals. By fiscal reforms, such as the privatization of nationalized industries, which encouraged financial discipline and economic dynamism, and by social reforms brought to bear on the educational system and National Health Service, Thatcherism built up a powerful ethos of enterprising individualism.

At the June 1987 elections, thanks in part to the increased number of pro-Tory property owners, she retained a strong parliamentary majority.

Intellectuals

Among her early supporters were libertarian intellectuals, their think tanks, and neoliberal economists, notably Sir Keith Joseph (b. 1918) who in the mid-1970s, had challenged the Conservative Party's previously collectivist orientation. Her attempts to implement their ideas deeply divided the British intellectual establishment and infuriated many academics and members of the artistic and literary worlds. Thatcher's populist style of politics, identification with the business world, strong personality, cuts to education budgets and idiosyncratic mannerisms enhanced the divisive impact of the controversial ideas she espoused.

Economic policies

The economy had done poorly in the 1970s and entered another recession in 1980-81, followed by a long boom that strengthened her hand. Her "Medium Term Financial Strategy" (MTFS) of 1980, was based on Milton Friedman's monetarism in its focus on broad money. Although she reduced public spending, increased privatization, and spearheaded legislative reforms restricting trade union activity, unemployment and poverty grew substantially.

Privatization

Privatization was perhaps the most enduring legacy of the political economy developed under Thatcher. She privatized long-nationalized corporations (such as the telephone and aerospace firms) and, most important, sold public housing to tenants, all on favorable terms. The policy developed an important electoral dimension during the second Thatcher government (1983-90). It involved more than denationalization: wider share ownership was the second plank of the policy, and this provides an important historical perspective on the relationship between Thatcherism and 20th-century conservatism.

Ouster

Even in the new anti-socialist climate she had forged, her replacement of property taxes with a poll tax proved highly unpopular. Inflation of 11% coupled with her resistance to Britain's further integration into the European monetary system, disillusioned the Conservatives with her abrasive leadership. On November 22, 1990, she was forced to resign her party role (and thus the prime ministership). John Major succeeded her. On June 5, 1992, she was given a life peerage as Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven. In the House of Lords she frequently criticized Major's European policies.