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			{{Short description|Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990}}
	:''Thatcher redirects here. For other meanings see ].
			{{Redirect|Iron Lady||Iron Lady (disambiguation)|and|Margaret Thatcher (disambiguation)}}
	{{Infobox Prime Minister
			{{Good article}}
	| name = The Rt Hon.<br>The Baroness Thatcher,<br>LG, OM, PC, FRS
			{{Pp-vandalism|small=yes}}
	| image = Thatcher-loc.jpg
			{{Pp-move}}
	| order = ]
			{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
	| deputy = ] (1979 - 1988)<br>] (] - ])
			{{Use British English|date=July 2024}}
	| birth_date = ] ]
			<!--Per ] claims found in the infobox of an article that are expanded upon and cited later in the article do not need citations in the infobox itself. Before asking for a citation for facts in the infobox of this article, please check whether the fact is cited later. Thank you! -->
	| birth_place = ], ], ]
			{{Infobox officeholder
	| title = ]
			| honorific_prefix = {{Pre-nominal styles|RHon|size=100%}}
	| term_start = ] ]
	| term_end = ] ]		| name = The Baroness Thatcher
			| honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|LG|OM|DStJ|PC|FRS|HonFRSC}}
	| predecessor = ]
			| image = Margaret Thatcher stock portrait (cropped).jpg
	| successor = ]
			| alt = Thatcher in a half-length portrait photograph, wearing a black suit and pearls
	| party = ]
	| spouse = ]		| caption = Studio portrait, {{circa|1995–96}}
	| religion = ]		| office = ]
			| term_start = 4 May 1979
	| signature =Thatcherautograph.JPG
			| term_end = 28 November 1990
			| monarch = ]
			<!-- Whitelaw did not acquire the title of Deputy PM. (Hennessy 2001, p. 405.) -->
			| deputy = ] {{nowrap|(1989–90)}}
			| predecessor = ]
			| successor = ]
			| office1 = ]
			| term_start1 = 11 February 1975
			| term_end1 = 4 May 1979
			| monarch1 = Elizabeth&nbsp;II
			| primeminister1 = {{Plainlist|
			* ]
			* James Callaghan
	}}		}}
			| deputy1 = ]
			| predecessor1 = ]
			| successor1 = James Callaghan
			| office2 = ]
			| term_start2 = 11 February 1975
			| term_end2 = 28 November 1990
			| deputy2 = ]
			| 1blankname2 = ]
			| 1namedata2 = {{Collapsible list
			| titlestyle = font-style:italic; font-weight:normal;
			| title = See list
			| ]
			| ]
			| ]
			| ]
			| ]
			| ]
			}}
			| predecessor2 = Edward Heath
			| successor2 = John Major
			{{Collapsed infobox section begin |cont = yes |Ministerial portfolios
			| titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder
			| embed = yes
			| office1 = ]
			| term_start1 = 20 June 1970
			| term_end1 = 4 March 1974
			| primeminister1 = Edward Heath
			| predecessor1 = ]
			| successor1 = ]
			| title2 = ]
			| subterm2 = 1961–1964
			| suboffice2 = ]
			{{Collapsed infobox section end}} }}
			{{Collapsed infobox section begin |cont = yes |Shadow <!--Cabinet--> portfolios
			| titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder
			| embed = yes
			| title1 = ]
			| subterm1 = 1967–1970
			| suboffice1 = ]
			| subterm2 = 1974–1975
			| suboffice2 = ]
			| title3 = ]
			| subterm3 = 1967–1968
			| suboffice3 = ]
			| subterm4 = 1968–1969
			| suboffice4 = ]
			{{Collapsed infobox section end}} }}
			{{Collapsed infobox section begin |cont = yes |Parliamentary offices
			| titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder
			| embed = yes
			| office1 = ]
			| status1 = ]
			| term_label1 = ]age
			| term_start1 = 30 June 1992
			| term_end1 = 8 April 2013{{refn|On 30&nbsp;July 2011 it was announced that her office in the Lords had been closed.<ref name="telegraph8671195" />|group=nb}}
			| parliament2 = United Kingdom
			| constituency_MP2 = Finchley
			| term_start2 = 8 October 1959
			| term_end2 = 16 March 1992
			| predecessor2 = ]
			| successor2 = ]{{Collapsed infobox section end}} }}
			| birth_name = Margaret Hilda Roberts
			| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1925|10|13}}
			| birth_place = ], Lincolnshire, England
			| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|2013|4|8|1925|10|13}}
			| death_place = London, England
			| resting_place = ]
			| resting_place_coordinates = {{Coord |51.489057| -0.156195|region:GB_type:landmark |display=inline}}
			| party = ]
			| spouse = {{Marriage|]|13 December 1951|26 June 2003|end=d}}
			| children = {{Flatlist|
			* ]
			* ]
			}}
			| alma_mater = {{Plainlist|
			* ] (])
			* <!-- ] -->
			}}
			| awards = ]
			| father = ]
			| occupation = {{Flatlist|
			* ]
			* ]
			* politician
			}}
			| signature = Signature of Margaret Thatcher.svg
			| signature_alt = Cursive signature in ink
			| website = {{Official website|margaretthatcher.org|name=Foundation}}
			| nickname = {{Pslink|"Iron Lady"}}
			| module = {{Listen voice
			| filename = Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Joint Statement, 10th G7 summit.ogg
			| description = Joint Statement for the ]
			| recorded = 9&nbsp;June 1984}}
			}}
			<!--No citations are required in the article lead per ], as long as the content is cited in the article body, as it should be. Do not add missing-citation tags like {{cn}} to the lead. If necessary, {{not verified in body}} can be used, or the content removed.-->
			{{Margaret Thatcher sidebar}}
			'''Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher'''<!--NOT "Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven"-->{{refn|{{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|LG|OM|DStJ|PC|FRS|HonFRSC|commas=on}}|group=nb}} ({{nee|'''Roberts'''}}; 13&nbsp;October 1925{{snd}}8&nbsp;April 2013), was a British stateswoman and ] politician who served as ] from 1979 to 1990 and ] from 1975 to 1990. She was the ] of the 20th century and the first woman to hold the position. As prime minister, she implemented economic policies known as ]. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the "'''Iron Lady'''", a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and ].
			Thatcher studied chemistry at ], and worked briefly as a ] before becoming a ]. She was ] for ] in ]. ] appointed her ] in his ]. In 1975, she defeated Heath in the ] to become ], the first woman to lead a major political party in the UK.
			On becoming prime minister after winning the ], Thatcher introduced a series of economic policies intended to reverse high inflation and Britain's struggles in the wake of the ] and ].{{refn|In her foreword to the ] of 1979, she wrote of "a feeling of helplessness, that we are a once great nation that has somehow fallen behind".<ref name="PoliticalStuff.co.uk" />|group=nb}} Her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised ], the privatisation of ], and reducing the power and influence of ]. Her popularity in her first years in office waned amid recession and rising unemployment. Victory in the 1982 ] and the recovering economy brought a resurgence of support, resulting in her ] re-election in ]. She survived an assassination attempt by the ] in the 1984 ] and achieved a political victory against the ] in the ]. In 1986, Thatcher oversaw the ] of UK ]s, leading to ], in what came to be known as the ].
			Thatcher was re-elected for a third term with another landslide in ], but her subsequent support for the ] (also known as the "poll tax") was widely unpopular, and her increasingly ] views on the ] were not shared by others in her cabinet. She resigned as prime minister and party leader in 1990, after a ], and was succeeded by ], her ].{{refn|Winning support from a majority of her party in the first round of votes, Thatcher fell four votes short of the required 15% margin to win the contest outright. Her fall has been characterised as "a rare coup d'état at the top of the British politics: the first since ] sawed ] off at the knees in 1916."<ref name="Heffer" />|group=nb}} After retiring from the ] in 1992, she was given a ]age as Baroness Thatcher (of ] in the ]) which entitled her to sit in the ]. In 2013, she ] at ], at the age of 87.
	'''Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher<!-- NOT "Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven" -->''', ], ], ], ] (born ] ]), is the former ], in office from ] to ].
			A polarising figure in British politics, Thatcher is nonetheless viewed favourably in ] and public opinion of British prime ministers. Her tenure constituted a ] towards ] policies in Britain; the complex legacy attributed to this shift continues to be debated into the 21st century.
	Thatcher was the longest-serving ] since ] and had the longest continuous period in office since ] in the early ]. She is also the only woman to have served as ], one of only two women to have led a major political party in the ], and one of only two to have held any of the four great offices of state (the second being ] in both cases). Perhaps the most significant ] in recent political history, she is also one of the most divisive; loved and loathed by citizens from across the political spectrum.
			{{TOC limit|limit=3}}
	==Early life and education==		==Early life and education==
			{{Overflow|
	Thatcher was born Margaret Hilda Roberts in the town of ] in ], ]. Her father was ], who owned a grocer's shop in the town, was active in local politics (serving as an ]), and was a ] ]. Roberts came from a ] family but stood&mdash;as was then customary in local government&mdash;as an Independent. He lost his post as Alderman in 1952 after the ] won its first majority on Grantham Council in 1950. Her mother was Beatrice Roberts née Stephenson, and she had one sister, Muriel (1921-2004). Thatcher was brought up a devout ] and has remained a ] throughout her life, reportedly now an Anglican.
			{{wikitable| align=center
			|{{Multiple image
			|align=center
			|background color=whitesmoke
			|total_width=580
			|header=Birthplace in Grantham
			|image1=Maison natale de Margaret Thatcher, Grantham.JPG
			|alt1=The corner of a terraced suburban street. The lower storey is a corner shop, now advertising as a chiropractic clinic. The building is two storeys high, with some parts three storeys high. It was formerly Alfred Roberts's shop.
			|caption1=2009 photograph of her father's former shop<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1062417 |grade=II |access-date=7 August 2022 |location=Lincolnshire}}</ref>
			|image2=Plaque, maison natale de Margaret Thatcher.JPG
			|alt2=A plaque reading "Birth place of the Rt.Hon. Margaret Thatcher, M.P. First woman prime minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".
			|caption2=Commemorative plaque<ref>{{Open Plaques |10728 |access-date=18 March 2017}}</ref>
			|footer=Margaret and her elder sister were raised in the bottom of two flats on North Parade.{{sfnp|Beckett|2006|p=3}} }}
			}}}}
			=== Family and childhood (1925–1943) ===
	Thatcher performed well academically, attending ] and subsequently attending ], ] in 1944 to study ]. She became President of the ] in 1946, the third woman to hold the post. She graduated with a second-class degree and worked as a research chemist for British Xylonite and then ], where she helped develop methods for preserving ]. She was also a member of the team that developed the first ]. Thatcher was also a member of the ].
			Margaret Hilda Roberts was born on 13&nbsp;October 1925 in ], Lincolnshire. Her parents were ] (1892–1970), from Northamptonshire, and Beatrice Ethel Stephenson (1888–1960), from Lincolnshire.{{sfnp|Beckett|2006|p=1}} Her father's maternal grandmother, Catherine Sullivan, was born in ], ].<ref>{{Cite news |last=O'Sullivan |first=Majella |date=10 April 2013 |title=Margaret Thatcher's Irish roots lie in Co Kerry |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/republic-of-ireland/margaret-thatchers-irish-roots-lie-in-co-kerry-29185669.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803171312/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/republic-of-ireland/margaret-thatchers-irish-roots-lie-in-co-kerry-29185669.html |archive-date=3 August 2020 |access-date=18 July 2020 |work=Belfast Telegraph}}</ref>
			Roberts spent her childhood in Grantham, where her father owned a ]'s and a grocery shop. In 1938, ], the Roberts family briefly gave sanctuary to a teenage Jewish girl who had ]. With her {{wikt-lang|en|penfriend|pen-friending|i=-}} elder sister Muriel, Margaret saved pocket money to help pay for the teenager's journey.{{sfnp|Campbell|2011a|pp=38–39}}
	==Political career between 1950 and 1970==
	<!--]-->
	At the ] and ] elections, Margaret Roberts fought the ] Labour seat of ], and was at the time the youngest ever female Conservative candidate for office. While active in the Conservative Party in ], she met ], whom she married in 1951. Denis was a wealthy divorced businessman and he funded his wife's studies for the ]. She qualified as a barrister in 1953, the same year that her twin children ] and ] were born. As a lawyer she specialised in tax law.
			Alfred was an ] and a ].{{sfnp|Beckett|2006|p=8}} He brought up his daughter as a strict ],<ref name="Johnson">{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Maureen |date=28 May 1988 |title=Bible-Quoting Thatcher Stirs Furious Debate |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> attending the ],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Filby |first=Eliza |date=31 October 2015 |title=God and Mrs. Thatcher: The Battle for Britain's Soul |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2015/10/margaret-thatcher-christian-methodism/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212034043/https://www.nationalreview.com/2015/10/margaret-thatcher-christian-methodism/ |archive-date=12 December 2019 |access-date=21 April 2018 |work=]}}</ref> but Margaret was more sceptical; the future scientist told a friend that she could not believe in ]s, having calculated that they needed a ] {{convert|6|feet}} long to support wings.{{r|Oxford1}} Alfred came from a ] family but stood (as was then customary in local government) as an ]. He served as Mayor of Grantham from 1945 to 1946 and lost his position as alderman in 1952 after the ] won its first majority on Grantham Council in 1950.{{sfnp|Beckett|2006|p=8}}
	Thatcher then began to look for a safe Conservative seat and was narrowly rejected as candidate for ] in 1954. She had several other rejections before being selected for ] in April 1958. She won the seat easily in the ] and took her seat in the ]. Unusually, her ] was in support of her ] (]) to force local councils to hold meetings in public, which was successful. In 1961 she went against the Conservative Party's official position by voting for the restoration of ].
			]
	She was given early promotion to the front bench as ] in September 1961, retaining the post until the Conservatives lost power in the ]. When Sir ] stepped down Thatcher voted for ] in the ] over ], and was rewarded with the job of Conservative spokesman on Housing and Land. In this role she adopted the policy of allowing tenants to buy their ]s, an idea first developed by her colleague ]. The policy would prove popular.<ref>''The Hot Seat'', James Allason, Blackthorn, London 2006</ref> She moved to the Shadow ] team after 1966.
			Roberts attended ] and won a scholarship to ], a grammar school.{{sfnp|Beckett|2006|p=5}} Her school reports showed hard work and continual improvement; her extracurricular activities included the piano, field hockey, poetry recitals, swimming and walking.{{sfnmp|1a1=Beckett|1y=2006|1p=6|2a1=Blundell|2y=2008|2pp=21–22}} She was ] in 1942–43,<ref>{{Cite web |title=School aims |url=http://www.kestevengrantham.lincs.sch.uk/kg/about_school/school_aims |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130128200852/http://kestevengrantham.lincs.sch.uk/kg/about_school/school_aims |archive-date=28 January 2013 |access-date=9 April 2013 |publisher=Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School}}</ref> and outside school, while the Second World War was ongoing, she voluntarily worked as a ] in the local ].{{sfnp|Moore|2019|page=929}} Other students thought of Roberts as the "star scientist", although mistaken advice regarding cleaning ink from ] almost caused ]. In her ], Roberts was accepted for a scholarship to study chemistry at ], a women's college, starting in 1944. After another candidate withdrew, Roberts entered Oxford in October 1943.{{sfnmp|1a1=Beckett|1y=2006|1p=12|2a1=Blundell|2y=2008|2p=23}}{{r|Oxford1}}
	Thatcher was one of few Conservative MPs to support ]'s Bill to decriminalise male ], and she voted in favour of ]'s Bill to legalise ]. She supported retention of ] and voted against loosening the divorce laws. Thatcher made her mark as a conference speaker in 1966, with a strong attack on the high-tax policies of the Labour Government as being steps "not only towards ], but towards ]". She won promotion to the ] as Shadow Fuel Spokesman in 1967, and was then promoted to shadow Transport and, finally, Education before the ].
			===Oxford (1943–1947)===
	==In Heath's Cabinet==
			] (''pictured''{{--)}} from 1943 to 1947.]]
	<!-- Image with unknown copyright status removed: ]|right]] -->
	When the Conservative party under ] won the 1970 general election, Thatcher became ]. In her first months in office, forced to administer a cut in the Education budget, she was responsible for the abolition of universal free milk for school-children aged seven to eleven (Labour had already abolished it for secondary schools). This led to one of the more unflattering names for her, "Mrs. Thatcher, Milk Snatcher". Cabinet papers show that she spoke against the move in Cabinet, but was forced, due to the concept of collective responsibility, to implement the will of her fellow ministers. This provoked a storm of public protest. She also successfully resisted library book charges.
			Following her arrival at Oxford, Roberts began studies under ] ], the tutor in chemistry for Somerville College since 1934.{{sfnmp|1a1=Blundell|1y=2008|1pp=25–27|2a1=Beckett|2y=2006|2p=16|3a1=Agar|3y=2022}}<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-06-10 |title=Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin |url=https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/eminent/dorothy-crowfoot-hodgkin/ |access-date=2024-07-25 |publisher=Somerville College, Oxford |language=en-GB}}</ref> Hodgkin considered Roberts a "good" student, and later recalled: "One could always rely on her producing a sensible, well-read essay."{{sfnp|Agar|2022}} She opted to read for a classified ], entailing an additional year of supervised research.{{sfnp|Agar|2022}} As her thesis supervisor, Hodgkin assigned Roberts to work with ], a researcher in Hodgkin's lab, to determine the structure of the antibiotic ] ].{{sfnmp|1a1=Campbell|1y=2000|1p=65|2a1=Agar|2y=2022}} Although the research made some progress, the peptide's structure proved more complex than anticipated, and Schmidt would only determine its full structure much later; Roberts (by then Thatcher) learned this in the 1960s while visiting the ], where her former research partner was then working.{{sfnp|Agar|2022}}
	Her term was marked by support for several proposals for more local education authorities to close ]s and adopt ], even though this was widely perceived as a left-wing policy. Thatcher also saved the ] from being abolished. The Chancellor ] actually wanted to abolish it as a budget-cutting measure, for he viewed it as a gimmick by ]. Thatcher believed it was a relatively inexpensive way of extending higher education and insisted that the University should experiment with admitting school-leavers as well as adults. In her memoirs, Thatcher wrote that she was not part of Heath's inner circle, and had little or no influence on the key government decisions outside her department.
			Roberts graduated in 1947 with a ] in chemistry, and in 1950 also received the degree of ] (as an Oxford BA, she was entitled to the degree 21 terms after her ]).<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Whittaker |first1=Freddie |last2=Waite |first2=Debbie |last3=Culliford |first3=Elizabeth |name-list-style=amp |date=9 April 2013 |title=Thatcher: college will honour its former student |url=https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/10341124.thatcher-college-will-honour-former-student |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028113352/https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/10341124.thatcher-college-will-honour-former-student/ |archive-date=28 October 2021 |access-date=26 October 2021 |work=Oxford Mail}}</ref> Although Hodgkin would later be critical of her former student's politics, they continued to correspond into the 1980s, and Roberts in her memoirs would describe her mentor as "ever-helpful", "a brilliant scientist and a gifted teacher".{{sfnp|Agar|2022}} As prime minister, she would keep a portrait of Hodgkin at ].{{sfnp|Agar|2022}} Later in life, she was reportedly prouder of becoming the first prime minister with a science degree than becoming the first female prime minister.<ref name="runciman20130606">{{Cite news |last=Runciman |first=David |author-link=David Runciman |date=6 June 2013 |title=Rat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat |url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n11/david-runciman/rat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190309071240/https://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n11/david-runciman/rat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat |archive-date=9 March 2019 |access-date=11 June 2013 |work=]}}</ref> While prime minister she attempted to preserve Somerville as a women's college.<ref name="bowcott20161230">{{Cite news |last=Bowcott |first=Owen |date=30 December 2016 |title=Thatcher fought to preserve women-only Oxford college |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/dec/30/thatcher-fought-to-preserve-women-only-oxford-college-somerville |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170101004346/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/dec/30/thatcher-fought-to-preserve-women-only-oxford-college-somerville?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-2 |archive-date=1 January 2017 |access-date=31 December 2016 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> Twice a week outside study she worked in a local forces canteen.{{sfnp|Dougill|1987|page=4}}
	After the Conservative defeat in ], Heath appointed her Shadow Environment Secretary. In this position she promised to abolish the ] that paid for local government services, which proved a popular policy within the Conservative Party.
			During her time at Oxford, Roberts was noted for her isolated and serious attitude.<ref name="Oxford1">{{Cite news |last=Moore |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Moore, Baron Moore of Etchingham |date=19 April 2013 |title=A side of Margaret Thatcher we've never seen |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/10006410/A-side-of-Margaret-Thatcher-weve-never-seen.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180420214300/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/10006410/A-side-of-Margaret-Thatcher-weve-never-seen.html |archive-date=20 April 2018 |access-date=25 July 2017 |work=The Telegraph |ref=none}}</ref> Her first boyfriend, Tony Bray (1926–2014), recalled that she was "very thoughtful and a very good conversationalist. That's probably what interested me. She was good at general subjects".{{r|Oxford1}}<ref name="Bray">{{Cite news |date=5 August 2014 |title=Tony Bray – obituary |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11013968/Tony-Bray-obituary.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190205025842/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11013968/Tony-Bray-obituary.html |archive-date=5 February 2019 |access-date=25 July 2017 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref>
	==As Leader of the Opposition==
	]
			Roberts's coursework involved subjects beyond chemistry{{sfnp|Campbell|2000|p=47}} as she was already contemplating an entry into law and politics.<ref name="lecher20130408">{{Cite web |last=Lecher |first=Colin |date=8 April 2013 |title=How Thatcher The Chemist Helped Make Thatcher The Politician |url=http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-04/margaret-thatcher-politician-and-chemist-has-died |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217043947/http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-04/margaret-thatcher-politician-and-chemist-has-died |archive-date=17 February 2017 |access-date=22 November 2014 |magazine=]}}</ref> Her enthusiasm for politics as a girl made Bray think of her as "unusual" and her parents as "slightly austere" and "very proper".{{r|Oxford1}}{{r|Bray}} Roberts became President of the ] in 1946.{{sfnmp|1a1=Beckett|1y=2006|1pp=20–21|2a1=Blundell|2y=2008|2p=28}} She was influenced at university by political works such as ]'s '']'' (1944),{{sfnp|Blundell|2008|p=30}} which condemned economic intervention by government as a precursor to an authoritarian state.{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|p=17}}
	Thatcher agreed with Sir ] and the ] that the Heath Government had lost control of ] — and had lost direction — following its 1972 ]. After her party lost the ], Joseph decided to challenge Heath's leadership but later withdrew. Thatcher then decided that she would enter ] on behalf of the Josephite/CPS faction. Unexpectedly she out-polled Heath on the first ballot, forcing him to resign the leadership. On the second ballot, she defeated Heath's preferred successor ], by 146 votes to 79, and became Conservative Party leader on ] ]. She appointed Whitelaw as her deputy. Heath remained bitter towards Thatcher to the end of his life for what he perceived as her disloyalty in standing against him.
			===Post-Oxford career (1947–1951)===
	On ], ], she made a speech in ] Town Hall in which she made a scathing attack on the ]. The most famous part of her speech ran:
			After graduating, Roberts secured a position as a research chemist for British Xylonite (]) following a series of interviews arranged by Oxford; she subsequently moved to ] in Essex to work at the firm.{{sfnmp|1a1=Beckett|1y=2006|1p=17|2a1=Agar|2y=2011}} Little is known about her brief time there.{{sfnp|Agar|2011}} By her own account, she was initially enthusiastic about the position, as she had been intended to function as a personal assistant to the company's head of research and development, providing opportunities to learn about ]: "But on my arrival it was decided that there was not enough to do in that capacity."{{sfnp|Agar|2022}} Instead, she seems to have researched methods of attaching ] (PVC) to metals.{{sfnp|Agar|2011}} While with the firm, she joined the ].{{sfnp|Agar|2011}} In 1948, she applied for a job at ] (ICI) but was rejected after the personnel department assessed her as "headstrong, obstinate and dangerously self-opinionated".<ref name="BBC2013">{{Cite news |date=8 April 2013 |title=In quotes: Margaret Thatcher |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10377842 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408090853/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10377842 |archive-date=8 April 2019 |access-date=12 April 2013 |work=BBC News}}</ref> Jon Agar in '']'' argues that her understanding of modern scientific research later impacted her views as prime minister.{{sfnp|Agar|2011}}
			Roberts joined the local ] and attended the party conference at ], Wales, in 1948, as a representative of the University Graduate Conservative Association.{{sfnp|Beckett|2006|p=22}} Meanwhile, she became a high-ranking affiliate of the ],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Moore |first=Charles |date=5 February 2009 |title=Golly: now we know what's truly offensive |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/charlesmoore/4520977/Golly-now-we-know-whats-truly-offensive.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190205043254/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/charlesmoore/4520977/Golly-now-we-know-whats-truly-offensive.html |archive-date=5 February 2019 |access-date=29 April 2017 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref><ref name="Vermin">{{Cite magazine |last=J.C. |date=21 October 2012 |title=Gaffe-ology: why Mitchell had to go |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/blighty/2012/10/political-crises |url-access=registration |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191021232133/https://www.economist.com/blogs/blighty/2012/10/political-crises |archive-date=21 October 2019 |access-date=29 April 2017 |magazine=] |quote=In 1948 Aneurin Bevan called the Conservative Party 'lower than vermin' The Tories embraced the phrase; some formed the Vermin Club in response (Margaret Thatcher was a member).}}</ref> a group of grassroots Conservatives formed in response to a derogatory comment made by ].{{r|Vermin}} One of her Oxford friends was also a friend of the Chair of the ] Conservative Association in ], who were looking for candidates.{{sfnp|Beckett|2006|p=22}} Officials of the association were so impressed by her that they asked her to apply, even though she was not on the party's approved list; she was selected in January 1950 (aged 24) and added to the approved list ].{{sfnp|Blundell|2008|p=36}}
	<blockquote>"The Russians are bent on world dominance, and they are rapidly acquiring the means to become the most powerful imperial nation the world has seen. The men in the Soviet '']'' do not have to worry about the ebb and flow of public opinion. ], while we put just about everything before guns." </blockquote> In response, the Soviet Defence Ministry newspaper '']'' (''"]"'') gave her the nickname "]", which was soon publicised by ]. She took delight in the name and it soon became associated with her image as an unwavering and steadfast character.
			At a dinner following her formal adoption as Conservative candidate for Dartford in February 1949, she met divorcé ], a successful and wealthy businessman, who drove her to her Essex train.{{sfnmp|1a1=Beckett|1y=2006|1p=22|2a1=Blundell|2y=2008|2p=36}} After their first meeting, she described him to Muriel as "not a very attractive creature – very reserved but quite nice".{{r|Oxford1}} In preparation for the election, Roberts moved to Dartford, while she supported herself by working as a research chemist for ] in ], reportedly as part of a team developing ]s for ].{{sfnmp|1a1=Beckett|1y=2006|1p=22|2a1=''New Scientist''|2y=1983}} As the work was more theoretical in nature than during her prior role with BX Plastics, Roberts found it "more satisfying".{{sfnp|Agar|2022}} While at Lyons, she worked under the supervision of Hans Jellinek, who headed the company's physical chemistry section.{{sfnmp|1a1=Agar|1y=2022|2a1=Jellinek|2y=1979}} Jellinek assigned her to research the ] of α-monostearin (]), which has properties as an emulsifier, stabiliser and food preservative. Agar has noted the research may have been connected with the emulsification of ice cream, but only as a possibility.{{sfnp|Agar|2022}} In September 1951, their research was published in the '']'', a recently launched publication of the ],{{sfnp|Agar|2022}} as "The saponification of α-monostearin in a monolayer".{{sfnp|Jellinek|Roberts|1951}} This would be Roberts's sole scientific publication.{{sfnp|Agar|2022}} In 1979, following his former assistant's election as prime minister, Jellinek, by then a professor of physical chemistry at ] in the United States, said she had done "a very good job" on the project, "showing great determination".{{sfnp|Jellinek|1979}} She sent Jellinek a congratulatory letter upon his retirement in 1984, and another letter shortly before his death two years later.{{sfnp|Kerker|1987}}
	Thatcher appointed many Heath supporters to the Shadow Cabinet, for she had won the leadership as an outsider and had little power base of her own within the party. One, ] got the vital brief of shadow Employment Secretary. Thatcher had to act cautiously to convert the Conservative Party to her ] beliefs. She reversed Heath's support for ] for ]. In an interview for ]'s '']'' programme in January 1978, she said "people are really rather afraid that this country might be rather swamped by people with a different culture", arousing particular controversy at the time. She received 10,000 letters thanking her for raising the subject and the Conservatives gained a lead against Labour in the opinion polls, from both parties at 43% before the speech to 48% for Conservative and 39% for Labour immediately after.<ref>John Campbell, ''Margaret Thatcher: The Grocer's Daughter'' (Jonathan Cape, 2000), p. 400.</ref>
			Roberts married at ] and her children were baptised there,<ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=Death of a Member: Baroness Thatcher |house=House of Lords |date=10 April 2013 |volume=744 |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2013-04-10/debates/1304101000196/DeathOfAMemberBaronessThatcher |page=1154 |access-date=22 October 2020}}</ref> but she and her husband began attending ] services and would later convert to ].<ref name="Belz">{{Cite news |last=Belz |first=Mindy |date=4 May 2013 |title=Weather maker |url=https://world.wng.org/2013/04/weather_maker |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190203055950/https://world.wng.org/2013/04/weather_maker |archive-date=3 February 2019 |access-date=10 January 2017 |work=]}}</ref><ref name="Filby">{{Cite news |last=Filby |first=Eliza |date=14 April 2013 |title=Margaret Thatcher: her unswerving faith shaped by her father |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/9992424/Margaret-Thatcher-her-unswerving-faith-shaped-by-her-father.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190205050323/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/9992424/Margaret-Thatcher-her-unswerving-faith-shaped-by-her-father.html |archive-date=5 February 2019 |access-date=10 January 2017 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref>
	The Labour Government ran into difficulties with the industrial disputes, strikes, high unemployment, and collapsing public services during the winter of 1978-9, dubbed the ']'. The Conservatives used campaign posters with slogans such as "Labour Isn't Working" (see) to attack the government's record over unemployment and its over-regulation of the labour market.
			==Early political career==
	]'s Labour government fell after a successful ] in spring 1979.
			In the ] and ] general elections, Roberts was the Conservative candidate for the Labour seat of ]. The local party selected her as its candidate because, though not a dynamic public speaker, Roberts was well-prepared and fearless in her answers. A prospective candidate, ], recalled: "Once she opened her mouth, the rest of us began to look rather second-rate."{{r|runciman20130606}} She attracted media attention as the youngest and the only female candidate;{{sfnmp|1a1=Beckett|1y=2006|1pp=23–24|2a1=Blundell|2y=2008|2p=37}} in 1950, she was the youngest Conservative candidate in the country.{{sfnp|Jackson|Saunders|2012|p=3}} She lost on both occasions to ] but reduced the Labour majority by 6,000 and then a further 1,000.{{sfnp|Beckett|2006|pp=23–24}} During the campaigns, she was supported by her parents and by her future husband Denis Thatcher, whom she married in December 1951.{{sfnp|Beckett|2006|pp=23–24}}<ref name="Denis Thatcher">{{Cite news |date=27 June 2003 |title=Sir Denis Thatcher, Bt |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/1434154/Sir-Denis-Thatcher-Bt.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114083041/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/1434154/Sir-Denis-Thatcher-Bt.html |archive-date=14 January 2012 |access-date=6 January 2012 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref> Denis funded his wife's studies for the ];{{sfnp|Beckett|2006|p=25}} she qualified as a ] in 1953 and specialised in taxation.{{sfnp|Blundell|2008|p=35}} Later that same year their twins ] and ] were born, delivered prematurely by Caesarean section.{{sfnmp|1a1=Ogden|1y=1990|1p=70|2a1=Beckett|2y=2006|2p=26|3a1=Aitken|3y=2013|3p=74}}
			===Member of Parliament (1959–1970)===
	In the run up to the ], most opinion polls showed that voters preferred ] as Prime Minister even as the Conservative Party maintained a lead in the polls. The Conservatives would go on to win a 44-seat majority in the House of Commons and Margaret Thatcher became the United Kingdom's first female Prime Minister. On arriving at ], she famously said, in a paraphrase of ]:
			In 1954, Thatcher was defeated when she sought selection to be the ] candidate for the ] of January 1955. She chose not to stand as a candidate in the ], in later years, stating: "I really just felt the twins were only two, I really felt that it was too soon. I couldn't do that."{{sfnp|Campbell|2000|p=100}} Afterwards, Thatcher began looking for a Conservative safe seat and was selected as the candidate for ] in April 1958 (narrowly beating ]). She was elected as MP for the seat after a hard campaign in the ].{{sfnp|Beckett|2006|p=27}}<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=41842 |date=13 October 1959 |page=6433}}</ref> Benefiting from her fortunate result in a lottery for ]s to propose new legislation,{{r|runciman20130606}} Thatcher's maiden speech was, unusually, in support of her ], the ], requiring local authorities to hold their council meetings in public; the bill was successful and became law.<ref>{{Cite web |date=5 February 1960 |title=HC S 2R (Maiden Speech) |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/101055 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109151758/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/101055 |archive-date=9 November 2013 |access-date=8 April 2013 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref>{{sfnp|Aitken|2013|p=91}} In 1961 she went against the Conservative Party's official position by voting for the restoration of ] as a ].{{sfnp|Campbell|2000|p=134}}
			====On the frontbenches====
	<blockquote>"Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. And where there is despair, may we bring hope."</blockquote>
			Thatcher's talent and drive caused her to be mentioned as a future prime minister in her early 20s{{r|runciman20130606}} although she herself was more pessimistic, stating as late as 1970: "There will not be a woman prime minister in my lifetime – the male population is too prejudiced."<ref name="sandbrook20130409">{{Cite news |last=Sandbrook |first=Dominic |author-link=Dominic Sandbrook |date=9 April 2013 |title=Viewpoint: What if Margaret Thatcher had never been? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22076886 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130608091711/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22076886 |archive-date=8 June 2013 |access-date=16 June 2013 |work=BBC News Magazine}}</ref> In October 1961 she was promoted to the ] as ] by ].{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|p=4}} Thatcher was the youngest woman in history to receive such a post, and among the first ] to be promoted.{{sfnp|Scott-Smith|2003}} After the Conservatives lost the ], she became spokeswoman on housing and land. In that position, she advocated her party's policy of giving tenants the ] their ]s.{{sfnp|Wapshott|2007|p=64}} She moved to the ] team in 1966 and, as Treasury spokeswoman, opposed Labour's mandatory price and income controls, arguing they would unintentionally produce effects that would distort the economy.{{sfnp|Wapshott|2007|p=64}}
			] suggested Thatcher as a ] member after the Conservatives' ], but party leader ] and Chief Whip ] eventually chose ] as the ]'s sole woman member.{{sfnp|Scott-Smith|2003}} At the 1966 Conservative Party conference, Thatcher criticised the high-tax policies of the ] as being steps "not only towards Socialism, but towards Communism", arguing that lower taxes served as an incentive to hard work.{{sfnp|Wapshott|2007|p=64}} Thatcher was one of the few Conservative MPs to support ]'s bill to decriminalise male homosexuality.<ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=Sexual Offences (No. 2) |house=House of Commons |date=5 July 1966 |volume=731 |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1966/jul/05/sexual-offences-no-2 |page=267 |access-date=22 October 2020}}</ref> She voted in favour of ]'s bill to legalise abortion,{{sfnp|Thatcher|1995|p=150}}<ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=Medical Termination of Pregnancy Bill |house=House of Commons |date=22 July 1966 |volume=732 |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1966/jul/22/medical-termination-of-pregnancy-bill |page=1165 |access-date=22 October 2020}}</ref> as well as a ban on ].<ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=Hare Coursing Bill |house=House of Commons |date=14 May 1970 |volume=801 |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1970/may/14/hare-coursing-bill |access-date=22 October 2020 |pages=1599–1603}}</ref> She supported the retention of capital punishment<ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=Capital Punishment |house=House of Commons |date=24 June 1969 |volume=785 |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1969/jun/24/capital-punishment |page=1235 |access-date=22 October 2020}}</ref> and voted against the relaxation of divorce laws.<ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=Divorce Reform Bill |house=House of Commons |date=9 February 1968 |volume=758 |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1968/feb/09/divorce-reform-bill |access-date=22 October 2020 |pages=904–907}}</ref>{{sfnp|Thatcher|1995|p=151}}
	==As Prime Minister==
	===1979–1983===
	] ]]
			====In the Shadow Cabinet====
	Thatcher became Prime Minister on ], ], with a mandate to reverse the UK's economic decline and to reduce the role of the state in the economy. Thatcher was incensed by one contemporary view within the ], that its job was to manage the UK's decline from the days of ], and she wanted the country to assert a higher level of influence and leadership in ]. She was a ] soul mate of ], elected in 1980 in the ], and to a lesser extent ], who was elected in 1984 in ]. Conservatism now became the dominant political philosophy in the major English-speaking nations, apart from ]. In contrast her relationship with Australian Prime Minister ] was rather strained due to their contrasting views on ] and the ] (Hawke was a ]), and Thatcher did not endorse previous Australian Prime Minister ] as ].<ref>] ]</ref>
			In 1967, the ] chose Thatcher to take part in the ] (then called the Foreign Leader Program), a professional exchange programme that allowed her to spend about six weeks visiting various US cities and political figures as well as institutions such as the ]. Although she was not yet a Shadow Cabinet member, the embassy reportedly described her to the ] as a possible future prime minister. The description helped Thatcher meet with prominent people during a busy itinerary focused on economic issues, including ], ], ] and ]. Following the visit, Heath appointed Thatcher to the Shadow Cabinet{{sfnp|Scott-Smith|2003}} as fuel and power spokeswoman.<ref>{{Cite news |date=8 April 2013 |title=Margaret Thatcher's timeline: From Grantham to the House of Lords, via Arthur Scargill and the Falklands War |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/margaret-thatchers-timeline-from-grantham-to-the-house-of-lords-via-arthur-scargill-and-the-8564555.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104013802/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 |archive-date=4 November 2016 |access-date=2 November 2016 |work=]}}</ref> Before the ], she was promoted to shadow transport spokeswoman and later to education.{{sfnp|Wapshott|2007|p=65}}
			In 1968, ] delivered his ] in which he strongly criticised ] immigration to the United Kingdom and the then-proposed ]. When Heath telephoned Thatcher to inform her that he would sack Powell from the Shadow Cabinet, she recalled that she "really thought that it was better to let things cool down for the present rather than heighten the crisis". She believed that his main points about Commonwealth immigration were correct and that the selected quotations from his speech had been taken out of context.{{sfnp|Aitken|2013|page=117}} In a 1991 interview for '']'', Thatcher stated that she thought Powell had "made a valid argument, if in sometimes regrettable terms".<ref name="Sandford">{{Cite magazine |last=Sandford |first=Christopher |author-link=Christopher Sandford (biographer) |date=4 December 2017 |orig-date=June 2012 issue |title=To See and to Speak |url=https://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/article/to-see-and-to-speak/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027040342/https://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/article/to-see-and-to-speak/ |archive-date=27 October 2020 |access-date=23 October 2020 |magazine=]}}</ref>
	In May 1980, one day before she was due to meet the ] ], ], to discuss ], she announced in the ] that "the future of the constitutional affairs of Northern Ireland is a matter for the people of Northern Ireland, this government, this parliament, ''and no-one else''."
			Around this time, she gave her first Commons speech as a shadow transport minister and highlighted the need for investment in ]. She argued: "f}} we build bigger and better roads, they would soon be saturated with more vehicles and we would be no nearer solving the problem."{{sfnp|Campbell|2000|p=189}} Thatcher made her first visit to the ] in the summer of 1969 as the Opposition transport spokeswoman, and in October, delivered a speech celebrating her ten years in Parliament. In early 1970, she told ''The Finchley Press'' that she would like to see a "reversal of the permissive society".{{sfnp|Campbell|2000|pp=190–191}}
	In 1981, a number of ] (IRA) and ] prisoners in ]'s ] prison (known in Northern Ireland as 'Long Kesh', its previous name) went on ] to regain the status of ], which had been revoked five years earlier under the preceding Labour government. ], the first of the strikers, was elected as a ] (MP) for the constituency of ] a few weeks before he died.
			===Education Secretary (1970–1974)===
	Thatcher refused at first to countenance a return to political status for republican prisoners, famously declaring "Crime is crime is crime; it is not political."<ref>]]</ref> However, after nine more men had starved themselves to death and the strike had ended, some rights relating to political status were restored to paramilitary prisoners.
			] had done for older children in 1968.]]
			The Conservative Party, led by Edward Heath, won the 1970 general election, and Thatcher was appointed to the ] as ]. Thatcher caused controversy when, after only a few days in office, she withdrew Labour's ], which attempted to force ], without going through a consultation process. She was highly criticised for the speed at which she carried this out.{{sfnp|Campbell|2000|p=222}} Consequently, she drafted her own new policy (]), which ensured that local authorities were not forced to go comprehensive. Her new policy was not meant to stop the development of new comprehensives; she said: "We shall expect plans to be based on educational considerations rather than on the comprehensive principle."{{sfnp|Moore|2013|p=215}}
			Thatcher supported ]'s 1971 proposal for market forces to affect government funding of research. Although many scientists opposed the proposal, her research background probably made her sceptical of their claim that outsiders should not interfere with funding.{{r|lecher20130408}} The department evaluated proposals for more local education authorities to close grammar schools and to adopt ]. Although Thatcher was committed to a tiered ]-grammar school system of education and attempted to preserve grammar schools,{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|p=14}} during her tenure as education secretary, she turned down only 326 of 3,612&nbsp;proposals (roughly 9 per cent){{sfnp|Campbell|2000|p=224}} for schools to become comprehensives; the proportion of pupils attending comprehensive schools consequently rose from 32&nbsp;per&nbsp;cent to 62&nbsp;per&nbsp;cent.{{sfnp|Marr|2007|pp=248–249}} Nevertheless, she managed to save 94 grammar schools.{{sfnp|Moore|2013|p=215}}
	Thatcher's public hard line on the treatment of terrorists was reinforced during the 1981 Iranian Embassy Siege where for the first time in 70 years British armed forces were authorised to use lethal force on the mainland.
			{{anchor|Milk Snatcher}}
	Thatcher also continued the policy of "]" of the previous Labour government and its ], ], believing that the ] of Northern Ireland should be at the forefront in combating ]. This meant relieving the burden on the mainstream ] and elevating the role of the ] and the ].
			During her first months in office, she attracted public attention due to the government's attempts to cut spending. She gave priority to academic needs in schools,{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|p=14}} while administering public expenditure cuts on the state education system, resulting in the abolition of ] aged seven to eleven.{{sfnp|Wapshott|2007|p=76}} She held that few children would suffer if schools were charged for milk but agreed to provide younger children with {{convert|0.3|imppt}} <!-- pint --> daily for nutritional purposes.{{sfnp|Wapshott|2007|p=76}} She also argued that she was simply carrying on with what the Labour government had started since they had stopped giving free milk to secondary schools.{{sfnp|Campbell|2000|p=231}} Milk would still be provided to those children that required it on medical grounds, and schools could still sell milk.{{sfnp|Campbell|2000|p=231}} The aftermath of the milk row hardened her determination; she told the editor-proprietor Harold Creighton of '']'': "Don't underestimate me, I saw how they broke ], but they won't break me."{{sfnp|Campbell|2000|p=288}}
			Cabinet papers later revealed that she opposed the policy but had been forced into it by the Treasury.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hickman |first=Martin |date=9 August 2010 |title=Tories move swiftly to avoid 'milk-snatcher' tag |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tories-move-swiftly-to-avoid-milksnatcher-tag-2047372.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517184554/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tories-move-swiftly-to-avoid-milksnatcher-tag-2047372.html |archive-date=17 May 2013 |access-date=9 April 2013 |work=The Independent}}</ref> Her decision provoked a storm of protest from Labour and the press,{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|p=15}} leading to her being notoriously nicknamed "Margaret Thatcher, Milk Snatcher".{{sfnp|Wapshott|2007|p=76}}<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Rebecca |date=8 August 2010 |title=How Margaret Thatcher became known as 'Milk Snatcher' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/7932963/How-Margaret-Thatcher-became-known-as-Milk-Snatcher.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118071518/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/7932963/How-Margaret-Thatcher-became-known-as-Milk-Snatcher.html |archive-date=18 January 2012 |access-date=9 April 2013 |work=The Sunday Telegraph}}</ref> She reportedly considered leaving politics in the aftermath and later wrote in her autobiography: "I learned a valuable lesson. I had incurred the maximum of political odium for the minimum of political benefit."{{sfnmp|1a1=Reitan|1y=2003|1p=15|2a1=Thatcher|2y=1995|2p=182}}
	As a ], Thatcher started out in her economic policy by increasing interest rates to slow the growth of the money supply and thus lower inflation. She had a preference for indirect taxation over taxes on income, and ] (VAT) was raised sharply to 15%, with a resultant actual short-term rise in inflation.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} These moves hit businesses -- especially the manufacturing sector -- and unemployment quickly passed two million, doubling the one million unemployed under the previous Labour government.
			===Leader of the Opposition (1975–1979)===
	Political commentators harked back to the Heath Government's "U-turn" and speculated that Mrs Thatcher would follow suit, but she repudiated this approach at the 1980 Conservative Party conference, telling the party: ''"To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catch-phrase&mdash;the U-turn&mdash;I have only one thing to say: you turn if you want to; the Lady's not for turning."''<ref>http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=104431 Margaret Thatcher, Party Conference Speech, October 1980</ref> That she meant what she said was confirmed in the 1981 budget, when, despite concerns expressed in an open letter from 364 leading economists,{{Fact|date=February 2007}} taxes were increased in the middle of a recession. In January 1982, the inflation rate had dropped back to 8.6% from earlier highs of 18%, and ]s were then allowed to fall. Unemployment continued to rise, reaching an official figure of 3.6 million — although the criteria for defining who was unemployed were amended allowing some to estimate that unemployment in fact hit 5 million. However, ] has suggested that, due to the high number of people claiming unemployment benefit whilst working, unemployment never reached three million. By 1983, manufacturing output had dropped 30% from 1978.
			{{See also|Shadow Cabinet of Margaret Thatcher}}
			{{External media
			| topic=1975 speech to the ]
			| headerimage=]
			| caption=Thatcher in late 1975
			| audio1={{Cite speech |title=National Press Club Luncheon Speakers: Margaret Thatcher |url=http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/pressclub/thatcher.html}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Press Club Luncheon Speakers: Margaret Thatcher (Recorded Sound Research Center, Library of Congress) |url=http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/pressclub/thatcher.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180927213633/http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/pressclub/thatcher.html |archive-date=27 September 2018 |publisher=]}}</ref> (Starts at 7:39, finishes at 28:33.)<ref>{{Cite web |date=19 September 1975 |title=Speech to the National Press Club |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/102770 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161029044318/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/102770 |archive-date=29 October 2016 |access-date=28 October 2016 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref>
			}}
			The ] continued to experience difficulties with ] and union demands for wage increases in 1973, subsequently losing the ].{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|p=15}} Labour formed ] and went on to win a narrow majority in the ]. Heath's leadership of the Conservative Party looked increasingly in doubt. Thatcher was not initially seen as the obvious replacement, but she eventually became the main challenger, promising a fresh start.{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|p=16}} Her main support came from the parliamentary ]{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|p=16}} and ''The Spectator'',<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cosgrave |first=Patrick |author-link=Patrick Cosgrave |date=25 January 1975 |title=Clear choice for the Tories |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2013/04/clear-choice-for-the-tories/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171025145009/https://www.spectator.co.uk/2013/04/clear-choice-for-the-tories/ |archive-date=25 October 2017 |access-date=13 July 2017 |publication-date=13 April 2013 |magazine=The Spectator}}</ref> but Thatcher's time in office gave her the reputation of a pragmatist rather than that of an ideologue.{{r|runciman20130606}} She ] on the first ballot, and he resigned from the leadership.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Naughton |first=Philippe |date=18 July 2005 |title=Thatcher leads tributes to Sir Edward Heath |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/thatcher-leads-tributes-to-sir-edward-heath-353gzwv3fdh |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210913173244/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/thatcher-leads-tributes-to-sir-edward-heath-353gzwv3fdh |archive-date=13 September 2021 |access-date=23 October 2020 |work=The Times}}</ref> In the second ballot she defeated Whitelaw, Heath's preferred successor. Thatcher's election had a polarising effect on the party; her support was stronger among MPs on the right, and also among those from southern England, and those who had not attended public schools or ].{{sfnp|Cowley|Bailey|2000}}
			Thatcher became Conservative Party leader and ] on 11&nbsp;February 1975;<ref>{{Cite web |date=11 February 1975 |title=Press Conference after winning Conservative leadership (Grand Committee Room) |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=102452 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218065547/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=102452 |archive-date=18 February 2012 |access-date=29 September 2007 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref> she appointed Whitelaw as her ]. Heath was never reconciled to Thatcher's leadership of the party.{{sfnp|Moore|2013|pages=394–395, 430}}
	====The Falklands====
	{{main|Falklands War}}
	On ], ], a ruling military junta in ] invaded the ], a British ] that Argentina had ] since an 1830s dispute on their British settlement. Within days Thatcher sent a naval ] to recapture the islands. Despite the huge logistical difficulties the operation was a success, resulting in a wave of ] enthusiasm and support for her government at a time when Thatcher's popularity had been at an all-time low for a serving Prime Minister{{Fact|date=February 2007}}, with ''The Sun'' newspaper declaring "The Empire Strikes Back".
			Television critic ], writing in '']'' prior to her election as Conservative Party leader, compared her voice of 1973 to "a cat sliding down a blackboard".{{refn|{{harvtxt|James|1977|pp=119–120}}: <q>The hang-up has always been the voice. Not the timbre so much as, well, the {{em|tone}} – the condescending explanatory whine which treats the squirming interlocutor as an eight-year-old child with personality deficiencies. It has been fascinating, recently, to watch her striving to eliminate this. BBC2 ''News Extra'' on Tuesday night rolled a clip from May 1973 demonstrating the Thatcher sneer at full pitch. (She was saying that she wouldn't {{em|dream}} of seeking the leadership.) She sounded like a cat sliding down a blackboard.</q><ref>{{Cite news |last=James |first=Clive |date=9 February 1975 |title=Getting Mrs T into focus |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52299047/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111173045/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52299047/2-c-mt-on-tv/ |archive-date=11 January 2021 |access-date=23 October 2020 |work=The Observer |page=26 |via=]}}</ref>|group=nb}} Thatcher had already begun to work on her presentation on the advice of ], a former television producer. By chance, Reece met the actor ], who arranged lessons with the ]'s voice coach.{{sfnp|Thatcher|1995|p=267}}<ref name="Moore Vanity">{{Cite news |last=Moore |first=Charles |date=December 2011 |title=The Invincible Mrs. Thatcher |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2011/12/margaret-thatcher-201112 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218073039/http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2011/12/margaret-thatcher-201112 |archive-date=18 February 2012 |access-date=25 February 2012 |work=]}}</ref>{{refn|Thatcher succeeded in completely suppressing her Lincolnshire dialect except when under stress, notably after provocation from ] in the Commons in 1983, when she accused the ] of being ].<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=A miracle recovery for Finchley mother of two |date=22 April 1983 |page=28 |issue=61513 |department=News |last=Johnson |first=Frank |author-link=Frank Johnson (journalist)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=20 April 1983 |title=PM taunts Labour over early election |work=The Guardian |page=5 |quote=Amid uproar from both sides of the house, Mrs Thatcher shouted: 'So you are afraid of an election are you? Afraid, Afraid, Afraid. Frightened, frit – couldn't take it. Couldn't stand it.'}}</ref>|group=nb}}
	====1983 General Election====
	The 'Falklands Factor', along with an economic recovery in early 1983, bolstered the government's popularity. The Labour party at this time had split, and there was a new challenge in the ], formed by an electoral pact between the ] and the ]. However, this grouping failed to make its intended breakthrough, despite briefly holding an opinion poll lead.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} In the ], the Conservatives won 42.4% of the vote, the Labour party 27.6% and the Alliance 25.4% of the vote. Although the Conservatives' share of the vote had fallen slightly (1.5%) since 1979, Labour's vote had fallen by far more (9.3%) and in Britain's ] system, the Conservatives won in a ]. Under Margaret Thatcher, the Conservatives now had an overall majority of 144 MPs.
			Thatcher began attending lunches regularly at the ] (IEA), a think tank founded by {{wikt-lang|en|Hayekian|i=-}} poultry magnate ]; she had been visiting the IEA and reading its publications since the early 1960s. There she was influenced by the ideas of ] and ] and became the face of the ideological movement opposing the ]. ], they believed, was weakening Britain. The institute's pamphlets proposed less government, lower taxes, and more freedom for business and consumers.{{sfnp|Beckett|2010|loc=chpt. 11}}
	===1983–1987===
	Thatcher was committed to reducing the power of the ]s but, unlike the Heath government, adopted a strategy of incremental change rather than a single Act. Several unions launched ]s in response, but these actions eventually collapsed. Gradually, Thatcher's reforms reduced the power and influence of the unions. The changes were chiefly focused upon preventing the recurrence of the large-scale industrial actions of the 1970s, but were also intended to ensure that the consequences for the participants would be severe if any future action was taken. The reforms were also aimed, Thatcher claimed, to democratise the unions, and return power to the members. The most significant measures were to make secondary ] illegal, to force union leadership to first win a ballot of the union membership before calling a strike, and to abolish the ]. Further laws banned workplace ballots and imposed postal ballots.
			{{multiple image
	The confrontation over strikes carried out in 1984-85 by the ] (NUM) in opposition to proposals to close a large number of mines proved decisive. The government had made preparations to counter a strike by the NUM long in advance by building up ] stocks, ensuring that cuts in the ] supply — the legacy of the ] of 1972 — would not be repeated.
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			|image1=President Gerald Ford Meeting with Great Britain's Conservative Party Leader Margaret Thatcher in the Oval Office.jpg
			|alt1=Thatcher sitting with Gerald Ford
			|caption1=With President Ford in the ], 1975
			|image2=Shah and Margaret Thatcher.jpg
			|alt2=Thatcher sitting with Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
			|caption2=With the Shah in the ], 1978
			}}
			Thatcher intended to promote ] economic ideas at home and abroad. Despite setting the direction of her foreign policy for a Conservative government, Thatcher was distressed by her repeated failure to shine in the House of Commons. Consequently, Thatcher decided that as "her voice was carrying little weight at home", she would "be heard in the wider world".{{sfnp|Campbell |2000|p=344}} Thatcher undertook visits across the Atlantic, establishing an international profile and promoting her economic and foreign policies. She toured the United States in 1975 and met President ],<ref>{{Cite wikisource |title=President Ford–Margaret Thatcher memcon |date=18 September 1975 |wslink=President Ford–Margaret Thatcher memcon (18 September 1975)}}</ref> visiting again in 1977, when she met President ].{{sfnp|Cooper|2010|pp=25–26}} Among other foreign trips, she met Shah ] during a visit to ] in 1978.<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Press Conference concluding visit to Iran |date=1 May 1978 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation |url=https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/103489 |access-date=13 April 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180414010627/https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/103489 |archive-date=14 April 2018}}</ref> Thatcher chose to travel without being accompanied by her ], ], in an attempt to make a bolder personal impact.{{sfnp|Cooper|2010|pp=25–26}}
			In domestic affairs, Thatcher opposed ] (]) and the creation of a ]. She instructed Conservative MPs to vote against the Scotland and Wales Bill in December 1976, which was successfully defeated, and then when new Bills were proposed, she supported amending the legislation to allow the English to vote in the ] on Scottish devolution.<ref>{{Cite news |date=27 April 2008 |title=How Thatcher tried to thwart devolution |url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/how-thatcher-tried-to-thwart-devolution-1-1165673 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016012202/http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/how-thatcher-tried-to-thwart-devolution-1-1165673 |archive-date=16 October 2015 |access-date=20 April 2013 |work=The Scotsman}}</ref>
	] tactics during the strikes came under criticism from ],{{Fact|date=February 2007}} but the images of crowds of militant miners attempting to prevent other miners from working proved a shock even to some supporters of the strikes. The mounting desperation and ] of the striking families led to divisions within the regional NUM branches, and a breakaway union, the ] (UDM), was soon formed. A group of workers, resigned to the impending failure of the actions and worn down by months of protests, began to defy the Union's rulings, starting splinter groups and advising workers that returning to work was the only viable option.
			Britain's economy during the 1970s was so weak that then Foreign Secretary ] warned his fellow Labour Cabinet members in 1974 of the possibility of "a breakdown of democracy", telling them: "If I were a young man, I would emigrate."{{sfnp|Beckett|2010|loc=chpt. 7}} In mid-1978, the economy began to recover, and opinion polls showed Labour in the lead, with a general election being expected later that year and a Labour win a serious possibility. Now prime minister, Callaghan surprised many by announcing on 7&nbsp;September that there would be no general election that year and that he would wait until 1979 before going to the polls. Thatcher reacted to this by branding the Labour government "chickens", and Liberal Party leader David Steel joined in, criticising Labour for "running scared".<ref>{{Cite news |title=7 September 1978: Callaghan accused of running scared |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/7/newsid_2502000/2502781.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120410202005/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/7/newsid_2502000/2502781.stm |archive-date=10 April 2012 |access-date=13 January 2012 |work=On This Day 1950–2005 |via=]}}</ref>
	The ] lasted a full year before the NUM leadership conceded without a deal. The Conservative government proceeded to close all but 15 of the country's pits, with the remaining 15 being sold off and privatised in 1994. Private companies have since then acquired licences to open new pits and open-cast sites, with the majority of the original mines destroyed and the land redeveloped. The defeat of the miners' strike led to a long period of demoralization in the whole of the trade union movement.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
			The Labour government then faced fresh public unease about the direction of the country and a damaging series of strikes during the winter of 1978–79, dubbed the "]". The Conservatives attacked the Labour government's unemployment record, using advertising with the slogan "]". A ] was called after the Callaghan ministry ] in early 1979. The Conservatives won a 44-seat majority in the House of Commons, and Thatcher became the first female British prime minister.{{sfnp|Butler|Kavanagh|1980|page=199}}
	Following the arrest of the ] for breaching the UN arms embargo against ] in March 1984, and their repatriation to South Africa on bail, Thatcher invited ]'s president, ], and foreign minister, ], to ] in June 1984 in an effort to stave off growing international pressure for the imposition of ] against South Africa, where Britain had invested heavily. She reportedly urged President Botha to end apartheid; to release ]; to halt the harassment of black dissidents; to stop the bombing of ] (ANC) bases in front-line states; and to comply with UN Security Council resolutions and withdraw from ].<ref>John Campbell, ''Margaret Thatcher: The Iron Lady'' (Jonathan Cape, 2003), p. 324.</ref> However Botha ignored these demands.
			===="Iron Lady"====
	In an interview with ] for ''The Guardian'' in July 1986, Thatcher expressed her belief that economic sanctions against South Africa would be immoral because they would make thousands of black workers unemployed.<ref>Hugo Young, ''Supping with the Devils'' (Atlantic, 2003), p. 6.</ref> Because Pik Botha refused to allow the Coventry Four to return to England for their trial in the autumn of 1984, the £200,000 bail money had to be surrendered to the High Court.<ref>''The Guardian'' ], ] ]</ref>
			{{Main|Britain Awake}}
			{{External media |topic=1976 speech to Finchley Conservatives |video1={{Cite speech |title=Speech to Finchley Conservatives'' (admits to being an "Iron Lady")'' |url=https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/111324 |via=the Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}<ref name="Iron Lady" />}}
			{{blockquote|I stand before you tonight in my ''Red Star'' chiffon evening gown, my face softly made up and my fair hair gently waved, the Iron Lady of the Western world.{{r|Iron Lady}}|Thatcher embracing her Soviet nickname in 1976}}
			In 1976, Thatcher gave her "Britain Awake" foreign policy speech which lambasted the Soviet Union, saying it was "bent on world dominance".<ref name="britain-awake">{{Cite web |date=19 January 1976 |title=Speech at Kensington Town Hall ('Britain Awake') (The Iron Lady) |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/102939 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101017152319/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/102939 |archive-date=17 October 2010 |access-date=2 November 2008 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation |quote=] we endorsed the status quo in Eastern Europe. In return we had hoped for the freer movement of people and ideas across the Iron Curtain. So far we have got nothing of substance.}}</ref> The Soviet Army journal '']'' reported her stance in a piece headlined "Iron Lady Raises Fears",<ref name="Gavrilov">{{Cite news |last=Gavrilov |first=Yuri |date=24 January 1976 |title=The 'Iron Lady' Sounds the Alarm |work=Red Star |pages=3, 17 |volume=28 |issue=1–13 |translator={{text|''The Current Digest of the Soviet Press''}}}}</ref> alluding to her remarks on the ].<ref name="britain-awake" /> '']'' covered the ''Red Star'' article the next day,<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 January 1976 |title=Maggie, the 'Iron Lady' |url=http://gale.cengage.co.uk/images/upload/NewsVault/Thatcher/15-Maggie-the-Iron-Lady.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161029044402/http://gale.cengage.co.uk/images/upload/NewsVault/Thatcher/15-Maggie-the-Iron-Lady.pdf |archive-date=29 October 2016 |access-date=28 October 2016 |newspaper=The Sunday Times}}</ref> and Thatcher embraced the ] a week later; in a speech to Finchley Conservatives she likened it to the ]'s nickname "{{title case|iron duke}}".<ref name="Iron Lady">{{Cite web |date=31 January 1976 |title=Speech to Finchley Conservatives (admits to being an 'Iron Lady') |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/102947 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924182918/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/102947 |archive-date=24 September 2016 |access-date=17 October 2016 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref> The ] followed her throughout ever since,{{sfnmp|1a1=Atkinson|1y=1984|1p=115|2a1=Kaplan|2y=2000|2p=60}} and would become a generic ] for other strong-willed female politicians.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Macpherson |first=Fiona |author-link=Fiona Macpherson |date=10 April 2013 |title=The Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher's linguistic legacy |url=https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2013/04/10/margaretthatcher |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616153939/https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2013/04/10/margaretthatcher/ |archive-date=16 June 2018 |access-date=20 May 2018 |website=] |quote=While it has been applied to other women since (from politicians to tennis players), the resonance with Margaret Thatcher remains the strongest.}}</ref>
	On the early morning of ], ], the day before her 59th birthday, Thatcher escaped injury in the ] during the Conservative Party Conference when her hotel room was bombed by the ]. Five people died in the attack, including Roberta Wakeham, wife of the government's ] ], and the Conservative ] ]. A prominent member of the Cabinet, ], was injured, and his wife Margaret was left paralysed. Thatcher herself would have been injured if not for the fact that she was delayed from using the bathroom (which suffered more damage than the room she was in at the time the IRA bomb detonated). Thatcher insisted that the conference open on time the next day and made her speech as planned in defiance of the bombers, a gesture which won widespread approval across the political spectrum.
			==Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1979–1990)==
	On ], ], Thatcher signed the Hillsborough ] with Irish ] ], the first time a British government gave the Republic of Ireland a say (albeit advisory) in the governance of Northern Ireland. The agreement was greeted with fury by Northern Irish unionists. The ] and ] made an electoral pact and on ], ], staged an ad-hoc referendum by resigning their seats and contesting the subsequent by-elections, losing only one, to the nationalist ] (SDLP). However, unlike the ] of 1974, they found they could not bring the agreement down by a general strike. This was another effect of the changed balance of power in ].
			{{Main|Premiership of Margaret Thatcher}}
			{{Further|First Thatcher ministry|second Thatcher ministry|third Thatcher ministry}}
			{{External media
			| topic=1979 remarks on becoming prime minister
			| headerimage=]
			| caption=], {{circa|1979}}
			| video1={{Cite speech |title=Remarks on becoming Prime Minister'' (St Francis's prayer)'' |url=https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/115355 |via=the Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}<ref name="Prayer" />
			}}
			Thatcher became prime minister on 4&nbsp;May 1979. Arriving at ] she said, paraphrasing the ]:
			{{poemquote|
	Thatcher's political and economic philosophy emphasised reduced state intervention, ]s, and ]ialism. Since gaining power, she had experimented in selling off a small ] company, the National Freight Company, to its workers, with a surprisingly positive response. After the 1983 election, the Government became bolder and, starting with ], sold off most of the large utilities which had been in public ownership since the late 1940s. Many people took advantage of ] offers, although many sold their shares immediately for a quick profit and therefore the proportion of shares held by individuals rather than institutions did not increase. The policy of ], while anathema to many on the left, has become synonymous with ] and has also been followed by ]'s government. Wider share-ownership and council house sales became known as "]" to its supporters (a term coined by ]). By 1987, inflation had fallen further to 4.2%.
			Where there is discord, may we bring harmony;
	] and Margaret Thatcher at ], 1986.]]
			Where there is error, may we bring truth;
	In the ], Mrs Thatcher supported ]'s policies of ] against the Soviets. This contrasted with the policy of '']'' which the West had pursued during the 1970s, and caused friction with allies who still adhered to the idea of ''détente''. ] forces were permitted by Mrs. Thatcher to station nuclear ]s at British bases, arousing mass protests by the ]. However, she later was the first Western leader to respond warmly to the rise of the future reformist Soviet leader ], declaring that she liked him and describing him as "a man we can do business with" after a meeting in 1984, three months before he came to power. This was a start of a move by the West back to a new ''détente'' with the USSR under Gorbachev's leadership, which coincided with the final erosion of Soviet power prior to its eventual collapse in 1991. Thatcher outlasted the Cold War, which ended in 1989, and those who share her views on it credit her with a part in the West's victory, by both the deterrence and ''détente'' postures.
			Where there is doubt, may we bring faith;
			And where there is despair, may we bring hope.<ref name="Prayer">{{Cite web |date=4 May 1979 |title=Remarks on becoming Prime Minister (St Francis's prayer) |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/104078 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170322015853/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/104078 |archive-date=22 March 2017 |access-date=21 March 2017 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref>
			}}
			In office throughout the 1980s, Thatcher was frequently referred to as the most powerful woman in the world.{{sfnmp|1a1=Bern|1y=1987|1p=43|2a1=Ogden|2y=1990|2pp=9, 12}}<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Sheehy |first=Gail |author-link=Gail Sheehy |year=1989 |title=Gail Sheehy on the most powerful woman in the world |magazine=Vanity Fair |page=102 |volume=52}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Eisner |first=Jane |author-link=Jane Eisner |date=7 June 1987 |title=The most powerful woman in the world |magazine=] Magazine |page=1 |asin=B006RKBPBK}}</ref>
	In 1985, as a deliberate snub, the ] voted to refuse her an honorary degree in protest against her cuts in funding for higher education. This award had always previously been given to Prime Ministers that had been educated at Oxford.
			===Domestic affairs===
	She supported the ] from bases in the UK in 1986 in defiance of other ] (NATO) allies. Her liking for defence ties with the United States was demonstrated in the ] when she acted with colleagues to allow the helicopter manufacturer ], a vital defence contractor, to refuse to link with the Italian firm ] in order for it to link with the management's preferred option, ] of the United States. ] ], who had pushed the Agusta deal, resigned in protest after this, and remained an influential critic and potential leadership challenger. He would eventually prove instrumental in Thatcher's fall in 1990.
			====Minorities====
			Thatcher was the Opposition leader and prime minister at a time of increased racial tension in Britain. During the ], '']'' commented: "The Tory tide swamped the smaller parties{{snd}}specifically the ], which suffered a clear decline from last year."<ref>{{Cite news |date=14 May 1977 |title=Votes go to Tories, and nobody else |newspaper=The Economist |pages=24–28 |volume=263 |issue=6976}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1 March 1978 |title=Conservative Campaign Guide Supplement 1978 |url=https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/110797 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019154057/https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/110797 |archive-date=19 October 2020 |access-date=22 October 2020 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation |page=}}</ref> Her standing in the polls had risen by 11% after a 1978 interview for '']'' in which she said "the British character has done so much for democracy, for law and done so much throughout the world that if there is any fear that it might be swamped people are going to react and be rather hostile to those coming in", as well as "in many ways {{interp|minorities}} add to the richness and variety of this country. The moment the minority threatens to become a big one, people get frightened".<ref>{{Cite web |date=27 January 1978 |title=TV Interview for Granada World in Action ('rather swamped') |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/103485 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170717144335/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/103485 |archive-date=17 July 2017 |access-date=23 July 2017 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref><ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Mrs Thatcher fears people might become hostile if immigrant flow is not cut |date=31 January 1978 |page=2 |issue=60224 |department=News}}</ref> In the 1979 general election, the Conservatives had attracted votes from the NF, whose support almost collapsed.{{sfnmp|1a1=Reitan|1y=2003|1p=26|2a1=Ward|2y=2004|2p=128}} In a July 1979 meeting with Foreign Secretary ] and Home Secretary William Whitelaw, Thatcher objected to the number of Asian immigrants, in the context of limiting the total of ] allowed to settle in the UK to fewer than 10,000 over two years.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Swaine |first=Jon |date=30 December 2009 |title=Margaret Thatcher complained about Asian immigration to Britain |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/margaret-thatcher/6906503/Margaret-Thatcher-complained-about-Asian-immigration-to-Britain.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525084645/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/margaret-thatcher/6906503/Margaret-Thatcher-complained-about-Asian-immigration-to-Britain.html |archive-date=25 May 2010 |access-date=20 January 2011 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref>
			====The Queen====
	In 1986, her government controversially abolished the ] (GLC), then led by radical left-winger ], and six ] (MCCs). The government claimed this was an efficiency measure. However, Thatcher's opponents held that the move was politically motivated, as all of the abolished councils were controlled by Labour, had become powerful centres of opposition to her government, and were in favour of higher local government taxes and public spending. Several of them had however rendered themselves politically vulnerable by committing scarce public funds to causes widely seen as political and even extreme. {{Specify|date=December 2006}} {{Fact|date=February 2007}}
			As prime minister, Thatcher met weekly with ] to discuss government business, and their relationship came under scrutiny.{{sfnmp|1a1=Reitan|1y=2003|1p=28|2a1=Seward|2y=2001|2p=154}} {{harvtxt|Campbell|2011a|page=464}} states:
	Thatcher had two notable foreign policy successes in her second term.
	*In 1984, she visited China and signed the ] with ] on ], which committed the ] to award ] the status of a "Special Administrative Region". Under the terms of the ] agreement, China was obliged to leave Hong Kong's economic status unchanged after the handover on ], ] for a period of fifty years &ndash; until 2047.
	*At the Dublin European Council in November 1979, Mrs Thatcher argued that the United Kingdom paid far more to the ] than it received in spending. She famously declared at the summit: "We are not asking the Community or anyone else for money. We are simply asking to have our own money back". Her arguments were successful and at the June 1984 Fontainbleau Summit, the EEC agreed on an annual rebate for the United Kingdom, amounting to 66% of the difference between Britain's EU contributions and receipts. This still remains in effect, although ] later agreed to significantly reduce the size of the rebate. It periodically causes political controversy among the members of the ].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
			{{blockquote|One question that continued to fascinate the public about the phenomenon of a woman Prime Minister was how she got on with the Queen. The answer is that their relations were punctiliously correct, but there was little love lost on either side. As two women of very similar age – Mrs Thatcher was six months older – occupying parallel positions at the top of the social pyramid, one the head of government, the other head of state, they were bound to be in some sense rivals. Mrs Thatcher's attitude to the Queen was ambivalent. On the one hand she had an almost mystical reverence for the institution of the monarchy Yet at the same time she was trying to modernise the country and sweep away many of the values and practices which the monarchy perpetuated.}}
	===1987–1990===
	By leading her party to victory in the ] with a 102 seat majority, riding an economic boom against a weak Labour opposition advocating unilateral nuclear disarmament, Margaret Thatcher became the longest continuously serving ] since ] (1812 to 1827), and the first to win three successive elections since ] in ]. Most ] supported her&mdash;with the exception of '']'', '']'' and '']''&mdash;and were rewarded with regular press briefings by her press secretary, ]. She was known as "Maggie" in the ]s, and her opponents chanted the well-known protest slogan "]!". Her unpopularity on the left is evident from the lyrics of several contemporary pop-music songs (see below: Margaret Thatcher in popular culture)
			], the Queen's press secretary, in 1986 leaked stories of a deep rift to ''The Sunday Times''. He said that she felt Thatcher's policies were "uncaring, confrontational and socially divisive".{{sfnp|Pimlott|1996|pp=460–463, 484, 509–514}} Thatcher later wrote: "I always found the Queen's attitude towards the work of the Government absolutely correct stories of clashes between 'two powerful women' were just too good not to make up."{{sfnp|Thatcher|1993|p=18}}
	Though an early backer of decriminalization of male homosexuality (see above), Thatcher, at the 1987 Conservative party conference, issued the statement that "Children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay". Backbench Conservative MPs and Peers had already begun a backlash against the 'promotion' of homosexuality and, in December 1987, the controversial ']' was added as an amendment to what became the ]. This legislation has since been abolished by Tony Blair's Labour administration.
			====Economy and taxation====
	Welfare reforms in her third term created an adult Employment Training system that included full-time work done for the dole plus a £10 top-up, on the ] model from the ].
			{{See also|June 1979 United Kingdom budget|l1=1979 budget}}
			{{Margaret Thatcher/datatable}}
			Thatcher's economic policy was influenced by ] thinking and economists such as ] and ].{{sfnp|Childs|2006|p=185}} Together with her first ], ], she lowered direct taxes on income and increased indirect taxes.{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|p=30}} She increased interest rates to slow the growth of the money supply, and thereby lower inflation;{{sfnp|Childs|2006|p=185}} introduced cash limits on public spending and reduced expenditure on social services such as education and housing.{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|p=30}} Cuts to higher education led to Thatcher being the first ] post-war prime minister without an honorary doctorate from Oxford University after a 738–319 vote of the governing assembly and a student petition.<ref>{{Cite news |title=29 January 1985: Thatcher snubbed by Oxford dons |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/29/newsid_2506000/2506019.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130724131128/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/29/newsid_2506000/2506019.stm |archive-date=24 July 2013 |access-date=9 April 2007 |work=On This Day 1950–2005 |via=BBC News Online}}</ref>
			Some Heathite Conservatives in the Cabinet, the so-called "]", expressed doubt over Thatcher's policies.<ref>{{Cite news |title=10 October 1980: Thatcher 'not for turning' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/10/newsid_2541000/2541071.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130724131113/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/10/newsid_2541000/2541071.stm |archive-date=24 July 2013 |access-date=21 December 2008 |work=On This Day 1950–2005 |via=BBC News Online}}</ref> The ] resulted in the British media discussing the need for a ]. At the 1980 Conservative Party conference, Thatcher addressed the issue directly with a speech written by the playwright ],{{sfnp|Jones|2007|p=224}} that notably included the following lines:{{blockquote|To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the "U" turn, I have only one thing to say. "You turn if you want to. ]."<ref>{{Cite web |date=10 October 1980 |title=Speech to Conservative Party Conference ('the lady's not for turning') |url=https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/104431 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105144306/https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/104431 |archive-date=5 January 2018 |access-date=31 March 2018 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref>}}
	Thatcher, the former chemist, became publically concerned with environmental issues in the late 1980s. In 1988, she made accepting the problems of ], ] and ]. In 1990, she opened the ] for climate prediction and research. . In her book ''Statecraft'' (2002), she described her later regret in supporting the concept of human-induced global warming, outlining the negative effects she perceived it had upon the policy-making process. "Whatever international action we agree upon to deal with environmental problems, we must enable our economies to grow and develop, because without growth you cannot generate the wealth required to pay for the protection of the environment" (452).
			{{See also|1981 United Kingdom budget|l1=1981 budget}}
	At ], in 1988, Thatcher made a speech in which she outlined her opposition to proposals from the ] for a federal structure and increasing centralisation of decision-making. Although she had supported British membership, Thatcher believed that the role of the EC should be limited to ensuring free trade and effective competition, and feared that new EC regulations would reverse the changes she was making in the UK. "We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain, only to see them re-imposed at a European level, with a European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels". She was specifically against ], through which a single currency would replace national currencies, and for which the EC was making preparations. The speech caused an outcry from other European leaders, and exposed for the first time the deep split that was emerging over European policy inside her Conservative Party.
			Thatcher's job approval rating fell to 23% by December 1980, lower than recorded for any previous prime minister.{{sfnp|Thornton|2004|p=18}} As the ] deepened, she increased taxes,{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|p=31}} despite concerns expressed in a March 1981 statement signed by 364&nbsp;leading economists,<ref>{{Cite news |date=31 March 1981 |title=An avalanche of economists |url=http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/263/101/138526786w16/purl=rc1_TTDA_0_CS285575295&dyn=75!xrn_1_0_CS285575295&hst_1?sw_aep=mclib |url-access=limited |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120714012618/http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/mclib?http_rc=400&class=session&sev=temp&type=session&cause=http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/263/101/138526786w16/purl%3Drc1_TTDA_0_CS285575295%26dyn%3D75!xrn_1_0_CS285575295%26hst_1%3Fsw_aep%3Dmclib&cont=&msg=No+Session+cookies&sserv=no |archive-date=14 July 2012 |access-date=12 January 2011 |work=The Times |page=17}}</ref> which argued there was "no basis in economic theory for the Government's belief that by deflating demand they will bring inflation permanently under control", adding that "present policies will deepen the depression, erode the industrial base of our economy and threaten its social and political stability".<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 March 1981 |title=Economy: Letter of the 364 economists critical of monetarism (letter sent to academics and list of signatories) |url=https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/121217 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180401144432/https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/121217 |archive-date=1 April 2018 |access-date=31 March 2018 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref>
			] in 1982]]
	Thatcher's popularity once again declined, in 1989, as the economy suffered from high interest rates imposed to stop an unsustainable ]. She blamed her Chancellor, ], who had been following an economic policy which was a preparation for monetary union; in an interview for the ''Financial Times'', in November 1987, Thatcher claimed not to have been told of this and did not approve.
			By 1982, the UK began to experience signs of economic recovery;{{sfnp|Floud|Johnson|2004|p=392}} inflation was down to 8.6% from a high of 18%, but unemployment was over 3&nbsp;million for the first time since the 1930s.<ref>{{Cite news |title=26 January 1982: UK unemployment tops three million |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/26/newsid_2506000/2506335.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180221074348/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/26/newsid_2506000/2506335.stm |archive-date=21 February 2018 |access-date=16 April 2010 |work=On This Day 1950–2005 |via=BBC News Online}}</ref> By 1983, overall economic growth was stronger, and inflation and mortgage rates had fallen to their lowest levels in 13 years, although manufacturing employment as a share of total employment fell to just over 30%,{{sfnp|Rowthorn|Wells|1987|page=234}} with total unemployment remaining high, peaking at 3.3&nbsp;million in 1984.<ref>{{Cite news |last=O'Grady |first=Sean |date=16 March 2009 |title=Unemployment among young workers hits 15 per cent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/unemployment-among-young-workers-hits-15-per-cent-1645728.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130724123849/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/unemployment-among-young-workers-hits-15-per-cent-1645728.html |archive-date=24 July 2013 |access-date=21 November 2010 |work=The Independent}}</ref>
			During the 1982 Conservative Party Conference, Thatcher said: "We have done more to roll back the frontiers of socialism than any previous Conservative Government."<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 October 1982 |title=Speech to Conservative Party Conference |url=https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/105032 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180408073302/https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/105032 |archive-date=8 April 2018 |access-date=7 April 2018 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref> She said at the Party Conference the following year that the British people had completely rejected ] and understood "the state has no source of money other than money which people earn themselves There is no such thing as public money; there is only taxpayers' money."<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 October 1983 |title=Speech to Conservative Party Conference |url=https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/105454 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180408010401/https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/105454 |archive-date=8 April 2018 |access-date=7 April 2018 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref>
	At a meeting before the ] European Community summit in June 1989, Lawson and Foreign Secretary ] forced Thatcher to agree to the circumstances under which she would join the ], a preparation for monetary union and the abolishment of the ]. At the meeting, they both claimed they would resign if their demands were not met.<ref>Margaret Thatcher, ''The Downing Street Years'' (HarperCollins, 1993), p. 712.</ref> Thatcher took revenge on both by demoting Howe and by listening more to her adviser Sir ] on economic matters. Lawson resigned that October, feeling that Thatcher had undermined him.
			By 1987, unemployment was falling, the economy was stable and strong, and inflation was low. Opinion polls showed a comfortable Conservative lead, and ] results had also been successful, prompting Thatcher to call a general election for 11&nbsp;June that year, despite the deadline for an election still being 12 months away. The ] saw Thatcher re-elected for a third successive term.<ref>{{Cite news |title=11 June 1987 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/background/pastelec/ge87.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111203222938/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/background/pastelec/ge87.shtml |archive-date=3 December 2011 |access-date=14 November 2011 |work=Politics 97 |via=BBC News Online}}</ref>
	That November, Thatcher was ] of the Conservative Party by Sir ]. As Meyer was a virtually unknown ] MP, he was viewed as a "]" candidate for more prominent members of the party. Thatcher easily defeated Meyer's challenge, but there were sixty ballot papers either cast for Meyer or abstaining, a surprisingly large number for a sitting Prime Minister. Her supporters in the Party, however, viewed the results as a success, claiming that after ten years as Prime Minister and with approximately 370 Conservative MPs voting, the opposition was surprisingly small.
			Thatcher had been firmly opposed to British membership of the ] (ERM, a precursor to ]), believing that it would constrain the British economy,<ref name="ecc">{{Cite news |last=Riddell |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Riddell |date=23 November 1987 |title=Thatcher stands firm against full EMS role |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=106969 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080420095953/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=106969 |archive-date=20 April 2008 |access-date=8 October 2008 |work=Financial Times}}</ref> despite the urging of both Chancellor of the Exchequer ] and Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe;{{sfnp|Thatcher|1993|p=712}} in October 1990 she was persuaded by ], Lawson's successor as chancellor, to join the ERM at what proved to be too high a rate.{{sfnp|Marr|2007|p=484}}
	Thatcher's new system to replace local government taxes, outlined in the Conservative manifesto for the 1987 election, was introduced in ] in 1989 and in ] and ] in 1990. The rates were replaced by the Community Charge (more widely known as the "]"), which applied the same amount to every individual resident, with discounts for low earners. This was to be the most universally unpopular policy of her premiership and had the effect of limiting the number of people on the electoral register.
			Thatcher reformed local government taxes by replacing ] (a tax based on the nominal rental value of a home) with the ] (or poll tax) in which the same amount was charged to each adult resident.<ref name="polltax">{{Cite news |last=Passell |first=Peter |date=23 April 1990 |title=Furor Over British Poll Tax Imperils Thatcher Ideology |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE7DD1030F930A15757C0A966958260 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602032717/http://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/23/business/furor-over-british-poll-tax-imperils-thatcher-ideology.html |archive-date=2 June 2013 |access-date=30 October 2008 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> The new tax was introduced in Scotland in 1989 and in England and Wales the following year,{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|pp=87–88}} and proved to be among the most unpopular policies of her premiership.{{r|polltax}} Public disquiet culminated in a 70,000 to 200,000-strong<ref name="trafalgarsq num">{{Cite news |last=Graham |first=David |date=25 March 2010 |title=The Battle of Trafalgar Square: The poll tax riots revisited |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-battle-of-trafalgar-square-the-poll-tax-riots-revisited-1926873.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180119102840/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-battle-of-trafalgar-square-the-poll-tax-riots-revisited-1926873.html |archive-date=19 January 2018 |access-date=8 April 2013 |work=The Independent}}</ref> demonstration in London in March 1990; the demonstration around ] deteriorated into ], leaving 113 people injured and 340 under arrest.<ref name="otd pt">{{Cite news |title=31 March 1990: Violence flares in poll tax demonstration |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/31/newsid_2530000/2530763.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130409013226/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/31/newsid_2530000/2530763.stm |archive-date=9 April 2013 |access-date=30 October 2008 |work=On This Day 1950–2005 |via=BBC News Online}}</ref> The Community Charge was abolished in 1991 by her successor, John Major.{{r|otd pt}} It has since transpired that Thatcher herself had failed to register for the tax and was threatened with financial penalties if she did not return her form.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Narwan |first=Gurpreet |date=30 December 2016 |title=Threat of fine for unpaid poll tax sent to No 10 |url=http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/threat-of-fine-for-unpaid-poll-tax-sent-to-no-10-szqwdrlb6 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210821195006/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/threat-of-fine-for-unpaid-poll-tax-sent-to-no-10-szqwdrlb6 |archive-date=21 August 2021 |access-date=22 October 2020 |work=The Times}}</ref>
	Additional problems emerged when many of the tax rates set by local councils proved to be much higher than earlier predicted. Opponents of the Community Charge banded together to resist ]s and disrupt ] hearings of Community Charge ]ors. The Labour MP, ], was jailed for 60 days for refusing on principle to pay his Community Charge. As the Prime Minister continued to refuse to compromise on the tax, up to 18 million people refused to pay,{{Fact|date=February 2007}} enforcement measures became increasingly draconian, and unrest mounted and culminated in a number of ]. The most serious of these happened in London on ] ], during a protest at ], ], which more than 200,000 protesters attended. The huge unpopularity of the tax was seen as a major factor in Thatcher's downfall.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
			====Industrial relations====
	One of Thatcher's final acts in office was to put pressure on US President ] to deploy troops to the ] to drive ]'s army out of ]. Bush was somewhat apprehensive about the plan, but Thatcher famously told him that this was "no time to go wobbly!"
			{{See also|GCHQ trade union ban|Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service|label2=the GCHQ case}}
			Thatcher believed that the ] were harmful to both ordinary trade unionists and the public.{{sfnp|Campbell|2011a|pp=89–90}} She was committed to reducing the power of the unions, whose leadership she accused of undermining parliamentary democracy and economic performance through strike action.{{sfnp|Thatcher|1993|pp=97–98, 339–340}} Several unions launched strikes in response to legislation introduced to limit their power, but resistance eventually collapsed.<ref name="thatcher-cw">{{Cite news |title=Margaret Thatcher |url=http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/thatcher |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080703072749/http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/thatcher |archive-date=3 July 2008 |access-date=29 October 2008 |publisher=CNN}}</ref> Only 39% of union members voted Labour in the 1983 general election.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Revzin |first=Philip |date=23 November 1984 |title=British Labor Unions Begin to Toe the Line, Realizing That the Times Have Changed |work=The Wall Street Journal}}</ref> According to the BBC's political correspondent in 2004, Thatcher "managed to destroy the power of the trade unions for almost a generation".<ref name="bbcstrike">{{Cite news |last=Wilenius |first=Paul |date=5 March 2004 |title=Enemies within: Thatcher and the unions |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3067563.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430144439/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3067563.stm |archive-date=30 April 2009 |access-date=29 October 2008 |work=BBC News}}</ref> The ] was the biggest and most devastating confrontation between the unions and the Thatcher government.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Henry |first=John |date=5 March 2009 |title=When miners took on the government |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/south_yorkshire/7923138.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180521105409/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/south_yorkshire/7923138.stm |archive-date=21 May 2018 |access-date=20 May 2018 |work=BBC News |location=Yorkshire}}</ref>
	On the Friday before the Conservative Party conference in October 1990, Thatcher ordered her new ] ] to reduce interest rates by 1%. Major persuaded her that the only way to maintain monetary stability was to join the Exchange Rate Mechanism at the same time, despite not meeting the 'Madrid conditions'. The Conservative Party conference that year saw a large degree of unity; few who attended could have imagined that Mrs Thatcher had only a matter of weeks left in office.
			]
	===Fall from power===
			In March 1984, the ] (NCB) proposed to close 20 of the 174&nbsp;state-owned mines and cut 20,000&nbsp;jobs out of 187,000.<ref name="Glass">{{Cite news |last=Glass |first=Robert |date=16 December 1984 |title=The Uncivilized Side of Britain Rears its Ugly Head |work=The Record |page=37}}</ref><ref name="Black">{{Cite news |last=Black |first=David |date=21 February 2009 |title=Still unbowed, ex-miners to mark 25 years since the start of the strike |url=http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/still-unbowed-ex-miners-mark-25-4488387 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812022044/http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/still-unbowed-ex-miners-mark-25-4488387 |archive-date=12 August 2017 |access-date=5 July 2017 |work=The Journal}}</ref>{{r|pits-closed}} Two-thirds of the country's miners, led by the ] (NUM) under ], went on strike in protest.{{r|Glass}}<ref name="thatcher-num">{{Cite news |last=Hannan |first=Patrick |author-link=Patrick Hannan (presenter) |date=6 March 2004 |title=Iron Lady versus union baron |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/3537463.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226200523/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/3537463.stm |archive-date=26 February 2009 |access-date=20 November 2008 |work=BBC News}}</ref><ref name="Jones">{{Cite news |last=Jones |first=Alan |date=3 March 2009 |title=A History of the Miners' Strike |agency=Press Association}}</ref> However, Scargill refused to hold a ballot on the strike,{{sfnp|Adeney|Lloyd|1988|pages=88–89}} having previously lost three ballots on a national strike (in January and October 1982, and March 1983).{{sfnp|Adeney|Lloyd|1988|page=169}} This led to the strike being declared illegal by the ].{{sfnp|Adeney|Lloyd|1988|page=170}}<ref>{{Cite news |title=28 September 1984: Pit dispute 'illegal' says judge |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/28/newsid_2540000/2540813.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002235052/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/28/newsid_2540000/2540813.stm |archive-date=2 October 2018 |access-date=26 December 2012 |work=On This Day 1950–2005 |via=BBC News Online}}</ref>
	{{seealso|Conservative Party (UK) leadership election, 1990}}
			Thatcher refused to meet the union's demands and compared the miners' dispute to the ], declaring in a speech in 1984: "We had to fight the enemy without in the Falklands. We always have to be aware of the enemy within, which is much more difficult to fight and more dangerous to liberty."{{sfnp|Khabaz|2006|p=226}} Thatcher's opponents characterised her words as indicating contempt for the working class and have been employed in criticism of her ever since.{{sfnp|Moore|2015|p=164}}
	Mrs. Thatcher's political "assassination" was, according to witnesses such as ], one of the most dramatic episodes in British political history. The idea of a long-serving prime minister — undefeated at the polls — being ousted by an internal party ballot might at first sight seem bizarre. However, by 1990, opposition to Thatcher's policies on local government taxation, her Government's perceived mishandling of the economy (in particular the high ] of 15% that eroded her support among home owners and business people), and the divisions opening in the Conservative Party over ] made her seem increasingly politically vulnerable and her party increasingly divided. Her distaste for ''consensus politics'' and willingness to over ride colleagues' opinions, including that of Cabinet, emboldened the backlash against her when it did occur.<ref>Foster, C, British Government in Crisis, Hart Publishing, 2005</ref>
			After a year out on strike in March 1985, the NUM leadership conceded without a deal. The cost to the economy was estimated to be at least £1.5&nbsp;billion, and the strike was blamed for much of the ]'s fall against the US dollar.<ref name="Harper">{{Cite news |last=Harper |first=Timothy |date=5 March 1985 |title=Miners return to work today. Bitter coal strike wrenched British economy, society |work=The Dallas Morning News |page=8}}</ref> Thatcher reflected on the end of the strike in her statement that "if anyone has won", it was "the miners who stayed at work" and all those "that have kept Britain going".{{sfnp|Moore|2015|p=178}}
	On ] ], Sir ], one of Thatcher's oldest and staunchest supporters, resigned from his position as Deputy Prime Minister in protest at Thatcher's European policy. In his resignation speech in the ] two weeks later, he suggested that the time had come for "others to consider their own response to the tragic conflict of loyalties" with which he stated that he had wrestled for perhaps too long. Her former cabinet colleague Michael Heseltine subsequently challenged her for the leadership of the party, and attracted sufficient support in the first round of voting to prolong the contest to a second ballot. Though she initially stated that she intended to contest the second ballot, Thatcher decided, after consulting with her Cabinet colleagues, to withdraw from the contest. On ], at just after 9.30 a.m., she announced to the Cabinet that she would not be a candidate in the second ballot. Shortly afterwards, her staff made public what was, in effect, her resignation statement:
	<blockquote>Having consulted widely among my colleagues, I have concluded that the unity of the Party and the prospects of victory in a General Election would be better served if I stood down to enable Cabinet colleagues to enter the ballot for the leadership. I should like to thank all those in Cabinet and outside who have given me such dedicated support.</blockquote>
	], Leader of the Opposition, proposed a motion of no confidence in the government; and Margaret Thatcher seized the opportunity this presented on the day of her resignation to deliver one of her most memorable performances:
	<blockquote>"... a single currency is about the politics of Europe, it is about a federal Europe by the back door. So I shall consider the proposal of the Honourable Member for Bolsover (]). Now where were we? ''I am enjoying this''."</blockquote>
	She supported ] as her successor and he duly won the leadership contest, although in the years to come her approval of Major would fall away. After her resignation a ] poll found that 52% agreed that "On balance she had been good for the country", with 48% agreeing that she had been "bad".<ref>Dennis Kavangah, ''The Reordering of British Politics: Politics after Thatcher'' (OUP, 1997), p. 134.</ref> In 1991, she was given a long and unprecedented standing ovation at the party's annual conference, although she politely rejected calls from delegates for her to make a speech. She did, however, occasionally speak in the House of Commons after she was Prime Minister. She retired from the House at the ], at the age of 66 years. Her continued presence in the House of Commons after the resignation was thought to be a destabilising influence on the Conservative government.
			The government closed 25&nbsp;unprofitable coal mines in 1985, and by 1992 a total of 97 mines had been closed;{{r|pits-closed}} those that remained were privatised in 1994.<ref>{{Cite news |date=4 March 2004 |title=UK Coal sees loss crumble to £1m |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3531819.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110131203228/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3531819.stm |archive-date=31 January 2011 |access-date=20 November 2008 |work=BBC News}}</ref> The resulting closure of 150&nbsp;coal mines, some of which were not losing money, resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of jobs and had the effect of devastating entire communities.<ref name="pits-closed">{{Cite news |date=5 March 2004 |title=Watching the pits disappear |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3514549.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080702053420/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3514549.stm |archive-date=2 July 2008 |access-date=20 November 2008 |work=BBC News}}</ref> Strikes had helped bring down Heath's government, and Thatcher was determined to succeed where he had failed. Her strategy of preparing fuel stocks, appointing hardliner ] as NCB leader and ensuring that police were adequately trained and equipped with riot gear contributed to her triumph over the striking miners.{{sfnp|Marr|2007|p=411}}
	==Post-political career==
	<!-- FAIR USE of Thatcher-robes.jpg: see image description page at http://en.wikipedia.org/Image:Thatcher-robes.jpg for rationale -->
	] during his house arrest in London, in 1998]]
			The number of stoppages across the UK peaked at 4,583 in 1979, when more than 29&nbsp;million working days had been lost. In 1984, the year of the miners' strike, there were 1,221, resulting in the loss of more than 27&nbsp;million working days. Stoppages then fell steadily throughout the rest of Thatcher's premiership; in 1990, there were 630 and fewer than 2&nbsp;million working days lost, and they continued to fall thereafter.{{sfnp|Butler|1994|p=375}} Thatcher's tenure also witnessed a sharp decline in trade union density, with the percentage of workers belonging to a trade union falling from 57.3% in 1979 to 49.5% in 1985.{{sfnp|Laybourn|1992|page=208}} In 1979 up until Thatcher's final year in office, trade union membership also fell, from 13.5&nbsp;million in 1979 to fewer than 10&nbsp;million.{{sfnp|Barrell|1994|p=127}}
	In 1992, Margaret Thatcher was raised to the House of Lords by the conferment of a ] as '''Baroness Thatcher''', of ] in the County of Lincolnshire. She did not take an hereditary title, as she had recommended for ], later Earl of Stockton, on his ninetieth birthday in 1984. She has explained that she thought she hadn't sufficient financial means to support an hereditary title {{Fact|date=February 2007}}. By virtue of the life barony, she entered the ]. She made a series of speeches in the Lords criticising the ], describing it as "a treaty too far" and in June 1993 told the Lords: "I could never have signed this treaty". She also advocated a referendum on the treaty, citing ], since all three main parties were in favour of it and that therefore the people should have their say.
			====Privatisation====
	In August 1992, she called for NATO to stop the Serbian assault on ] and ] in order to end ] and to preserve the ]n state. She claimed what was happening in Bosnia was "reminiscent of the worst excesses of the ]s".<ref>Campbell, ''The Iron Lady'', p. 769.</ref> In December of that same year she warned that there could be a "holocaust" in Bosnia and, after the ] at ] in April 1993, Thatcher thought it was a "killing field the like of which I thought we would never see in Europe again". She reportedly said to Douglas Hurd, the Foreign Secretary: "Douglas, Douglas, you would make ] look like a warmonger".<ref>Ibid, p. 770.</ref>
			The policy of ] has been called "a crucial ingredient of Thatcherism".{{sfnp|Seldon|Collings|2000|p=27}} After the 1983 election, the sale of state utilities accelerated;{{sfnp|Feigenbaum|Henig|Hamnett|1998|p=71}} more than £29&nbsp;billion was raised from the sale of nationalised industries, and another £18&nbsp;billion from the sale of council houses.{{sfnp|Marr|2007|p=428}} The process of privatisation, especially the preparation of nationalised industries for privatisation, was associated with marked improvements in performance, particularly in terms of ].{{sfnp|Parker|Martin|1995}}
			Some of the privatised industries, including gas, ], and electricity, were ] for which privatisation involved little increase in competition. The privatised industries that demonstrated improvement sometimes did so while still under state ownership. ] had made great gains in profitability while still a nationalised industry under the government-appointed MacGregor chairmanship, which faced down trade-union opposition to close plants and halve the workforce.{{sfnp|Kirby|2006}} Regulation was also significantly expanded to compensate for the loss of direct government control, with the foundation of regulatory bodies such as ] (]), ] (]), and the ] (]).{{sfnp|Veljanovski|1990|pp=291–304}} There was no clear pattern to the degree of competition, regulation, and performance among the privatised industries.{{sfnp|Parker|Martin|1995}}
	Margaret Thatcher had already been honoured by the Queen in 1990, shortly after her resignation as Prime Minister, when awarded the ], one of the UK's highest distinctions. In addition, her husband, Denis Thatcher, had been given a ]cy in 1991 (ensuring that their son Mark would inherit a title). This was the first creation of a baronetcy since 1965. In 1995, Thatcher was raised to the ], the United Kingdom's highest order of ].
			In most cases, privatisation benefited consumers in terms of lower prices and improved efficiency but results overall have been mixed.{{sfnp|McAleese|2004|pp=169–70}} Not all privatised companies have had successful share price trajectories in the longer term.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Simon |first=Emma |date=12 April 2013 |title=Thatcher's legacy: how has privatisation fared? |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/shares-and-stock-tips/9989430/Thatchers-legacy-how-has-privatisation-fared.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171015222606/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/shares-and-stock-tips/9989430/Thatchers-legacy-how-has-privatisation-fared.html |archive-date=15 October 2017 |access-date=5 July 2017 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref> A 2010 review by the IEA states: "t}} does seem to be the case that once competition and/or effective regulation was introduced, performance improved markedly But I hasten to emphasise again that the literature is not unanimous."<ref>{{Cite web |date=7 November 2000 |title=A Review of Privatisation and Regulation Experience in Britain |url=https://iea.org.uk/publications/research/a-review-of-privatisation-and-regulation-experience-in-britain |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180220033519/https://iea.org.uk/publications/research/a-review-of-privatisation-and-regulation-experience-in-britain |archive-date=20 February 2018 |access-date=19 February 2018 |publisher=Institute of Economic Affairs}}</ref>
	In July 1992, she was hired by tobacco company ], now the ], as a "geopolitical consultant" for US$250,000 per year and an annual contribution of US$250,000 to her Foundation.
			Thatcher always resisted ] and was said to have told Transport Secretary ]: "Railway privatisation will be the ] of this government. Please never mention the railways to me again." Shortly before her resignation in 1990, she accepted the arguments for privatisation, which her successor John Major implemented in 1994.{{sfnp|Marr|2007|p=495}}
	From 1993 to 2000, she served as Chancellor of the ], Virginia, USA, which was established by ] in 1693. She was also Chancellor of the ], the UK's only private university. She retired from the post in 1998.
			The privatisation of public assets was combined with ] to fuel economic growth. Chancellor Geoffrey Howe abolished the UK's exchange controls in 1979,<ref name="Robertson">{{Cite news |last=Robertson |first=Jamie |date=27 October 2016 |title=How the Big Bang changed the City of London for ever |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37751599 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170816022757/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37751599 |archive-date=16 August 2017 |access-date=19 June 2017 |work=BBC News}}</ref> which allowed more capital to be invested in foreign markets, and the ] of 1986 removed many restrictions on the ].{{r|Robertson}}
	She wrote her ]s in two volumes, ''The Path to Power'' and ''The Downing Street Years''. In 1993 ''The Downing Street Years'' were turned into a documentary series by the BBC, in which she described the Cabinet rebellion that brought about her resignation as "treachery with a smile on its face".
			====Northern Ireland====
	Although she remained supportive in public, in private she made her displeasure with many of John Major's policies plain, and her views were conveyed to the press and widely reported. She was critical of the rise in public spending under Major, his tax increases, and his support of the ]. After ]'s ] in 1994, Thatcher gave an interview in May 1995 in which she praised Blair as "probably the most formidable Labour leader since ]. I see a lot of ] behind their front bench, but not in Mr Blair. I think he genuinely has moved".
			]
			In 1980 and 1981, ] (PIRA) and ] (INLA) prisoners in Northern Ireland's ] carried out ] to regain the status of political prisoners that had been removed in 1976 by the preceding Labour government.{{r|strike}} ] began the 1981 strike, saying that he would fast until death unless prison inmates won concessions over their living conditions.<ref name="strike">{{Cite news |title=3 October 1981: IRA Maze hunger strikes at an end |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/3/newsid_2451000/2451503.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180113034637/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/3/newsid_2451000/2451503.stm |archive-date=13 January 2018 |access-date=5 January 2008 |work=On This Day 1950–2005 |via=BBC News Online}}</ref> Thatcher refused to countenance a return to political status for the prisoners, having declared "Crime is crime is crime; it is not political".{{r|strike}} Nevertheless, the British government privately contacted republican leaders in a bid to bring the hunger strikes to an end.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Clarke |first=Liam |date=5 April 2009 |title=Was Gerry Adams complicit over hunger strikers? |url=https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/111769 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111220938/https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/111769 |archive-date=11 November 2020 |access-date=23 October 2020 |work=The Sunday Times |via=the Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref> After the deaths of Sands and nine others, the strike ended. Some rights were restored to paramilitary prisoners, but not official recognition of political status.{{r|CAIN-hs}} Violence in Northern Ireland escalated significantly during the hunger strikes.{{sfnp|English|2005|pp=207–08}}
			Thatcher narrowly escaped injury in an IRA ] at a Brighton hotel early in the morning on 12&nbsp;October 1984.<ref name="bbc-bomb">{{Cite news |title=12 October 1984: Tory Cabinet in Brighton bomb blast |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/12/newsid_2531000/2531583.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308094001/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/12/newsid_2531000/2531583.stm |archive-date=8 March 2017 |access-date=29 October 2008 |work=On This Day 1950–2005 |via=BBC News Online}}</ref> Five people were killed, including the wife of minister ]. Thatcher was staying at the hotel to prepare for the Conservative Party conference, which she insisted should open as scheduled the following day.{{r|bbc-bomb}} She delivered her speech as planned,{{sfnp|Thatcher|1993|pp=379–383}} though rewritten from her original draft,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Travis |first=Alan |date=3 October 2014 |title=Thatcher was to call Labour and miners 'enemy within' in abandoned speech |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/oct/03/thatcher-labour-miners-enemy-within-brighton-bomb |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228014646/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/oct/03/thatcher-labour-miners-enemy-within-brighton-bomb |archive-date=28 February 2017 |access-date=25 May 2017 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> in a move that was supported across the political spectrum and enhanced her popularity with the public.{{sfnp|Lanoue|Headrick|1998}}
	In the ] in the aftermath of the Conservatives' ] at the hands of ], Thatcher voiced her support for ] after ] entered into an alliance with ]. Thatcher reportedly then toured the tea room of the House of Commons, urging Conservative MPs to vote for Hague.
			On 6&nbsp;November 1981, Thatcher and ] (Irish prime minister) ] had established the Anglo-Irish Inter-Governmental Council, a forum for meetings between the two governments.<ref name="CAIN-hs">{{Cite web |title=The Hunger Strike of 1981 – A Chronology of Main Events |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/hstrike/chronology.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206165221/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/hstrike/chronology.htm |archive-date=6 December 2010 |access-date=27 January 2011 |website=] |publisher=Ulster University}}</ref> On 15&nbsp;November 1985, Thatcher and FitzGerald signed the Hillsborough ], which marked the first time a British government had given the Republic of Ireland an advisory role in the governance of Northern Ireland. In protest, the ] movement led by ] attracted 100,000 to a rally in Belfast,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anglo Irish Agreement Chronology |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/aia/chron.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206111841/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/aia/chron.htm |archive-date=6 December 2010 |access-date=27 January 2011 |website=Conflict Archive on the Internet |publisher=Ulster University}}</ref> ], later assassinated by the PIRA, resigned as ] in ],<ref>{{Cite news |title=15 November 1985: Anglo-Irish agreement signed |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/15/newsid_2539000/2539849.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307120742/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/15/newsid_2539000/2539849.stm |archive-date=7 March 2008 |access-date=4 May 2010 |work=On This Day 1950–2005 |via=BBC News Online}}</ref>{{sfnp|Moloney|2002|p=336}} and all 15 Unionist MPs resigned their parliamentary seats; only one was not returned in the subsequent ] on 23&nbsp;January 1986.{{sfnp|Cochrane|1997|p=143}}
	In 1998, Thatcher made a highly publicised visit to the former ]an dictator ], while he was under house arrest in Surrey, during which she expressed her support and friendship (see ). Pinochet had been a key ally in the ]. During the same year, she made a £2,000,000 donation to ] for the endowment of a Margaret Thatcher Chair in Entrepreneurial Studies. She also donated the archive of her personal papers to ] where the collection continues to be expanded.
			===Environment===
	Margaret Thatcher actively supported the Conservative general election campaign in ]. In the ] shortly after, Lady Thatcher came out in support of ] because she believed he would "make infinitely the better leader" than Kenneth Clarke due to Clarke's "old-fashioned views of the role of the state and his unbounded enthusiasm for European integration".
			Thatcher supported an active ] policy; she was instrumental in the passing of the ],{{sfnp|Tewdwr-Jones|2003|page=47}} the founding of the ],<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 May 1990 |title=Speech opening Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/108102 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170613090256/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/108102 |archive-date=13 June 2017 |access-date=17 June 2017 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref> the establishment of the ],<ref name="Harrabin">{{Cite news |last=Harrabin |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Harrabin |date=8 April 2013 |title=Margaret Thatcher: How PM legitimised green concerns |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22069768 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810032718/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22069768 |archive-date=10 August 2017 |access-date=17 June 2017 |work=BBC News}}</ref> and the ratification of the ] on preserving the ].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bourke |first=India |date=14 October 2016 |title=Will Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan be the unlikely saviours of the world from climate change? |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/energy/2016/10/will-margaret-thatcher-and-ronald-reagan-be-unlikely-saviours-world-climate |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181206102436/https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/energy/2016/10/will-margaret-thatcher-and-ronald-reagan-be-unlikely-saviours-world-climate |archive-date=6 December 2018 |access-date=6 December 2018 |magazine=]}}</ref>
			Thatcher helped to put ], ] and general pollution in the British mainstream in the late 1980s,{{r|Harrabin}}{{sfnp|Campbell|2011a|page=642}} calling for a global treaty on climate change in 1989.<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 September 2013 |title=A brief history of climate change |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15874560 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170726033727/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15874560 |archive-date=26 July 2017 |access-date=17 June 2017 |work=BBC News}}</ref> Her speeches included one to the ] in 1988,<ref>{{Cite web |date=27 September 1988 |title=Speech to the Royal Society |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/107346 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160406101350/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/107346 |archive-date=6 April 2016 |access-date=27 April 2016 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref> followed by another to the ] in 1989.
	In 2002, she published ''Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World'' detailing her thoughts on ] since her resignation in 1990. The chapters on the European Union were particularly controversial; she called for a fundamental renegotiation of Britain's membership to preserve the UK's sovereignty and, if that failed, for Britain to leave and join ]. These chapters were serialised in ''The Times'' on Monday, ] and caused a political furor for the rest of the week until Friday, ] when it was announced she had been advised by her doctors to make no more public speeches on health grounds, having suffered several small strokes. According to her former press spokesman Bernard Ingham, Thatcher has no short-term memory as a result of the strokes.<ref name="Harris">John Harris, "", ''The Guardian'', 3 February 2007.</ref>
			===Foreign affairs===
	She remains active in various groups, including ], the ] and the ]. She was ] on ], ].
			{{multiple image
			|direction=vertical
			|image1=Thatcher at Oval Office desk with Carter.jpg
			|alt1=Thatcher sitting with Jimmy Carter
			|caption1=With ] in the Oval Office, 1979
			|image2=President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom.jpg
			|alt2=Thatcher sitting with Ronald Reagan
			|caption2=With ] in the Oval Office, 1988
			|image3=Thatcher and Bush - 1990 - P14935-18A.jpg
			|alt3=Thatcher standing with George H. W. Bush
			|caption3=With ] in ], 1990
			}}
			Thatcher appointed Lord Carrington, an ennobled member of the party and former ], to run the ] in 1979.{{sfnp|Sked|Cook|1993|pages=364–422}} Although considered a "wet", he avoided domestic affairs and got along well with Thatcher. One issue was what to do with ], where the white minority had determined to rule the prosperous, black-majority breakaway colony in the face of overwhelming international criticism. With the 1975 ] collapse in the continent, South Africa (which had been Rhodesia's chief supporter) realised that their ally was a liability; black rule was inevitable, and the Thatcher government brokered a peaceful solution to end the ] in December 1979 via the ]. The conference at Lancaster House was attended by Rhodesian prime minister ], as well as by the key black leaders: ], ], ] and ]. The result was the new Zimbabwean nation under black rule in 1980.{{sfnmp|1a1=Lewis|1y=1980|2a1=Soames|2y=1980}}
			====Cold War====
			Thatcher's first foreign-policy crisis came with the 1979 ]. She condemned the invasion, said it showed the bankruptcy of a ] policy and helped convince some British athletes to boycott the ]. She gave weak support to US president Jimmy Carter who tried to punish the USSR with economic sanctions. Britain's economic situation was precarious, and most of NATO was reluctant to cut trade ties.{{sfnp|Lahey|2013}} Thatcher nevertheless gave the go-ahead for ] to approve ] (along with the SAS) to undertake ].{{sfnp|Dorril|2002|p={{nowrap|{{plainlink|https://archive.org/details/mi6insidecovertw00dorr/page/752|752}} {{closed access}}}}}} As well as working with the CIA in ], they also supplied weapons, training and intelligence to the '']''.{{sfnp|Cormac|2018|pages=233–36}}
			The '']'' reported in 2011 that her government had secretly supplied ] with ].<ref name="Thatcher Hussein secret">{{Cite web |last=Stothard |first=Michael |date=30 December 2011 |title=UK secretly supplied Saddam |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/52add2c4-30b4-11e1-9436-00144feabdc0.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701032514/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/52add2c4-30b4-11e1-9436-00144feabdc0.html |archive-date=1 July 2016 |access-date=11 October 2015 |newspaper=Financial Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Leigh |first1=David |author-link1=David Leigh (journalist) |last2=Evans |first2=Rob |name-list-style=amp |date=27 February 2003 |title=How £1bn was lost when Thatcher propped up Saddam |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/feb/28/iraq.politics1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170811011113/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/feb/28/iraq.politics1 |archive-date=11 August 2017 |access-date=2 August 2017 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>
			Having withdrawn formal recognition from the ] in 1979,<ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=Kampuchea |house=House of Commons |date=16 May 1985 |volume=79 |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1985/may/16/kampuchea |column_start=486 |column_end=490 |access-date=22 October 2020}}</ref> the Thatcher government backed the ] keeping their UN seat after they were ousted from power in Cambodia by the ]. Although Thatcher denied it at the time,<ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=Cambodia |house=House of Commons |date=26 October 1990 |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm198990/cmhansrd/1990-10-26/Debate-3.html |column_start=655 |column_end=667 |access-date=22 October 2020}}</ref> it was revealed in 1991 that, while not directly training any Khmer Rouge,{{sfnp|Neville|2016|p=20}} from 1983 the ] (SAS) was sent to secretly train "the armed forces of the ]" that remained loyal to Prince ] and his former prime minister ] in the fight against the ].<ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=Cambodia |house=House of Commons |date=22 July 1991 |volume=195 |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1991/jul/22/cambodia |column_start=863 |column_end=883 |access-date=22 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=9 January 2000 |title=Butcher of Cambodia set to expose Thatcher's role |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/jan/09/cambodia |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612144544/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/jan/09/cambodia |archive-date=12 June 2018 |access-date=26 May 2011 |work=The Observer}}</ref>
			Thatcher was one of the first Western leaders to respond warmly to reformist Soviet leader ]. Following Reagan–Gorbachev summit meetings and reforms enacted by Gorbachev in the USSR, she declared in November 1988 that "e're}} not in a Cold War now" but rather in a "new relationship much wider than the Cold War ever was".<ref name="reforms1988">{{Cite news |date=18 November 1988 |title=Gorbachev Policy Has Ended The Cold War, Thatcher Says |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE2DC1738F93BA25752C1A96E948260 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111173109/https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/18/world/gorbachev-policy-has-ended-the-cold-war-thatcher-says.html |archive-date=11 January 2021 |access-date=30 October 2008 |work=The New York Times |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> She went on a state visit to the Soviet Union in 1984 and met with Gorbachev and Council of Ministers chairman ].{{sfnp|Zemcov|Farrar|1989|page=138}}
			====Ties with the US====
			] with ministers in the ], 1981]]
			Despite opposite personalities, Thatcher bonded quickly with US president ].{{refn|{{harvtxt|Cannadine|2017}}: <q>In many ways they were very different figures: he was sunny, genial, charming, relaxed, upbeat, and with little intellectual curiosity or command of policy detail; she was domineering, belligerent, confrontational, tireless, hyperactive, and with an unrivalled command of facts and figures. But the chemistry between them worked. Reagan had been grateful for her interest in him at a time when the British establishment refused to take him seriously; she agreed with him about the importance of creating wealth, cutting taxes, and building up stronger defences against Soviet Russia; and both believed in liberty and free-market freedom, and in the need to outface what ].</q>|group=nb}} She gave strong support to the ]'s ] based on their shared ].{{r|thatcher-cw}} A sharp disagreement came in 1983 when Reagan did not consult with her on the ].{{sfnp|Williams|2001}}<ref>{{Cite web |date=6 June 2004 |title=Ronald Reagan |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/111260 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170628180545/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/111260 |archive-date=28 June 2017 |access-date=5 July 2017 |type=Obituary |via=the Margaret Thatcher Foundation |newspaper=The Times}}</ref>
			During her first year as prime minister, she supported ]'s decision to deploy US nuclear ] and ] missiles in Western Europe,{{r|thatcher-cw}} permitting the US to station more than 160&nbsp;cruise missiles at ], starting in November 1983 and triggering mass protests by the ].{{r|thatcher-cw}} She bought the ] submarine system from the US to replace Polaris, tripling the UK's nuclear forces<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=28 July 1980 |title=Trident is go |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,922079,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080904225816/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,922079,00.html |archive-date=4 September 2008 |access-date=16 January 2011 |magazine=Time}}</ref> at an eventual cost of more than £12&nbsp;billion (at 1996–97 prices).<ref>{{Cite web |date=5 November 1999 |title=Vanguard Class Ballistic Missile Submarine |url=https://fas.org/nuke/guide/uk/slbm/vanguard.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123230232/http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/uk/slbm/vanguard.htm |archive-date=23 November 2010 |access-date=16 January 2011 |publisher=]}}</ref> Thatcher's preference for defence ties with the US was demonstrated in the ] of 1985–86 when she acted with colleagues to allow the struggling helicopter manufacturer ] to refuse a takeover offer from the Italian firm ] in favour of the management's preferred option, a link with ]. Defence Secretary ], who had supported the Agusta deal, resigned from the government in protest.{{sfnp|Marr|2007|p=419}}
			In April 1986 she permitted US ] to use ] bases for the ] in retaliation for the ],<ref name="Cannon">{{Cite news |last=Cannon |first=Lou |author-link=Lou Cannon |date=15 April 1986 |title=Reagan Acted Upon 'Irrefutable' Evidence |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/04/15/reagan-acted-upon-irrefutable-evidence/61170c59-b355-4e0a-8ab5-411bba4879e8 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170906092229/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/04/15/reagan-acted-upon-irrefutable-evidence/61170c59-b355-4e0a-8ab5-411bba4879e8/ |archive-date=6 September 2017 |access-date=5 July 2017 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> citing the right of self-defence under ].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Riddell |first=Peter |date=16 April 1986 |title=Thatcher Defends US Use Of British Bases in Libya bombing raid |work=Financial Times |page=1}}</ref>{{refn|<q>The United States has more than 330,000&nbsp;members of her forces in Europe to defend our liberty. Because they are here, they are subject to terrorist attack. It is inconceivable that they should be refused the right to use American aircraft and American pilots in the inherent right of self-defence, to defend their own people.</q><ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=Engagements |house=House of Commons |date=15 April 1986 |volume=95 |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1986/apr/15/engagements |access-date=22 October 2020 |pages=723–728}}</ref>|group=nb}} Polls suggested that fewer than one in three British citizens approved of her decision.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lejeune |first=Anthony |date=23 May 1986 |title=A friend in need |work=National Review |page=27 |volume=38 |issue=1}}</ref>
			Thatcher was in the US on a state visit when Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ] in August 1990.<ref name="gw-pbs">{{Cite web |title=Oral History: Margaret Thatcher |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/oral/thatcher/1.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202075000/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/oral/thatcher/1.html |archive-date=2 December 2008 |access-date=1 November 2008 |publisher=PBS}}</ref> During her talks with President ], who succeeded Reagan in 1989, she recommended intervention,{{r|gw-pbs}} and put pressure on Bush to deploy troops in the Middle East to drive the ] out of Kuwait.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lewis |first=Anthony |author-link=Anthony Lewis |date=7 August 1992 |title=Abroad at Home; Will Bush Take Real Action? |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CEED9113AF934A3575BC0A964958260 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111173131/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/07/opinion/abroad-at-home-will-bush-take-real-action.html |archive-date=11 January 2021 |access-date=1 November 2008 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> Bush was apprehensive about the plan, prompting Thatcher to remark to him during a telephone conversation: "This was no time to go wobbly!"<ref>{{Cite web |date=26 August 1990 |title=Gulf War: Bush–Thatcher phone conversation (no time to go wobbly) |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/commentary/displaydocument.asp?docid=110711 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080420093131/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/commentary/displaydocument.asp?docid=110711 |archive-date=20 April 2008 |access-date=1 November 2008 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Tisdall |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Tisdall |date=8 April 2013 |title=No-nonsense Iron Lady punched above UK's weight on world stage |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-iron-lady-world-stage |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731063611/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-iron-lady-world-stage |archive-date=31 July 2017 |access-date=18 June 2017 |newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref> Thatcher's government supplied military forces to the international coalition in the build-up to the ], but she had resigned by the time hostilities began on 17&nbsp;January 1991.{{sfnp|Aitken|2013|pp=600–601}}<ref name="grice">{{Cite news |last=Grice |first=Andrew |date=13 October 2005 |title=Thatcher reveals her doubts over basis for Iraq war |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/thatcher-reveals-her-doubts-over-basis-for-iraq-war-319542.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171025132508/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/thatcher-reveals-her-doubts-over-basis-for-iraq-war-319542.html |archive-date=25 October 2017 |access-date=22 September 2016 |work=The Independent}}</ref> She applauded the coalition victory on the backbenches, while warning that "the victories of peace will take longer than the battles of war".<ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=The Gulf |house=House of Commons |date=28 February 1991 |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1991/feb/28/the-gulf#column_1120 |column=1120 |access-date=28 October 2020}}</ref> It was disclosed in 2017 that Thatcher had suggested threatening Saddam with ]s after the invasion of Kuwait.<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 July 2017 |title=Margaret Thatcher suggested threatening Saddam with chemical weapons |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-40667031 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170722005112/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-40667031 |archive-date=22 July 2017 |access-date=22 July 2017 |work=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Mance |first=Henry |date=20 July 2017 |title=Thatcher wanted to threaten Saddam with chemical weapons |url=https://www.ft.com/content/e2d78a20-6bcd-11e7-b9c7-15af748b60d0 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170720180853/https://www.ft.com/content/e2d78a20-6bcd-11e7-b9c7-15af748b60d0 |archive-date=20 July 2017 |access-date=31 July 2017 |work=Financial Times}}</ref>
			====Crisis in the South Atlantic====
			{{See also|Rejoice (Margaret Thatcher)|label1="Rejoice"|Diana Gould–Margaret Thatcher exchange|label2=the Diana Gould exchange}}
			On 2&nbsp;April 1982, the ruling ] ordered the invasion of the ] of the ] and ], ].{{sfnp|Smith|1989|p=21}} The ] was "a defining moment of {{interp|Thatcher's}} premiership".{{sfnp|Jackling|2005|p=230}} At the suggestion of Harold Macmillan and ],{{sfnp|Jackling|2005|p=230}} she set up and chaired a small ] (formally called ODSA, Overseas and Defence committee, South Atlantic) to oversee the conduct of the war,{{sfnp|Hastings|Jenkins|1983|pp=80–81}} which by 5–6&nbsp;April had authorised and dispatched ] to retake the islands.{{sfnp|Hastings|Jenkins|1983|p=95}} Argentina ] and ''Operation Corporate'' was hailed a success, notwithstanding the deaths of 255&nbsp;British servicemen and three Falkland Islanders. Argentine fatalities totalled 649, half of them after the nuclear-powered submarine {{HMS|Conqueror|S48|6}} torpedoed and sank the cruiser {{ship|ARA|General Belgrano}} on 2&nbsp;May.<ref name="liberation">{{Cite news |last=Evans |first=Michael |date=15 June 2007 |title=The Falklands: 25 years since the Iron Lady won her war |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-falklands-25-years-since-the-iron-lady-won-her-war-v3dp2zx3h5h |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210913174010/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-falklands-25-years-since-the-iron-lady-won-her-war-v3dp2zx3h5h |archive-date=13 September 2021 |access-date=5 July 2017 |work=The Times}}</ref>
			Thatcher was criticised for the neglect of the Falklands' defence that led to the war, and especially by Labour MP ] in Parliament for the decision to torpedo the ''General Belgrano'', but overall, she was considered a competent and committed war leader.{{sfnp|Hastings|Jenkins|1983|pp=335–336}} The "]", an economic recovery beginning early in 1982, and a bitterly divided opposition all contributed to Thatcher's second election victory in ].{{sfnp|Sanders|Ward|Marsh|1987}} Thatcher frequently referred after the war to the "Falklands spirit";<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jenkins |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Jenkins |date=1 April 2012 |title=Falklands war 30 years on and how it turned Thatcher into a world celebrity |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/apr/01/falklands-war-thatcher-30-years |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905232855/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/apr/01/falklands-war-thatcher-30-years |archive-date=5 September 2017 |access-date=26 May 2017 |newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref> {{harvtxt|Hastings|Jenkins|1983|p=329}} suggests that this reflected her preference for the streamlined decision-making of her War Cabinet over the painstaking deal-making of peacetime ].
			====Negotiating Hong Kong====
			In September 1982, she visited China to discuss with ] the ] after 1997. China was the first communist state Thatcher had visited as prime minister, and she was the first British prime minister to visit China. Throughout their meeting, she sought the PRC's agreement to a continued British presence in the territory. Deng insisted that the PRC's sovereignty over Hong Kong was non-negotiable but stated his willingness to settle the sovereignty issue with the British government through formal negotiations. Both governments promised to maintain Hong Kong's stability and prosperity.{{sfnp|Yahuda|1996|page=155}} After the two-year negotiations, Thatcher conceded to the PRC government and signed the ] in Beijing in 1984, agreeing to hand over Hong Kong's sovereignty in 1997.{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|p=116}}
			====Apartheid in South Africa====
			Despite saying that she was in favour of "peaceful negotiations" to end ],<ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=Engagements |house=House of Commons |date=25 February 1988 |volume=128 |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1988/feb/25/engagements#S6CV0128P0_19880225_HOC_113 |column=437 |access-date=22 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=South Africa |house=Written Answers HC Deb |date=11 July 1988 |volume=137 |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1988/jul/11/south-africa#S6CV0137P0_19880711_CWA_21 |column_start=3 |column_end=4W |access-date=22 October 2020}}</ref> Thatcher opposed ] by the Commonwealth and the ] (EEC).{{sfnp|Campbell|2011a|p=322}} She attempted to preserve trade with South Africa while persuading its government to abandon apartheid. This included "asting herself as ]'s candid friend" and inviting him to visit the UK in 1984,<ref name="Hanning">{{Cite news |last=Hanning |first=James |date=8 December 2013 |title=The 'terrorist' and the Tories: What did Nelson Mandela really think of Margaret Thatcher? |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/the-terrorist-and-the-tories-what-did-nelson-mandela-really-think-of-margaret-thatcher-8990872.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131208093841/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/the-terrorist-and-the-tories-what-did-nelson-mandela-really-think-of-margaret-thatcher-8990872.html |archive-date=8 December 2013 |access-date=24 October 2017 |work=The Independent}}</ref> despite the "inevitable demonstrations" against his government.{{sfnp|Campbell|2011a|p=325}} Alan Merrydew of the Canadian broadcaster ] asked Thatcher what her response was "to a reported ANC statement that they will target British firms in South Africa?" to which she later replied: " when the ANC says that they will target British companies This shows what a typical terrorist organisation it is. I fought terrorism all my life and if more people fought it, and we were all more successful, we should not have it and I hope that everyone in this hall will think it is right to go on fighting terrorism."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Plaut |first=Martin |date=29 August 2018 |title=Did Margaret Thatcher really call Nelson Mandela a terrorist? |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2018/08/did-margaret-thatcher-really-call-nelson-mandela-terrorist |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180906233752/https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2018/08/did-margaret-thatcher-really-call-nelson-mandela-terrorist |archive-date=6 September 2018 |access-date=6 September 2018 |magazine=New Statesman}}</ref> During his visit to Britain five months after his release from prison, ] praised Thatcher: "She is an enemy of apartheid We have much to thank her for."{{r|Hanning}}
			====Europe====
			{{See also|Bruges speech}}
			{{External media |topic=1988 speech to the ] |video1={{Cite speech |title=Speech to the College of Europe'' ('The Bruges Speech')'' |url=https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/113688 |via=the Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}<ref name="Bruges" />}}
			Thatcher and her party supported British membership of the EEC in the ]<ref name="upi19750604">{{Cite news |date=4 June 1975 |title=Conservatives favor remaining in market |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=M7QsAAAAIBAJ&pg=2825%2C608551 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031074621/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=M7QsAAAAIBAJ&pg=2825%2C608551 |archive-date=31 October 2020 |access-date=26 December 2011 |work=Wilmington Morning Star |page=5 |agency=United Press International}}</ref> and the ] of 1986, and obtained the ] on contributions,<ref name="kuper20190620">{{Cite news |last=Kuper |first=Simon |date=20 June 2019 |title=How Oxford university shaped Brexit – and Britain's next prime minister |url=https://www.ft.com/content/85fc694c-9222-11e9-b7ea-60e35ef678d2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190621101919/https://www.ft.com/content/85fc694c-9222-11e9-b7ea-60e35ef678d2 |archive-date=21 June 2019 |access-date=23 October 2020 |work=Financial Times}}</ref> but she believed that the role of the organisation should be limited to ensuring free trade and effective competition, and feared that the EEC approach was at odds with her views on smaller government and deregulation.{{sfnp|Senden|2004|p=9}} Believing that the single market would result in political integration,{{r|kuper20190620}} Thatcher's opposition to further ] became more pronounced during her premiership and particularly after her third government in 1987.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pylas |first=Pan |date=23 January 2020 |title=Britain's EU Journey: When Thatcher turned all euroskeptic |url=https://apnews.com/64855d1ff67454443db5132bdfb22ea6 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030173846/https://apnews.com/64855d1ff67454443db5132bdfb22ea6 |archive-date=30 October 2020 |access-date=22 October 2020 |work=Associated Press News}}</ref> In her Bruges speech in 1988, Thatcher outlined her opposition to proposals from the EEC,<ref name="Bruges">{{Cite web |date=20 September 1988 |title=Speech to the College of Europe ('The Bruges Speech') |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=107332 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120513020525/http://margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=107332 |archive-date=13 May 2012 |access-date=31 October 2008 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref> forerunner of the ], for a federal structure and increased centralisation of decision-making:{{blockquote |We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain, only to see them re-imposed at a European level, with a European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels.{{sfnp|Senden|2004|p=9}}}}
			Sharing the concerns of French president ],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Blitz |first=James |date=9 September 2009 |title=Mitterrand feared emergence of 'bad' Germans |url=https://www.ft.com/content/886192ba-9d7d-11de-9f4a-00144feabdc0 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190131042253/https://www.ft.com/content/886192ba-9d7d-11de-9f4a-00144feabdc0 |archive-date=31 January 2019 |access-date=14 May 2017 |work=Financial Times}}</ref> Thatcher was initially opposed to ],{{refn|She was decidedly cool towards reunification prior to 1990, but made no attempt to block it.{{sfnp|Ratti|2017|loc=chpt.&nbsp;4}}|group=nb}} telling Gorbachev that it "would lead to a change to postwar borders, and we cannot allow that because such a development would undermine the stability of the whole international situation and could endanger our security". She expressed concern that a united Germany would align itself more closely with the Soviet Union and move away from NATO.{{sfnp|Görtemaker|2006|p=198}}
			In March 1990, Thatcher held a Chequers seminar on the subject of German reunification that was attended by members of her cabinet and historians such as ], ], ] and ]. During the seminar, Thatcher described "what Urban called 'saloon bar ]s' about the German character, including '], aggressiveness, ], bullying, ], ] {{interp|and}} ]{{'"}}. Those present were shocked to hear Thatcher's utterances and "appalled" at how she was "apparently unaware" about the post-war ] and Germans' attempts to ].{{sfnp|Campbell|2011a|p=634}} The words of the meeting were leaked by her foreign-policy advisor ] and, subsequently, her comments were met with fierce backlash and controversy.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Low |first=Valentine |date=30 December 2016 |title=Germans seen as self-pitying, egotistical and bullying race |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/germans-seen-as-self-pitying-egotistical-and-bullying-race-chl0zfqtd |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210821212858/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/germans-seen-as-self-pitying-egotistical-and-bullying-race-chl0zfqtd |archive-date=21 August 2021 |access-date=17 December 2020 |work=The Times}}</ref>
			During the same month, German chancellor ] reassured Thatcher that he would keep her "informed of all his intentions about unification",<ref name="Bowcott">{{Cite web |last=Bowcott |first=Owen |date=30 December 2016 |title=Kohl offered Thatcher secret access to reunification plans |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/dec/30/helmut-kohl-margaret-thatcher-reunification-plans-national-archives-files |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517040338/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/dec/30/helmut-kohl-margaret-thatcher-reunification-plans-national-archives-files |archive-date=17 May 2019 |access-date=18 June 2017 |newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref> and that he was prepared to disclose "matters which even his cabinet would not know".{{r|Bowcott}}
			===Challenges to leadership and resignation===
			{{Main|1989 Conservative Party leadership election|1990 Conservative Party leadership election}}
			] in 1990]]
			During her premiership, Thatcher had the second-lowest average approval rating (40%) of any post-war prime minister. Since Nigel Lawson's resignation as chancellor in October 1989,{{sfnp|Crewe|1991}} polls consistently showed that she was less popular than her party.<ref name="ridley">{{Cite news |last=Ridley |first=Matt |author-link=Matt Ridley |date=25 November 1990 |title=Et Tu, Heseltine?; Unpopularity Was a Grievous Fault, and Thatcher Hath Answered for It |url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1160505.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831000325/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1160505.html |archive-date=31 August 2017 |access-date=5 July 2017 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> A self-described conviction politician, Thatcher always insisted that she did not care about her poll ratings and pointed instead to her unbeaten election record.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The poll tax incubus |date=24 November 1990 |page=13 |issue=63872 |department=Editorials/Leaders}}</ref>
			In December 1989, Thatcher was challenged for the leadership of the Conservative Party by the little-known backbench MP ].<ref name="89election">{{Cite news |title=5 December 1989: Thatcher beats off leadership rival |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/5/newsid_2528000/2528339.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307113658/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/5/newsid_2528000/2528339.stm |archive-date=7 March 2008 |access-date=1 November 2008 |work=On This Day 1950–2005 |via=BBC News Online}}</ref> Of the 374 Conservative MPs eligible to vote, 314 voted for Thatcher and 33 for Meyer. Her supporters in the party viewed the result as a success and rejected suggestions that there was discontent within the party.{{r|89election}}
			Opinion polls in September 1990 reported that Labour had established a 14% lead over the Conservatives,{{r|howe}} and by November, the Conservatives had been trailing Labour for 18&nbsp;months.{{r|ridley}} These ratings, together with Thatcher's combative personality and tendency to override collegiate opinion, contributed to further discontent within her party.{{r|resign-nyt}}
			In July 1989, Thatcher removed Geoffrey Howe as ] after he and Lawson had forced her to agree to a plan for Britain to join the ] (ERM). Britain joined the ERM in October 1990.
			On 1&nbsp;November 1990, Howe, by then the last remaining member of Thatcher's original 1979 cabinet, resigned as ], ostensibly over her open hostility to moves towards ].<ref name="howe">{{Cite news |title=1 November 1990: Howe resigns over Europe policy |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/1/newsid_2513000/2513953.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307114118/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/1/newsid_2513000/2513953.stm |archive-date=7 March 2008 |access-date=1 November 2008 |work=On This Day 1950–2005 |via=BBC News Online}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Millership |first=Peter |date=1 November 1990 |title=Thatcher's Deputy Quits in Row over Europe |agency=Reuters}}</ref> In his resignation speech on 13&nbsp;November, which was instrumental in Thatcher's downfall,<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Sir Geoffrey Howe's resignation was fatal blow in Mrs Thatcher's political assassination |date=5 December 1990 |page=12 |issue=63881 |department=News |last=Walters |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Walters}}</ref> Howe attacked Thatcher's openly dismissive attitude to the government's proposal for a new European currency competing against existing currencies (a "]"):
			{{blockquote|How on earth are the Chancellor and the Governor of the Bank of England, commending the hard ECU as they strive to, to be taken as serious participants in the debate against that kind of background noise? I believe that both the Chancellor and the Governor are cricketing enthusiasts, so I hope that there is no monopoly of cricketing metaphors. It is rather like sending your opening batsmen to the crease only for them to find, the moment the first balls are bowled, that their bats have been broken before the game by the team captain.<ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=Personal Statement |house=House of Commons |date=13 November 1990 |volume=180 |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1990/nov/13/personal-statement |column_start=461 |column_end=465 |access-date=22 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Sir Geoffrey Howe savages Prime Minister over European stance in resignation speech |date=14 November 1990 |page=3 |issue=63863 |department=Politics and Parliament}}</ref>}}
			On 14&nbsp;November, Michael Heseltine mounted a challenge for the leadership of the Conservative Party.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Frankel |first=Glenn |author-link=Glenn Frankel |date=15 November 1990 |title=Heseltine challenges Thatcher for her job |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/11/15/heseltine-challenges-thatcher-for-her-job/13f1b56b-2db0-44c8-b75d-8b2a31a16a07 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810172436/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/11/15/heseltine-challenges-thatcher-for-her-job/13f1b56b-2db0-44c8-b75d-8b2a31a16a07/ |archive-date=10 August 2017 |access-date=2 August 2017 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>{{sfnp|Marr|2007|p=473}} Opinion polls had indicated that he would give the Conservatives a national lead over Labour.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Poll swing followed downturn by Tories; Conservative Party leadership |date=21 November 1990 |page=2 |issue=63869 |department=News |last=Lipsey |first=David |author-link=David Lipsey, Baron Lipsey}}</ref> Although Thatcher led on the first ballot with the votes of 204 Conservative MPs (54.8%) to 152 votes (40.9%) for Heseltine, with 16 abstentions, she was four votes short of the required 15% majority. A second ballot was therefore necessary.{{sfnp|Williams|1998|page=66}} Thatcher initially declared her intention to "fight on and fight to win" the second ballot, but consultation with her cabinet persuaded her to withdraw.<ref name="resign-nyt">{{Cite news |last=Whitney |first=Craig R. |date=23 November 1990 |title=Change in Britain; Thatcher Says She'll Quit; 11½ Years as Prime Minister Ended by Party Challenge |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE6DB1438F930A15752C1A966958260&sec=&spon= |access-date=1 November 2008 |work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref name="resign-bbc">{{Cite news |title=22 November 1990: Thatcher quits as prime minister |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/22/newsid_2549000/2549189.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307114202/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/22/newsid_2549000/2549189.stm |archive-date=7 March 2008 |access-date=1 November 2008 |work=On This Day 1950–2005 |via=BBC News Online}}</ref> After holding an audience with the Queen, calling other world leaders, and making one final Commons speech,<ref>{{Cite web |date=22 November 1990 |title=HC S: |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/108256 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170407102050/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/108256 |archive-date=7 April 2017 |access-date=21 March 2017 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref> on 28&nbsp;November she left Downing Street in tears. She reportedly regarded her ousting as a betrayal.{{sfnp|Marr|2007|p=474}} Her resignation was a shock to many outside Britain, with such foreign observers as ] and Gorbachev expressing private consternation.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Travis |first=Alan |date=30 December 2016 |title=Margaret Thatcher's resignation shocked politicians in US and USSR, files show |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/dec/30/margaret-thatcher-resignation-shocked-us-ussr-files |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108115705/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/dec/30/margaret-thatcher-resignation-shocked-us-ussr-files |archive-date=8 November 2020 |access-date=22 October 2020 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>
			Chancellor John Major replaced Thatcher as head of government and party leader, whose lead over Heseltine in the second ballot was sufficient for Heseltine to drop out. Major oversaw an upturn in Conservative support in the 17&nbsp;months leading to the ] and led the party to a fourth successive victory on 9&nbsp;April 1992.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kettle |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Kettle |date=4 April 2005 |title=Pollsters taxed |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/apr/04/electionspast.past3 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109160116/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/apr/04/electionspast.past3 |archive-date=9 November 2013 |access-date=23 January 2011 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> Thatcher had lobbied for Major in the leadership contest against Heseltine, but her support for him waned in later years.<ref>{{Cite news |date=3 October 1999 |title=Major attacks 'warrior' Thatcher |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/463873.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031011111013/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/463873.stm |archive-date=11 October 2003 |access-date=1 November 2008 |work=BBC News}}</ref>
			==Later life==
			=== Return to backbenches (1990–1992) ===
			After leaving the premiership, Thatcher returned to the backbenches as a constituency parliamentarian.{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|p=118}} Her domestic approval rating recovered after her resignation, though public opinion remained divided on whether her government had been good for the country.{{sfnp|Crewe|1991}}<ref name="Ipsos">{{Cite web |date=8 April 2013 |title=Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) |url=https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/margaret-thatcher-1925-2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170722003205/https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/margaret-thatcher-1925-2013 |archive-date=22 July 2017 |access-date=25 May 2017 |publisher=] |quote=At the time of her resignation 52% of the public said that they thought her government had been good for the country and 40% that it had been bad.}}</ref> Aged 66, she retired from the House of Commons at the 1992 general election, saying that leaving the Commons would allow her more freedom to speak her mind.<ref name="lords">{{Cite news |title=30 June 1992: Thatcher takes her place in Lords |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/30/newsid_2523000/2523395.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307130818/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/30/newsid_2523000/2523395.stm |archive-date=7 March 2008 |access-date=1 November 2008 |work=On This Day 1950–2005 |via=BBC News Online}}</ref>
			===Post-Commons (1992–2003)===
			On leaving the Commons, Thatcher became the first former British prime minister to set up a foundation;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Thatcher Archive |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/archive/thatcher-archive.asp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130926225828/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/archive/thatcher-archive.asp |archive-date=26 September 2013 |access-date=26 August 2013 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref> the British wing of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation was dissolved in 2005 due to financial difficulties.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Barkham |first=Patrick |date=11 May 2005 |title=End of an era for Thatcher foundation |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/may/11/conservatives.politics |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928211215/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/may/11/conservatives.politics |archive-date=28 September 2013 |access-date=27 April 2013 |work=The Guardian |quote=Mystery surrounds the future of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation after it emerged that the British wing of the high-profile organisation set up by the former prime minister in 1991 was formally dissolved at Companies House two days before the general election.}}</ref> She wrote two volumes of memoirs, '']'' (1993) and '']'' (1995). In 1991, she and her husband Denis moved to a house in ], a residential garden square in central London's ] district.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Taylor |first=Matthew |date=9 April 2013 |title=Margaret Thatcher's estate still a family secret |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/apr/09/margaret-thatcher-estate-family-secret |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928211300/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/apr/09/margaret-thatcher-estate-family-secret |archive-date=28 September 2013 |access-date=14 April 2013 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>
			Thatcher was hired by the tobacco company ] as a "geopolitical consultant" in July 1992 for $250,000 per year and an annual contribution of $250,000 to her foundation.<ref>{{Cite news |date=19 July 1992 |title=Tobacco Company Hires Margaret Thatcher as Consultant |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-07-19-mn-4763-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630132953/http://articles.latimes.com/1992-07-19/news/mn-4763_1_margaret-thatcher |archive-date=30 June 2017 |access-date=25 May 2017 |work=Los Angeles Times |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> Thatcher earned $50,000 for each speech she delivered.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Harris |first=John |author-link=John Harris (critic) |date=3 February 2007 |title=Into the void |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/feb/03/past.conservatives?INTCMP=SRCH |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131225054519/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/feb/03/past.conservatives?INTCMP=SRCH |archive-date=25 December 2013 |access-date=16 January 2011 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>
			Thatcher became an advocate of ] and ] independence.<ref>{{Cite news |date=22 December 1991 |title=TV Interview for HRT (Croatian radiotelevision) |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/111358 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110701055009/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/111358 |archive-date=1 July 2011 |access-date=21 March 2011 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref> Commenting on the ], in a 1991 interview for ], she was critical of Western governments for not recognising the breakaway republics of Croatia and Slovenia as independent and for not supplying them with arms after the Serbian-led ] attacked.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Whitney |first=Craig R. |date=24 November 1991 |title=Thatcher Close to Break With Her Replacement |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE5D7123DF937A15752C1A967958260 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111173134/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/24/world/thatcher-close-to-break-with-her-replacement.html |archive-date=11 January 2021 |access-date=21 March 2011 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> In August 1992, she called for NATO to stop the Serbian assault on ] and ] to end ] during the ], comparing the ] to "the ]".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Thatcher |first=Margaret |date=6 August 1992 |title=Stop the Excuses. Help Bosnia Now |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7DE1731F935A3575BC0A964958260&sec=&spon= |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111173132/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/06/opinion/stop-the-excuses-help-bosnia-now.html |archive-date=11 January 2021 |access-date=2 December 2007 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>
			She made a series of speeches in the Lords criticising the ],{{r|lords}} describing it as "a treaty too far" and stated: "I could never have signed this treaty."<ref>{{Cite web |date=7 June 1993 |title=House of Lords European Communities (Amendment) Bill Speech |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=108314 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120513085456/http://margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=108314 |archive-date=13 May 2012 |access-date=9 April 2007 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref> She cited ] when arguing that, as all three main parties were in favour of the treaty, the people should have their say in a referendum.<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 November 1991 |title=House of Commons European Community debate |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=108291 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927195136/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=108291 |archive-date=27 September 2007 |access-date=9 April 2007 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref>
			Thatcher served as honorary ] in Virginia from 1993 to 2000,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chancellor's Robe |url=http://www.wm.edu/about/administration/chancellor/robe/index.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119054532/http://www.wm.edu/about/administration/chancellor/robe/index.php |archive-date=19 January 2012 |access-date=18 January 2010 |publisher=College of William & Mary}}</ref> while also serving as chancellor of the private ] from 1992 to 1998,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Oulton |first=Charles |date=1 October 1992 |title=Thatcher installed as chancellor of private university |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/thatcher-installed-as-chancellor-of-private-university-charles-oulton-reports-on-a-day-of-mixed-emotions-for-the-former-prime-minister-1554652.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120128210133/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/thatcher-installed-as-chancellor-of-private-university-charles-oulton-reports-on-a-day-of-mixed-emotions-for-the-former-prime-minister-1554652.html |archive-date=28 January 2012 |access-date=12 January 2010 |work=The Independent}}</ref><ref name="Kealey">{{Cite web |last=Kealey |first=Terence |author-link=Terence Kealey |date=8 April 2013 |title=University mourns death of Lady Thatcher |url=https://www.buckingham.ac.uk/latest-news/university-mourns-death-of-lady-thatcher |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130819022057/https://www.buckingham.ac.uk/latest-news/university-mourns-death-of-lady-thatcher |archive-date=19 August 2013 |access-date=25 May 2017 |publisher=University of Buckingham}}</ref> a university she had formally opened in 1976 as the former education secretary.{{r|Kealey}}
			After ]'s ] in 1994, Thatcher praised Blair as "probably the most formidable ] since ]", adding: "I see a lot of socialism behind their front bench, but not in Mr Blair. I think he genuinely has moved."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Castle |first=Stephen |date=28 May 1995 |title=Thatcher praises 'formidable' Blair |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/thatcher-praises-formidable-blair-1621354.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171228232439/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/thatcher-praises-formidable-blair-1621354.html |archive-date=28 December 2017 |access-date=5 July 2017 |work=The Independent}}</ref> Blair responded in kind: "She was a thoroughly determined person, and that is an admirable quality."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Woodward |first=Robert |author-link=Bob Woodward |date=15 March 1997 |title=Thatcher seen closer to Blair than Major |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gaZNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6603%2C5897694 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111173046/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gaZNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6603%2C5897694 |archive-date=11 January 2021 |access-date=25 May 2017 |work=The Nation |location=London, UK |agency=Reuters}}</ref>
			In 1998, Thatcher called for the release of former Chilean dictator ] when ] and sought to try him for human rights violations. She cited the help he gave Britain during the Falklands War.<ref>{{Cite news |date=22 October 1998 |title=Pinochet&nbsp;– Thatcher's ally |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/198604.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111110132525/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/198604.stm |archive-date=10 November 2011 |access-date=15 January 2010 |work=BBC News}}</ref> In 1999, she visited him while he was under house arrest near London.<ref>{{Cite news |date=26 March 1999 |title=Thatcher stands by Pinochet |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/304516.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100217081915/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/304516.stm |archive-date=17 February 2010 |access-date=15 January 2010 |work=BBC News}}</ref> Pinochet was released in March 2000 on medical grounds by Home Secretary ].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2 March 2000 |title=Pinochet set free |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/663170.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091016002953/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/663170.stm |archive-date=16 October 2009 |access-date=15 January 2010 |work=BBC News}}</ref>
			] in 2001]]
			At the ], Thatcher supported the Conservative campaign, as she had done in 1992 and 1997, and in the ] following its defeat, she endorsed ] over ].<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 August 2001 |title=Letter supporting Iain Duncan Smith for the Conservative leadership published in the ''Daily Telegraph'' |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=108390 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218065601/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=108390 |archive-date=18 February 2012 |access-date=9 April 2007 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref> In 2002 she encouraged ] to aggressively tackle the "unfinished business" of Iraq under Saddam Hussein,<ref name="Thatcher NYT">{{Cite news |last=Thatcher |first=Margaret |date=11 February 2002 |title=Advice to a Superpower |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/11/opinion/11THAT.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016012202/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/11/opinion/11THAT.html |archive-date=16 October 2015 |access-date=11 October 2015 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> and praised Blair for his "strong, bold leadership" in standing with Bush in the ].<ref name="Thatcher Blair Iraq">{{Cite news |last=Harnden |first=Toby |author-link=Toby Harnden |date=11 December 2002 |title=Thatcher praises Blair for standing firm with US on Iraq |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/1415788/Thatcher-praises-Blair-for-standing-firm-with-US-on-Iraq.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210913173639/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/1415788/Thatcher-praises-Blair-for-standing-firm-with-US-on-Iraq.html |archive-date=13 September 2021 |access-date=11 October 2015 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref>
			She broached the same subject in her '']'', which was published in April 2002 and dedicated to Ronald Reagan, writing that there would be no peace in the Middle East until ] was toppled. Her book also said that Israel must trade ] and that the European Union (EU) was a "fundamentally unreformable", "classic utopian project, a monument to the vanity of intellectuals, a programme whose inevitable destiny is failure".{{sfnp|Glover|Economides|2010|page=20}} She argued that Britain should renegotiate its terms of membership or else ] and join the ].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wintour |first=Patrick |author-link=Patrick Wintour |date=18 March 2002 |title=Britain must quit EU, says Thatcher |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2002/mar/18/uk.eu |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512213313/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2002/mar/18/uk.eu |archive-date=12 May 2014 |access-date=8 May 2014 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>
			Following several small strokes, her doctors advised her not to engage in further public speaking.<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Statement from the office of the Rt Hon Baroness Thatcher LG OM FRS |date=22 March 2002 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=109305 |access-date=9 November 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007032938/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=109305 |archive-date=7 October 2008}}</ref> In March 2002 she announced that, on doctors' advice, she would cancel all planned speaking engagements and accept no more.{{sfnp|Campbell|2003|pp=796–798}}
			{{quote box
			|title = Extract from '']''
			|quote = <q>Being Prime Minister is a lonely job. In a sense, it ought to be: you cannot lead from the crowd. But with Denis there I was never alone. What a man. What a husband. What a friend.</q>
			|author = {{harvtxt|Thatcher|1993|p=23}}
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			On 26&nbsp;June 2003, Thatcher's husband, Sir Denis, died aged 88;<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tempest |first=Matthew |author-link=Matthew Tempest |date=26 June 2003 |title=Sir Denis Thatcher dies aged 88 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/jun/26/obituaries.politics |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808194009/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/jun/26/obituaries.politics |archive-date=8 August 2017 |access-date=8 August 2017 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> his body was cremated on 3&nbsp;July at ] in London.<ref>{{Cite news |date=3 July 2003 |title=Lady Thatcher bids Denis farewell |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3041546.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808195919/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3041546.stm |archive-date=8 August 2017 |access-date=20 January 2011 |work=BBC News}}</ref>
			===Final years (2003–2013)===
			]
			On 11&nbsp;June 2004, Thatcher (against doctors' orders) attended the ].<ref>{{Cite news |date=11 June 2004 |title=Thatcher: 'Reagan's life was providential' |url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/06/11/thatcher.transcript |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109022946/http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/06/11/thatcher.transcript/ |archive-date=9 November 2017 |access-date=1 November 2008 |publisher=CNN}}</ref> She delivered her eulogy via videotape; in view of her health, the message had been pre-recorded several months earlier.<ref>{{Cite news |date=10 June 2004 |title=Thatcher's final visit to Reagan |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3793565.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330090938/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3793565.stm |archive-date=30 March 2012 |access-date=1 November 2008 |work=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Russell |first1=Alec |author-link1=Alec Russell |last2=Sparrow |first2=Andrew |name-list-style=amp |date=7 June 2004 |title=Thatcher's taped eulogy at Reagan funeral |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1463874/Thatchers-taped-eulogy-at-Reagan-funeral.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160707040239/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1463874/Thatchers-taped-eulogy-at-Reagan-funeral.html |archive-date=7 July 2016 |access-date=18 July 2016 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref> Thatcher flew to California with the Reagan entourage, and attended the memorial service and interment ceremony for the president at the ].<ref>{{Cite news |date=12 June 2004 |title=Private burial for Ronald Reagan |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3800315.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016022432/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3800315.stm |archive-date=16 October 2008 |access-date=1 November 2008 |work=BBC News}}</ref>
			In 2005, Thatcher criticised how Blair had decided to ] two years previously. Although she still supported the intervention to topple Saddam Hussein, she said that (as a scientist) she would always look for "facts, evidence and proof" before committing the armed forces.{{r|grice}} She celebrated her 80th birthday on 13&nbsp;October at the ] in ]; guests included the Queen, the ], ] and Tony Blair.<ref>{{Cite news |date=13 October 2005 |title=Thatcher marks 80th with a speech |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4329132.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090208082439/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4329132.stm |archive-date=8 February 2009 |access-date=1 November 2008 |work=BBC News}}</ref> ], was also in attendance and said of his former leader: "Her real triumph was to have transformed not just one party but two, so that when Labour did eventually return, the great bulk of Thatcherism was accepted as irreversible."<ref>{{Cite news |date=13 October 2005 |title=Birthday tributes to Thatcher |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4337404.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061112154711/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4337404.stm |archive-date=12 November 2006 |access-date=1 November 2008 |work=BBC News}}</ref>
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			|title=In the US, 2006
			|image1=Thatcher 2006 September 11 event.jpg
			|alt1=Thatcher standing with Dick and Lynne Cheney
			|caption1=Thatcher (''left''{{--)}} at a Washington memorial service on the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks
			|image2=Margaret Thatcher 060912-F-0193C-006.jpg
			|alt2=Thatcher sharing a laugh with Donald Rumsfeld and Peter Pace
			|caption2=With ] and ] at the Pentagon
			}}
			In 2006, Thatcher attended the ] to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the ] on the US. She was a guest of Vice&nbsp;President ] and met Secretary of State ] during her visit.<ref>{{Cite web |date=11 September 2006 |title=9/11 Remembrance Honors Victims from More Than 90 Countries |url=http://montevideo.usembassy.gov/usaweb/paginas/2006/06-334EN.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060922193936/http://montevideo.usembassy.gov/usaweb/paginas/2006/06-334EN.shtml |archive-date=22 September 2006 |access-date=1 November 2008 |publisher=US Department of State}}</ref> In February 2007 Thatcher became the first living British prime minister to be honoured with ] in the ]. The bronze statue stood opposite ],{{r|bronze}} and was unveiled on 21&nbsp;February 2007 with Thatcher in attendance; she remarked in the ] of the Commons: "I might have preferred iron – but bronze will do It won't rust."<ref name="bronze">{{Cite news |date=21 February 2007 |title=Iron Lady is honoured in bronze |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6384029.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090307201021/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6384029.stm |archive-date=7 March 2009 |access-date=9 April 2007 |work=BBC News}}</ref>
			Thatcher was a public supporter of the ] and the resulting Prague Process and sent a public letter of support to its preceding conference.<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism |date=9 June 2008 |publisher=] |url=http://www.victimsofcommunism.org/media/article.php?article=3850 |access-date=24 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110518124148/http://victimsofcommunism.org/media/article.php?article=3850 |archive-date=18 May 2011}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=October 2024}}
			After collapsing at a ] dinner, Thatcher, suffering ],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Moore |first=Charles |date=9 March 2008 |title=Thatcher risks becoming a national treasure |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1581197/Thatcher-risks-becoming-a-national-treasure.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020135223/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1581197/Thatcher-risks-becoming-a-national-treasure.html |archive-date=20 October 2017 |access-date=31 May 2017 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref> was admitted to ] in central London on 7&nbsp;March 2008 for tests. In 2009 she was hospitalised again when she fell and broke her arm.<ref>{{Cite news |date=12 June 2009 |title=Lady Thatcher treated after fall |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8097018.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111173140/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8097018.stm |archive-date=11 January 2021 |access-date=20 April 2013 |work=BBC News}}</ref> Thatcher returned to 10 Downing Street in late November 2009 for the unveiling of ] by artist ],<ref name="ThatcherReturns">{{Cite news |date=23 November 2009 |title=Margaret Thatcher returns to Downing Street |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/margaret-thatcher/6636644/Margaret-Thatcher-returns-to-Downing-Street.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091126182445/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/margaret-thatcher/6636644/Margaret-Thatcher-returns-to-Downing-Street.html |archive-date=26 November 2009 |access-date=22 October 2020 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref> an unusual honour for a living former prime minister. Stone was previously commissioned to paint portraits of the Queen and ].{{r|ThatcherReturns}}
			On 4&nbsp;July 2011, Thatcher was to attend a ceremony for the unveiling of a {{convert|10|ft|m|abbr=on}} statue of Ronald Reagan outside the ], but was unable to attend due to her frail health.<ref>{{Cite news |date=4 July 2011 |title=Ronald Reagan statue unveiled at US Embassy in London |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14009137 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111215743/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14009137 |archive-date=11 November 2020 |access-date=22 October 2020 |work=BBC News}}</ref> She last attended a sitting of the House of Lords on 19&nbsp;July 2010,{{sfnp|''Journals of the House of Lords''|2012|ps=, <q>Thatcher, B.</q>}} and on 30&nbsp;July 2011 it was announced that her office in the Lords had been closed.<ref name=telegraph8671195>{{Cite news |last=Walker |first=Tim |date=30 July 2011 |title=Baroness Thatcher's office is closed |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/8671195/Baroness-Thatchers-office-is-closed.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110731185910/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/8671195/Baroness-Thatchers-office-is-closed.html |archive-date=31 July 2011 |access-date=21 August 2011 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref> Earlier that month, Thatcher was named the most competent prime minister of the past 30 years in an ] poll.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Stacey |first=Kiran |date=3 July 2011 |title=Thatcher heads poll of most competent PMs |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d4e23a0c-a3f9-11e0-8b4f-00144feabdc0.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120712002740/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d4e23a0c-a3f9-11e0-8b4f-00144feabdc0.html |archive-date=12 July 2012 |access-date=23 October 2020 |work=Financial Times}}</ref>
			Thatcher's daughter Carol ] that her mother had ] in 2005,{{r|Langley}} saying "Mum doesn't read much any more because of her memory loss". In her 2008 memoir, Carol wrote that her mother "could hardly remember the beginning of a sentence by the time she got to the end".<ref name="Langley">{{Cite news |last=Langley |first=William |date=30 August 2008 |title=Carol Thatcher, daughter of the revolution |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/profiles/2652365/Profile-Carol-Thatcher-daughter-of-the-revolution.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112112840/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/profiles/2652365/Profile-Carol-Thatcher-daughter-of-the-revolution.html |archive-date=12 November 2012 |access-date=11 February 2013 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref> She later recounted how she was first struck by her mother's dementia when, in conversation, Thatcher confused the Falklands and Yugoslav conflicts; she recalled the pain of needing to tell her mother repeatedly that her husband Denis was dead.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Elliott |first=Francis |date=25 August 2008 |title=Margaret Thatcher's struggle with dementia revealed in daughter's memoir |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/111317 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170531035605/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/111317 |archive-date=31 May 2017 |access-date=7 July 2017 |work=The Times |via=the Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref>
			===Death and funeral (2013)===
			{{Main|Death and funeral of Margaret Thatcher}}
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			|image1=Margaret Thatcher coffin at St. Pauls X8A2604.jpg
			|alt1=photograph
			|caption1=Thatcher's coffin being carried up the steps of ]
			|image2=MTgrave1.jpeg
			|alt2=photograph
			|caption2=Plaques on the graves of Margaret and Denis Thatcher at the ]
			}}
			<!--Please add tributes from around the world to ] rather than this article-->
	On ] ], Thatcher attended the funeral of, and delivered a tribute via videotape to, former United States President ] at his ] at the National Cathedral in ]
			Thatcher died on 8&nbsp;April 2013, at the age of 87, after suffering a stroke. She had been staying at a suite in ] in London since December 2012 after having difficulty with stairs at her Chester Square home in Belgravia.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Swinford |first=Steven |date=8 April 2013 |title=Margaret Thatcher: final moments in hotel without her family by her bedside |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/9980269/Margaret-Thatcher-final-moments-in-hotel-without-her-family-by-her-bedside.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130113809/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/9980269/Margaret-Thatcher-final-moments-in-hotel-without-her-family-by-her-bedside.html |archive-date=30 November 2020 |access-date=22 October 2020 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref> Her death certificate listed the primary causes of death as a "cerebrovascular accident" and "repeated ]";<ref name="Mason">{{Cite news |last=Mason |first=Rowena |date=16 April 2013 |title=Margaret Thatcher described as 'retired stateswoman' on death certificate |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/9997368/Margaret-Thatcher-described-as-retired-stateswoman-on-death-certificate.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130419013555/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/9997368/Margaret-Thatcher-described-as-retired-stateswoman-on-death-certificate.html |archive-date=19 April 2013 |access-date=11 January 2021 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref> secondary causes were listed as a "] of the bladder" and dementia.{{r|Mason}}
	] memorial service marking the 5th anniversary of the ] terror attacks, pictured with ] ] and his wife ].]]
	In December 2004, it was reported that Thatcher had told a private meeting of Conservative MPs that she was against the British Government's plan to introduce ]. She is said to have remarked that ID cards were a "Germanic concept and completely alien to this country".
			] were mixed across the UK, ranging from tributes lauding her as Britain's greatest-ever peacetime prime minister to public celebrations of her death and expressions of hatred and personalised vitriol.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Burns |first1=John F. |author-link1=John Fisher Burns |last2=Cowell |first2=Alan |author-link2=Alan Cowell |name-list-style=amp |date=10 April 2013 |title=Parliament Debates Thatcher Legacy, as Vitriol Flows Online and in Streets |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/11/world/europe/british-lawmakers-margaret-thatcher-legacy.html |url-access=limited |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130420131956/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/11/world/europe/british-lawmakers-margaret-thatcher-legacy.html |archive-date=20 April 2013 |access-date=25 April 2013 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>
	On ] ], Thatcher marked her 80th birthday with a party at the ] in ] where the guests included ] and ]. There, Geoffrey Howe, now Lord Howe of Aberavon, commented on her political career: "Her real triumph was to have transformed not just one party but two, so that when Labour did eventually return, the great bulk of Thatcherism was accepted as irreversible."
			Details of Thatcher's funeral had been agreed upon with her in advance.<ref name="Independent, 12 April 2013">{{Cite news |last=Wright |first=Oliver |date=8 April 2013 |title=Funeral will be a 'ceremonial' service in line with Baroness Thatcher's wishes |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/funeral-will-be-a-ceremonial-service-in-line-with-baroness-thatchers-wishes-8565093.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130412095123/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/funeral-will-be-a-ceremonial-service-in-line-with-baroness-thatchers-wishes-8565093.html |archive-date=12 April 2013 |access-date=12 April 2013 |work=The Independent}}</ref> She received a ], including full military honours, with a church service at ] on 17&nbsp;April.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{Cite news |date=8 April 2013 |title=Ex-Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher dies, aged 87 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22067155 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031074659/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22067155 |archive-date=31 October 2020 |access-date=22 October 2020 |work=BBC News}}</ref><ref name="BBC News, 9 April 2013">{{Cite news |date=9 April 2013 |title=Margaret Thatcher funeral set for next week |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22079749 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021081324/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22079749 |archive-date=21 October 2020 |access-date=22 October 2020 |work=BBC News}}</ref>
	In September, 2006, Thatcher attended the official ] memorial service marking the 5th anniversary of the ] terror attacks. She attended as a guest of the U.S. Vice President, ], and met with U.S. Secretary of State ] during her visit. It marked her first visit to the United States since the funeral for former U.S. Secretary of Defense ] in April 2006.
			Queen Elizabeth&nbsp;II and the Duke of Edinburgh attended her funeral,<ref>{{Cite news |date=17 April 2013 |title=Margaret Thatcher: Queen leads mourners at funeral |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22177366 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130504194758/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22177366 |archive-date=4 May 2013 |access-date=4 May 2013 |work=BBC News}}</ref> marking only the second and final time in the Queen's reign that she attended the funeral of any of ], after ], who received a ] in 1965.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Davies |first=Caroline |date=10 April 2013 |title=Queen made personal decision to attend Lady Thatcher's funeral |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/apr/10/queen-decision-lady-thatcher-funeral |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109155827/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/apr/10/queen-decision-lady-thatcher-funeral |archive-date=9 November 2013 |access-date=3 May 2013 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>
	On ] ], she appeared at the ] parade at the ] in London, leaning heavily on the arm of former Prime Minister, ]. One week later, she released an effusive statement of condolence on the death of her friend and economic mentor, ], the man often described as the inspiration behind ]. On ] she announced she was 'deeply saddened' by the death of the former ] ] ] .
			After the service at St&nbsp;Paul's, Thatcher's body was cremated at Mortlake, where her husband's had been cremated. On 28&nbsp;September, a service for Thatcher was held in the All Saints Chapel of the ]'s Margaret Thatcher Infirmary. In a private ceremony, Thatcher's ashes were interred in the hospital's grounds, next to her husband's.<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 September 2013 |title=Baroness Thatcher's ashes laid to rest |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/10341402/Baroness-Thatchers-ashes-laid-to-rest.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413185023/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/10341402/Baroness-Thatchers-ashes-laid-to-rest.html |archive-date=13 April 2019 |access-date=22 October 2020 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref><ref name="BBC-intere">{{Cite news |date=28 September 2013 |title=Margaret Thatcher's ashes laid to rest at Royal Hospital Chelsea |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24316701 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924105909/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24316701 |archive-date=24 September 2017 |access-date=22 October 2020 |work=BBC News}}</ref>
	On 21st February 2007, as a statue of her was unveiled in the UK Parliament, Lady Thatcher made a rare and brief speech in the members' lobby of the House of Commons. She said: "I might have preferred iron - but bronze will do... It won't rust. And, this time I hope, the head will stay on." .
	==Legacy==		==Legacy==
	Many British Subjects remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard that Margaret Thatcher had resigned {{Fact|date=February 2007}}.
			===Political impact===
	She has been credited for her macroeconomic reforms with rescuing the British economy from the stagnation of the 1970s, and is admired for her committed ] on economic issues. Some Labour Party members hold her responsible for dismantling the ] and for destroying much of the UK's manufacturing base, consigning many to long-term unemployment. However, supporters of privatisation and of the free market cite the recovery of the economy during the mid-1980s and the present-day success of the British economy, with its relatively low unemployment and structural shift away from manufacturing towards the service sector.
			{{Thatcherism}}
			Thatcherism represented a systematic and decisive overhaul of the ], whereby the major political parties largely agreed on the central themes of ], the ], nationalised industry, and close regulation of the economy, and high taxes. Thatcher generally supported the welfare state while proposing to rid it of abuses.{{refn|{{harvtxt|Moore|2013|p=87}}: <q>Neither at the beginning of her career nor when she was prime minister, did Margaret Thatcher ever reject the wartime foundations of the welfare state, whether in health, social policy or education. In this she was less radical than her critics or some of her admirers supposed. Her concern was to focus more on abuse of the system, on bureaucracy and union militancy, and on the growth of what later came to be called the dependency culture, rather than on the system itself.</q>|group=nb}}
	The UK was known as the "]" in the 1970s. However, the UK emerged from the 1980s as one of the most successful economies in modern Europe. While the unemployment rate did eventually come down, it came after initial job losses and radical labour market reforms. These included laws that weakened trade unions and the deregulation of financial markets, which certainly played a part in returning ] to a leadership position as a ] ], and her push for increased competition in ] and other public utilities.
			She promised in 1982 that the highly popular ] was "safe in our hands".{{sfnp|Klein|1985}} At first, she ignored the question of privatising nationalised industries; heavily influenced by right-wing think tanks, and especially by ],{{sfnp|Marr|2007|p=358}} Thatcher broadened her attack. Thatcherism came to refer to her policies as well as aspects of her ethical outlook and personal style, including ], ], ], and an uncompromising approach to achieving political goals.<ref name="eb">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Margaret Thatcher profile |encyclopedia=] |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/590098/Margaret-Thatcher |access-date=30 October 2008 |last=Young |first=Hugo |date=n.d. |author-link=Hugo Young |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111031211708/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/590098/Margaret-Thatcher |archive-date=31 October 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bootle |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Bootle |date=8 April 2013 |title=Margaret Thatcher: the economic achievements and legacy of Thatcherism |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/9979362/Margaret-Thatcher-the-economic-achievements-and-legacy-of-Thatcherism.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170704110154/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/9979362/Margaret-Thatcher-the-economic-achievements-and-legacy-of-Thatcherism.html |archive-date=4 July 2017 |access-date=24 July 2017 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref>{{refn|{{harvtxt|Lawson|1992|p=64}} lists the Thatcherite ideals as "a mixture of free markets, financial discipline, firm control over public expenditure, tax cuts, nationalism, 'Victorian values' (of the ] self-help variety), privatisation and a dash of populism".|group=nb}}
	Perceptions of Margaret Thatcher are mixed among the British public. Few would argue that there was any woman who played a more important role on the world stage in the ]. In perhaps the sincerest form of flattery, ] Prime Minister, ], himself a thrice-elected Prime Minister, has acknowledged her importance. Thatcher herself indirectly acknowledged Blair during a Conservative leadership contest when she said "...don't need someone that can beat Mr. Blair, they need someone LIKE Mr. Blair".
			Thatcher defined her political philosophy, in a major and controversial break with the ]{{sfnp|Campbell|2011a|pages=530–532}} of her predecessor Edward Heath, in a 1987 interview published in '']'' magazine:
	Negative opinions of Thatcher in the mining and industrial communities were reflected in the 1987 election, which she won by a landslide through winning large numbers of seats in southern England and the rural farming areas of northern England while winning few seats in the northwest. Through the ], British agriculture was (and remains) heavily subsidised while other failing parts of the economy did not receive similar tax revenue support.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} This geographical imbalance in Thatcher's support contributed directly to the growth of ] movements in those areas.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
			{{blockquote|I think we have gone through a period when too many children and people have been given to understand "I have a problem, it is the Government's job to cope with it!" or "I have a problem, I will go and get a grant to cope with it!" "I am homeless, the Government must house me!" and so they are casting their problems on society and who is society? There is no such thing! There are individual men and women and there are families and no government can do anything except through people and people look to themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then also to help look after our neighbour and life is a reciprocal business and people have got the entitlements too much in mind without the obligations.<ref>{{Cite web |date=23 September 1987 |title=Interview for ''Woman's Own'' ('no such thing as society') with journalist Douglas Keay |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=106689 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060427052051/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=106689 |archive-date=27 April 2006 |access-date=10 April 2007 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref>}}
	Perceptions abroad broadly follow the same political divisions. Critical satirists have often caricatured her. For instance, ] singer ] wrote a song, ''Miss Maggie'', which lauded women as refraining from many of the silly behaviours of males – and every time making an exception for "Mrs Thatcher". She may be remembered most of all for her remark "There is no such thing as society" to the reporter Douglas Keay, for '']'' magazine, ] ]. This remark has frequently been quoted out of its full context and the surrounding remarks were as follows:
			====Overview====
	<blockquote>"I think we've been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it's the government's job to cope with it. 'I have a problem, I'll get a grant.' 'I'm homeless, the government must house me.' 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."</blockquote>
			The number of adults owning shares rose from 7 per cent to 25 per cent during her tenure, and more than a million families bought their council houses, increasing from 55 per cent to 67 per cent in ]s from 1979 to 1990. The houses were sold at a discount of 33–55 per cent, leading to large profits for some new owners. Personal wealth rose by 80 per cent in real terms during the 1980s, mainly due to rising house prices and increased earnings. Shares in the privatised utilities were sold below their market value to ensure quick and wide sales rather than maximise national income.{{sfnp|Marr|2007|p=430}}<ref>{{Cite news |date=10 April 2013 |title=What is Thatcherism? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22079683 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170811054456/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22079683 |archive-date=11 August 2017 |access-date=2 August 2017 |work=BBC News}}</ref>
			The "Thatcher years" were also marked by periods of high unemployment and social unrest,<ref name="legacy-bbc">{{Cite news |date=4 May 2004 |title=Evaluating Thatcher's legacy |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3681973.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090209115746/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3681973.stm |archive-date=9 February 2009 |access-date=11 April 2013 |work=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=9 April 2013 |title=The Thatcher years in statistics |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22070491 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224070722/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22070491 |archive-date=24 December 2018 |access-date=6 January 2019 |work=BBC News}}</ref> and many critics on the left of the political spectrum fault her economic policies for the unemployment level; many of the areas affected by mass unemployment as well as her monetarist economic policies remained blighted for decades, by such social problems as ] and family breakdown.{{sfnp|Richards|2004|p=63}} Unemployment did not fall below its May 1979 level during her tenure,<ref>{{Cite news |date=8 April 2013 |title=Margaret Thatcher: How the economy changed |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22073527 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161014025026/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22073527 |archive-date=14 October 2016 |access-date=5 November 2016 |work=BBC News}}</ref> only falling below its April 1979 level in 1990.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Denman |first1=James |last2=McDonald |first2=Paul |name-list-style=amp |date=January 1996 |title=Unemployment statistics from 1881 to the present day |url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-trends--discontinued-/january-1996/unemployment-since-1881.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925103339/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-trends--discontinued-/january-1996/unemployment-since-1881.pdf |archive-date=25 September 2015 |access-date=16 May 2017 |publisher=] |page=7}}</ref> The long-term effects of her policies on manufacturing remain contentious.<ref>{{Cite news |date=12 April 2013 |title=Industrialists split over Thatcher legacy |url=https://www.ft.com/content/959ebdda-a2cf-11e2-bd45-00144feabdc0 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210912185844/https://www.ft.com/content/959ebdda-a2cf-11e2-bd45-00144feabdc0 |archive-date=12 September 2021 |access-date=13 November 2016 |work=Financial Times}}</ref>{{sfnp|Campbell|2011a|page=79}}
	In ], the ] into the ] affair investigated the Thatcher government's record in dealing with ]. It revealed how £1bn of Whitehall money was used in soft loan guarantees for British exporters to ]. The judge found that during Baghdad's protracted ], officials destroyed documents relating to the export of ] parts to ] which ended up in Iraq. Ministers clandestinely relaxed official guidelines to help private companies sell machine tools which were used in munitions factories. The British company ] exported sophisticated ] radios to the former Iraqi dictator's army on credit. Members of the Conservative cabinet refused to stop lending guaranteed funds to Saddam even after he executed a British journalist, ], Thatcher’s cabinet minuting that they did not want to damage British industry.
			Speaking in Scotland in 2009, Thatcher insisted she had no regrets and was right to introduce the poll tax and withdraw subsidies from "outdated industries, whose markets were in terminal decline", subsidies that created "the culture of dependency, which had done such damage to Britain".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Allardyce |first=Jason |date=26 April 2009 |title=Margaret Thatcher: I did right by Scots |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/margaret-thatcher-i-did-right-by-scots-bwjjcdbwbx9 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210912185513/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/margaret-thatcher-i-did-right-by-scots-bwjjcdbwbx9 |archive-date=12 September 2021 |access-date=5 July 2017 |work=The Sunday Times}}</ref> Political economist ] termed the neoliberal financial growth model "casino capitalism", reflecting her view that speculation and financial trading were becoming more important to the economy than industry.{{sfnp|Gamble|2009|p=16}}
	Many on both the right and left agree that Thatcher had a transformative effect on the British political spectrum and that her tenure had the effect of moving the major political parties rightward. ], author of the best selling ''The State We're In'', argues that her necessary economic changes could have been achieved with more consensus and less hardship by a leader less enamoured of US hegemonic power.
			Critics on the left describe her as divisive<ref name="greatestpm">{{Cite news |date=16 September 2008 |title=Who has been UK's greatest post-war PM? |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/7593554.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170906000712/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/7593554.stm |archive-date=6 September 2017 |access-date=16 April 2011 |work=BBC News}}</ref> and say she condoned greed and selfishness.{{r|legacy-bbc}} Leading Welsh politician ],<ref>{{Cite news |date=8 April 2013 |title=Margaret Thatcher: A 'Marmite' prime minister, says Rhodri Morgan |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-22072074 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130609081401/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-22072074 |archive-date=9 June 2013 |access-date=11 April 2017 |work=BBC News}}</ref> among others,{{sfnmp|1a1=West|1y=2012|1p=176|2a1=Blundell|2y=2013|2p=88}} characterised Thatcher as a "]" figure. Journalist ], writing in the aftermath of the ], challenged the view that her reforms were still a net benefit.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=White |first=Michael |date=26 February 2009 |title=The making of Maggie |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2009/02/margaret-thatcher-british |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170412061634/http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2009/02/margaret-thatcher-british |archive-date=12 April 2017 |access-date=11 April 2017 |magazine=New Statesman |quote=Her 'freer, more promiscuous version of capitalism' (in Hugo Young's phrase) is reaping a darker harvest.}}</ref> Others consider her approach to have been "a mixed bag"{{sfnp|Rothbard|1995|loc=chpt. 63}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Van Reenen |first=John |author-link=John Van Reenen (economist) |date=10 April 2013 |title=The economic legacy of Mrs. Thatcher is a mixed bag |url=http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-economic-legacy-of-mrs-thatcher-2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170412061433/http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-economic-legacy-of-mrs-thatcher-2/ |archive-date=12 April 2017 |access-date=11 April 2017 |publisher=]}}</ref> and "{{interp|a}} ]".{{sfnp|Johnson|1991|loc=chpt. 8}}
	] and ] have incorporated much of the economic, social and political tenets of "Thatcherism" in the same manner as, in a previous era, the Conservative Party from the 1950s until the days of ] accepted many of the basic assumptions of the ] instituted by Labour governments. The curtailing and large-scale dismantling of elements of the welfare state under Thatcher have largely remained.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} As well, Thatcher's program of ] ] has not been reversed. Indeed, successive Tory and Labour governments have further curtailed the involvement of the state in the economy and have further dismantled public ownership.
			Thatcher did "little to advance the political cause of women" within her party or the government.{{sfnp|Evans|2004|p=25}} Some ] regarded her as "an enemy".{{sfnp|Burns|2009|p=234}} ] in '']'' says that, although Thatcher had struggled laboriously against the sexist prejudices of her day to rise to the top, she made no effort to ease the path for other women.{{sfnp|Purvis|2013}} Thatcher did not regard ] as requiring particular attention as she did not, especially during her premiership, consider that women were being deprived of their rights. She had once suggested the shortlisting of women by default for all public appointments and proposed that those with young children should leave the workforce.{{sfnp|Gelb|1989|pages=58–59}}
	For good or ill, Thatcher's impact on the ] movement in Britain has been lasting, with the breaking of the ] seen as a watershed moment, or even a breaking point, for a union movement which has been unable to regain the degree of political power it exercised up through the 1970s. Unionisation rates in Britain have permanently declined since the 1980s, and the legislative instruments introduced to curtail the impact of strikes have not been reversed. Instead, the Labour Party has worked to loosen its ties to the trade union movement. While ] does still occur, there is no longer the kind of mass economic disruption seen in the 1970s, and the ] remains illegal.
			<!-- Please keep text relating to immigration in one paragraph. Discuss at talk if you would prefer to have this paragraph reduced. -->
	Thatcher's legacy has continued strongly to influence the Conservative Party itself. Successive leaders, starting with ], and continuing in opposition with ], ] and ], have struggled with real or perceived factions in the Parliamentary and national party to determine what parts of her heritage should be retained or jettisoned. One cannot yet determine what the role of Thatcherism will be under the leadership of ].
			Thatcher's stance on ] in the late 1970s was perceived as part of a rising racist public discourse,{{sfnp|Witte|2014|page=54}} which ] terms "]".{{sfnmp|Barker|1981|Chin|2009|2p=92}} In opposition, Thatcher believed that the National Front (NF) was winning over large numbers of Conservative voters with warnings against floods of immigrants. Her strategy was to undermine the NF narrative by acknowledging that many of ] had serious concerns in need of addressing. In 1978 she criticised Labour's immigration policy to attract voters away from the NF to the Conservatives.{{sfnp|Witte|2014|pages=53–54}} Her rhetoric was followed by increased Conservative support at the expense of the NF. Critics on the left accused her of ] to racism.{{sfnp|Friedman|2006|page=13}}{{refn|group=nb|{{harvtxt|Mitchell|Russell|1989}} posits that she had been misinterpreted and that ] was never a focus of Thatcherism. By the 1980s, both the Conservatives and Labour had taken similar positions on immigration policy;{{sfnmp|1a1=Ward|1y=2004|1p=128|2a1=Vinen|2y=2009|2pp=227, 279}} the ] was passed with cross-party support.{{sfnp|Hansen|2000|pages=207–208}} There were no policies passed or proposed by ministers to restrict legal immigration, nor would Thatcher highlight the subject of race in any of her later remarks.{{sfnp|Anwar|2001}}}}
			Many Thatcherite policies influenced the Labour Party,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kampfner |first=John |author-link=John Kampfner |date=17 April 2008 |title=Margaret Thatcher, inspiration to New Labour |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/themargaretthatcheryears/1895878/Margaret-Thatcher-inspiration-to-New-Labour.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181019082215/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/themargaretthatcheryears/1895878/Margaret-Thatcher-inspiration-to-New-Labour.html |archive-date=19 October 2018 |access-date=12 May 2017 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref>{{sfnp|Seldon|2007|page=14}} which returned to power in 1997 under Tony Blair. Blair rebranded the party "]" in 1994 with the aim of increasing its appeal beyond its traditional supporters,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Assinder |first=Nick |date=10 May 2007 |title=How Blair recreated Labour |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6129844.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312022307/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6129844.stm |archive-date=12 March 2017 |access-date=18 May 2017 |work=BBC News}}</ref> and to attract those who had supported Thatcher, such as the "]".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Jodie |date=30 March 2015 |title='Essex Man' 2015: Does the Thatcher-era stereotype still pack a political punch? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-england-31868550 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314025416/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-england-31868550 |archive-date=14 March 2017 |access-date=17 May 2017 |work=BBC News}}</ref> Thatcher is said to have regarded the "New Labour" rebranding as her greatest achievement.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=McSmith |first1=Andy |author-link1=Andy McSmith |last2=Chu |first2=Ben |last3=Garner |first3=Richard |name-list-style=amp |date=8 April 2013 |title=Margaret Thatcher's legacy: Spilt milk, New Labour, and the Big Bang – she changed everything |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/margaret-thatchers-legacy-spilt-milk-new-labour-and-the-big-bang-she-changed-everything-8564541.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230231827/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/margaret-thatchers-legacy-spilt-milk-new-labour-and-the-big-bang-she-changed-everything-8564541.html |archive-date=30 December 2016 |access-date=30 December 2016 |work=The Independent}}</ref> In contrast to Blair, the Conservative Party under ] attempted to distance himself and the party from Thatcher's economic policies in an attempt to gain public approval.{{sfnp|Campbell|2011a|p=790}}
	In a list compiled by the centre-left publication '']'' in 2006, she was voted fifth in the list of "Heroes of our time".<ref></ref>
	She was also named a "Hero of Freedom" by the ] magazine ''Reason''.<ref>[http://www.reason.com/news/show/28959.html
	Reason]</ref>
			<!-- Please keep text relating to devolution in one paragraph. Discuss at talk if you would prefer to have this paragraph reduced. -->
	In February 2007, she became the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to be honoured with a statue in the House of Commons while still alive. The statue is made of bronze and stands opposite her political hero and predecessor, Winston Churchill.<ref></ref> The statue, by sculptor Antony Dufort, shows her in a typical lively and swashbuckling posture, as though she is addressing the House of Commons, with her right arm outstretched. Thatcher said she was thrilled with it. <ref>. NewsMax.com, ], ].</ref>
			Shortly after Thatcher died in 2013, Scottish first minister ] argued that her policies had the "unintended consequence" of encouraging Scottish devolution.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dinwoodie |first=Robbie |date=9 April 2013 |title=First Minister: Her policies made Scots believe that devolution was essential |url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/political-news/first-minister-her-policies-made-scots-believe-that-devolution-was-essential.20640632 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109215642/http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/political-news/first-minister-her-policies-made-scots-believe-that-devolution-was-essential.20640632 |archive-date=9 November 2013 |access-date=22 October 2020 |work=The Herald}}</ref> ] agreed on '']'' that she had provided "the impetus" for devolution.<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 April 2013 |title=Scotland Tonight |url=http://player.stv.tv/programmes/scotland-tonight/2013-04-08-2230 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130411051526/http://player.stv.tv/programmes/scotland-tonight/2013-04-08-2230/ |archive-date=11 April 2013 |access-date=9 April 2013 |publisher=STV Player}}</ref> Writing for '']'' in 1997, Thatcher argued against devolution on the basis that it would eventually lead to ].<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 September 1997 |title=Article for the ''Scotsman'' (devolution referendum) |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/108373 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170531035317/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/108373 |archive-date=31 May 2017 |access-date=11 June 2017 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref>
			====Reputation====
	==Titles and honours==
			{{quote box
	] of Margaret Thatcher. The admiral represents the ], the image of Sir ] her background as a ] and her birth town ].]]
			|quote = Margaret Thatcher was not merely the first woman and the longest-serving Prime Minister of modern times, but the most admired, most hated, most idolised and most vilified public figure of the second half of the twentieth century. To some she was the saviour of her country who created a vigorous enterprise economy which twenty years later was still outperforming the more regulated economies of the Continent. To others, she was a narrow ideologue whose hard-faced policies legitimised greed, deliberately increased inequality and destroyed the nation's sense of solidarity and civic pride. There is no reconciling these views: yet both are true.{{refn|group=nb|name=Campbell}}
			|source = Biographer {{harvs |last=Campbell |first=John |author-link=John Campbell (biographer) |year=2011b |loc1={{p. |499}} |txt}}
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			Thatcher's ] as British prime minister was the longest since ] in the late 19th century (13 years and 252 days, in three spells) and the longest continuous period in office since ] in the early 19th century (14 years and 305 days).{{sfnp|Gardiner|Thompson|2013|page=12}}<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mackay |first=Robert |date=28 December 1987 |title=Thatcher longest serving British prime minister |url=http://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/12/28/Thatcher-longest-serving-British-prime-minister/8486567666000 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303004520/http://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/12/28/Thatcher-longest-serving-British-prime-minister/8486567666000 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |access-date=26 June 2017 |work=United Press International}}</ref>
	===Titles from birth===
	Titles Baroness Thatcher has held from birth, in chronological order:
			Having led the Conservative Party to victory in three consecutive general elections, twice in a landslide, she ranks among the most popular party leaders in British history regarding votes cast for the winning party; over 40&nbsp;million ballots were cast in total for the party under her leadership.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kimber |first=Richard |date=n.d. |title=UK General Election May 1979: Results and statistics |url=http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge79/results.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170428175636/http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge79/results.htm |archive-date=28 April 2017 |access-date=19 March 2017 |website=Political Science Resources}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=9 June 1983 |title=General Election Results |url=https://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-information-office/m09.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161029150237/http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-information-office/m09.pdf |archive-date=29 October 2016 |access-date=31 December 2016 |publisher=UK Parliament}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=11 June 1987 |title=General Election Results |url=http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-information-office/m11.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170107031834/http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-information-office/m11.pdf |archive-date=7 January 2017 |access-date=31 December 2016 |publisher=UK Parliament}}</ref> Her electoral successes were dubbed a "historic ]" by the British press in 1987.<ref>{{YouTube |id=P0p5r_ibGT4 |title=UK General Election Results}}{{Retrieved|prepend=.{{sp}}|access-date=21 March 2017|note=Broadcast 12 June 1987}}</ref>
	*Miss Margaret Roberts (] ] &ndash; ] ])
	*Mrs Denis Thatcher (] ] &ndash; ] ])
	*Mrs Denis Thatcher, MP (] ] &ndash; ] ])
	*The Rt Hon. Margaret Thatcher, MP (] ] &ndash; ] ])
	*The Rt Hon. Margaret Thatcher, FRS, MP (] ] &ndash; ] ])
	*The Rt Hon. Margaret Thatcher, OM, FRS, MP (] ] &ndash; ] ])
	*The Rt Hon. Lady Thatcher, OM, FRS, MP (] ] &ndash; ] ])
	*The Rt Hon. Lady Thatcher, OM, FRS (] ] &ndash; ] ])
	*The Rt Hon. The Baroness Thatcher, OM, PC, FRS (] ] &ndash; ] ])
	*The Rt Hon. The Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (] ] &ndash; )
			Thatcher ranked highest among living persons in the 2002 BBC poll '']''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Great Britons – Top 100 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/greatbritons/list.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021204214727/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/greatbritons/list.shtml |archive-date=4 December 2002 |access-date=11 April 2013 |magazine=]}}</ref> In 1999, ] deemed Thatcher one of the ].<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Quittner |first=Joshua |author-link=Josh Quittner |date=14 April 1999 |title=Margaret Thatcher – Time 100 People of the Century |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,26473,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130308133259/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,26473,00.html |archive-date=8 March 2013 |access-date=22 December 2012 |magazine=Time}}</ref> In 2015 she topped a poll by ], a major financial services company, as the most influential woman of the past 200 years;<ref>{{Cite news |last=Boult |first=Adam |date=1 December 2015 |title=Margaret Thatcher voted most influential woman of past 200 years |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/12027994/Margaret-Thatcher-voted-most-influential-woman-of-past-200-years.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161231075046/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/12027994/Margaret-Thatcher-voted-most-influential-woman-of-past-200-years.html |archive-date=31 December 2016 |access-date=30 December 2016 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref> and in 2016 topped ]'s ''] Power List'' of women judged to have had the biggest impact on female lives over the past 70 years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=''Woman's Hour'' – The 7 women who've changed women's lives – BBC Radio 4 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/PnqpZRvgbvMFBCtrwHhhTZ/the-7-women-whove-changed-womens-lives |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111173034/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/PnqpZRvgbvMFBCtrwHhhTZ/the-seven-women-whove-changed-womens-lives |archive-date=11 January 2021 |access-date=15 December 2016 |publisher=BBC |quote=Topping the 2016 Power List – in our only ranked position – is the UK's first female Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=14 December 2016 |title=Margaret Thatcher tops ''Woman's Hour Power List'' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38303886 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180404063443/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38303886 |archive-date=4 April 2018 |access-date=22 October 2020 |work=BBC News}}</ref> In 2020, ''Time'' magazine included Thatcher's name on its list of 100 Women of the Year. She was chosen as the Woman of the Year in 1982 when the Falklands War began under her command, resulting in the British victory.<ref>{{Cite web |date=5 March 2020 |title=1982: Margaret Thatcher |url=https://time.com/5793666/margaret-thatcher-100-women-of-the-year/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200307064451/https://time.com/5793666/margaret-thatcher-100-women-of-the-year/ |archive-date=7 March 2020 |access-date=7 March 2020 |magazine=Time}}</ref>
	===Honours===
	* ]
	* ]
	* ]
	* ]
	* Honorary member of the ] the ], and the only female entitled to full membership rights.
			In contrast to her relatively poor average approval rating as prime minister,{{r|Ipsos}} Thatcher has since ] and, according to ], is "see in overall positive terms" by the British public.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Matthew |date=10 August 2016 |title=David Cameron was the best Prime Minister since Thatcher |url=https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2016/08/10/cameron-best-prime-minister-since-thatcher |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111173134/https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2016/08/10/cameron-best-prime-minister-since-thatcher |archive-date=11 January 2021 |access-date=7 December 2018 |publisher=YouGov}}</ref> Just after her death in 2013, according to a poll by '']'', about half of the public viewed her positively while one third viewed her negatively.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Clark |first=Tom |date=9 April 2013 |title=Opinion on Margaret Thatcher remains divided after her death, poll finds |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/apr/09/opinion-sharply-divide-margaret-thatcher |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202174723/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/apr/09/opinion-sharply-divide-margaret-thatcher |archive-date=2 December 2016 |access-date=5 December 2021 |website=The Guardian}}</ref> In a 2019 opinion poll by YouGov, most Britons rated her as Britain's greatest post-war leader (with Churchill coming second).<ref name="YouGov">{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Matthew |date=3 May 2019 |title=Margaret Thatcher: the public view 40 years on |url=https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2019/05/03/margaret-thatcher-public-view-40-years |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205080201/https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2019/05/03/margaret-thatcher-public-view-40-years |archive-date=5 December 2021 |access-date=5 December 2021 |publisher=YouGov}}</ref> According to the poll, more than four in ten Britons (44%) think that Thatcher was a "good" or "great" prime minister, compared to 29% who think she was a "poor" or "terrible" one.<ref name="YouGov" /> She was voted the fourth-greatest British prime minister of the 20th century in a 2011 poll of 139 academics organised by ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rating British Prime Ministers |url=http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/poll.aspx?oItemId=661 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110912105223/http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/poll.aspx?oItemId=661 |archive-date=12 September 2011 |access-date=24 August 2012 |publisher=Ipsos MORI}}</ref> In a 2016 ] survey of 82 academics specialising in post-1945 British history and politics, she was voted the second-greatest British prime minister after the Second World War.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cowburn |first=Ashley |date=13 October 2016 |title=David Cameron rated the third worst Prime Minister of the past 71 years |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-cameron-worst-prime-minister-ranking-third-since-ww2-a7358171.html |access-date=16 May 2022 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>
	===Foreign honours===
	*]
	*]
	*Patron of the ]
			===Cultural depictions===
	==See also==
	{{sisterlinks|Margaret Thatcher}}		{{Main|Cultural depictions of Margaret Thatcher}}
	* ]
	* ]
	* ]
	* ]
			According to theatre critic ],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Events: Michael Billington: 'State of the Nation' |url=http://www.warwickartscentre.co.uk/events/id/3627 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080207113843/http://www.warwickartscentre.co.uk/events/id/3627 |archive-date=7 February 2008 |access-date=8 June 2008}}</ref> Thatcher left an "emphatic mark" on the arts while prime minister.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Billington |first=Michael |date=8 April 2013 |title=Margaret Thatcher casts a long shadow over theatre and the arts |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-long-shadow-theatre |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113085827/https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-long-shadow-theatre |archive-date=13 January 2017 |access-date=8 May 2017 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> One of the earliest satires of Thatcher as prime minister involved satirist ] (as writer and performer), actress ] (voicing Thatcher) and future '']'' producer ] (as co-producer), who in 1979 were teamed up by producer ] for the satirical audio album ], which consisted of skits and songs satirising Thatcher's rise to power. The album was released in September 1979.<ref>{{Cite news |date=16 April 2013 |title='I'm There' song reissue mocks Margaret Thatcher on day of funeral |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2013/04/16/im-there-song-reissue-mocks-margaret-thatcher-on-day-of-funeral/2088929 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130422071500/http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2013/04/16/im-there-song-reissue-mocks-margaret-thatcher-on-day-of-funeral/2088929/ |archive-date=22 April 2013 |access-date=25 April 2013 |work=USA Today}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Lewis |first=Randy |date=16 April 2013 |title=Album skewering Margaret Thatcher to be reissued on April 17 |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-margaret-thatcher-funeral-album-iron-lady-comedy-20130416,0,4237647.story |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130420095346/http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-margaret-thatcher-funeral-album-iron-lady-comedy-20130416,0,4237647.story |archive-date=20 April 2013 |access-date=25 April 2013 |work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> Thatcher was heavily satirised on ''Spitting Image'', and '']'' labelled her "every stand-up's dream".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sherwin |first=Adam |author-link=Adam Sherwin |date=1 September 2012 |title=Margaret Thatcher: Let's hear it for the Iron Lady, comedy's greatest straight man |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/margaret-thatcher-lets-hear-it-for-the-iron-lady-comedys-greatest-straight-man-8100027.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190929124047/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/margaret-thatcher-lets-hear-it-for-the-iron-lady-comedys-greatest-straight-man-8100027.html |archive-date=29 September 2019 |access-date=29 September 2019 |work=The Independent}}</ref>
	==Notes==
	<references />
			Thatcher was the subject or the inspiration for 1980s ]s. Musicians ] and ] helped to form the ] collective to support Labour in opposition to Thatcher.<ref name="songs">{{Cite news |last=Heard |first=Chris |date=4 May 2004 |title=Rocking against Thatcher |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3682281.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090311130019/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3682281.stm |archive-date=11 March 2009 |access-date=2 August 2011 |work=BBC News}}</ref> Known as "Maggie" by supporters and opponents alike, the chant song "]" became a signature rallying cry among the left during the latter half of her premiership.{{sfnmp|1a1=Vinen|1y=2009|1pp=1947–1948|2a1=Barr|2y=2013|2pp=178, 235}}
			Wells parodied Thatcher in several media. He collaborated with ] on the spoof "]" letters, which ran as a column in '']'' magazine; they were also published in book form and became a West End stage revue titled ''Anyone for Denis?'', with Wells in the role of Thatcher's husband. It was followed by ] directed by ], in which Thatcher was played by ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anyone for Denis? |url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/4789 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130724114429/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/4789 |archive-date=24 July 2013 |access-date=19 January 2011 |publisher=]}}</ref>
			Since her premiership, Thatcher has been portrayed in a number of television programmes, documentaries, films and plays.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Chilton |first=Martin |date=8 February 2011 |title=People who have played Margaret Thatcher |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/8311635/People-who-have-played-Margaret-Thatcher.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170424160245/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/8311635/People-who-have-played-Margaret-Thatcher.html |archive-date=24 April 2017 |access-date=15 April 2017 |work=The Telegraph |location=London, UK}}</ref> She was portrayed by ] in ]'s long unproduced '']'' (2002) and by ] in the TV film '']'' (2008). She is the protagonist in two films, played by ] in ] (2009) and by ] in ] (2011),<ref>{{Cite news |date=8 February 2011 |title=Image of Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher unveiled |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12393674 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110209050448/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12393674 |archive-date=9 February 2011 |access-date=9 February 2011 |work=BBC News}}</ref> in which she is depicted as suffering from dementia or ].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Steinberg |first=Julie |date=22 December 2011 |title='The Iron Lady' Draws Fire For Depicting Margaret Thatcher With Alzheimer's |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/12/22/the-iron-lady-draws-fire-for-depicting-thatcher-with-alzheimers |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120108010000/https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/12/22/the-iron-lady-draws-fire-for-depicting-thatcher-with-alzheimers |archive-date=8 January 2012 |access-date=28 February 2012 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal}}</ref> She is a main character in the ] of '']'', played by ].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thorpe |first=Vanessa |date=7 September 2019 |title=Gillian Anderson to play Thatcher in fourth series of ''The Crown'' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/sep/07/gillian-anderson-to-play-thatcher-fourth-series-the-crown-netflix |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216101144/https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/sep/07/gillian-anderson-to-play-thatcher-fourth-series-the-crown-netflix |archive-date=16 December 2019 |access-date=16 December 2019 |website=The Guardian}}</ref> Thatcher has a supporting role in the 2024 biographical film '']'', played by ].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kay |first=Jeremy |date=11 November 2020 |title=Voltage Pictures' 'Reagan' finds its Margaret Thatcher (exclusive) |url=https://www.screendaily.com/news/voltage-pictures-reagan-finds-its-margaret-thatcher-exclusive/5154845.article |access-date=3 September 2024 |website=Screen}}</ref>
			==Titles, awards and honours==
			{{Main|List of honours of Margaret Thatcher}}
			] in 1991]]
			Thatcher became a ] (PC) on becoming a secretary of state in 1970.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Gay |first1=Oonagh |last2=Rees |first2=Anwen |name-list-style=amp |date=5 July 2005 |title=The Privy Council |url=http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/briefings/snpc-3708.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111227183508/http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons/lib/research/briefings/snpc-3708.pdf |archive-date=27 December 2011 |access-date=27 February 2009 |publisher=Parliament and Constitution Centre |via=the ]}}</ref> She was the first woman entitled to full membership rights as an honorary member of the ] on becoming Conservative Party leader in 1975.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ungoed-Thomas |first=Jon |date=8 February 1998 |title=Carlton Club to vote on women |work=The Sunday Times}}</ref>
			As prime minister, Thatcher received two honorary distinctions:
			* {{Timeline-event |date={{Start date|df=y|1979|10|24}} |event=Honorary Fellowship (Hon.) of the ] (FRIC),<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 October 1979 |title=Speech to the Chemical Society and the Royal Institute of Chemistry (honorary fellowship) |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/104152 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160530200036/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/104152 |archive-date=30 May 2016 |access-date=25 April 2016 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref> which was merged into the ] (FRSC) the following year;<ref>{{Cite web |date=18 March 2016 |title=Our origins |url=http://www.rsc.org/about-us/our-history/our-origins/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702064508/http://www.rsc.org/about-us/our-history/our-origins/ |archive-date=2 July 2018 |access-date=11 September 2018 |publisher=Royal Society of Chemistry}}</ref>}}
			* {{Timeline-event |date={{Start date|df=y|1983|7|1}} |event=] (FRS), a point of controversy among some of the then-existing Fellows.{{sfnmp|''New Scientist''|1983|Agar|2022}}}}
			{{multiple image
			| title = ]
			| align = right
			| perrow = 2
			| total_width = 185
			| image1 = Order of the Garter UK ribbon.svg
			| alt1 = Ribbon of the Order of the Garter
			| caption1 = {{awards|]|UK, 1995}}
			| image2 = Ord.GoodHope-ribbon.gif
			| alt2 = Ribbon of the Order of Good Hope
			| caption2 = {{awards|]|{{abbr|RSA|Republic of South Africa}}, 1991}}
			| image3 = Galó de l'Orde del Mèrit (UK).svg
			| alt3 = Ribbon of the Order of Merit
			| caption3 = {{awards|]|UK, 1990}}
			| image4 = Order of St John (UK) ribbon -vector.svg
			| alt4 = Ribbon of the Order of St John
			| caption4 = {{awards|]|UK, 1991}}
			| footer = Shown are the ribbons for each order bestowed on Thatcher.
			}}
			Two weeks after her resignation, Thatcher was appointed ] (OM) by the Queen. Her husband Denis was ] at the same time;<ref name="OMBarontecy">{{London Gazette |issue=52360 |date=11 December 1990 |page=19066 |nolink=yes}}</ref> as his wife, Thatcher was entitled to use the ] "Lady",<ref>{{Cite web |title=Family of a Baronet |url=http://www.debretts.com/forms-address/titles/baronet/family-baronet |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315235601/http://www.debretts.com/forms-address/titles/baronet/family-baronet |archive-date=15 March 2015 |access-date=2 February 2015 |website=]}}</ref> an automatically conferred title that she declined to use.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tuohy |first=William |author-link=William Tuohy |date=8 December 1990 |title=It's Now 'Lady Thatcher', but She'll Stick With 'Mrs.' |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-12-08-mn-5367-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170306135614/http://articles.latimes.com/1990-12-08/news/mn-5367_1_lady-thatcher |archive-date=6 March 2017 |access-date=5 March 2017 |work=Los Angeles Times |location=London, UK}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=9 December 1990 |title=Headliners; Call Her Mrs. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/09/weekinreview/headliners-call-her-mrs.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190304201415/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/09/weekinreview/headliners-call-her-mrs.html |archive-date=4 March 2019 |access-date=23 April 2017 |work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Orth |first=Maureen |author-link=Maureen Orth |date=June 1991 |title=Maggie's Big Problem |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/1991/06/thatcher199106 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181104074036/https://www.vanityfair.com/news/1991/06/thatcher199106 |archive-date=4 November 2018 |access-date=11 April 2017 |magazine=Vanity Fair |quote=Since he was now a baronet, might she care to be known as Lady Thatcher?}}</ref> She would be made Lady Thatcher in her own right on her subsequent ] in the House of Lords.<ref name="Tuohy">{{Cite news |last=Tuohy |first=William |date=6 June 1992 |title='Iron Lady' Is Made Baroness Thatcher |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-06-06-mn-552-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170412061757/http://articles.latimes.com/1992-06-06/news/mn-552_1_baroness-thatcher |archive-date=12 April 2017 |access-date=11 April 2017 |work=Los Angeles Times |location=London, UK}}</ref>
			In the Falklands, ] has been marked each 10&nbsp;January since 1992,<ref name="Reuters-January">{{Cite news |date=6 January 1992 |title=Falklands to make 10 January Thatcher Day |agency=Reuters}}</ref> commemorating her first visit to the Islands in January 1983, six months after the ] in June 1982.<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 August 2014 |title=Margaret Thatcher in Falkland Islands after Argentina's surrender, 1983 |url=http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/margaret-thatcher-falkland-islands-argentina-surrender-1983 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161016054413/http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/margaret-thatcher-falkland-islands-argentina-surrender-1983/ |archive-date=16 October 2016 |access-date=9 October 2016 |website=Rare Historical Photos}}</ref>
			Thatcher became a ] in 1992 with a ]age as Baroness Thatcher, of ] in the ].{{r|lords}}<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=52978 |date=26 June 1992 |page=11045 |nolink=yes}}</ref> Subsequently, the ] granted her use of a ]; she was allowed to revise these arms on her appointment as ] (LG) in 1995, the highest order of ].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=54017 |date=25 April 1995 |page=6023 |nolink=yes}}</ref>
			{| class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="font-size:small; margin:auto; text-align:center;"
			|+ class=nowrap style="background:whitesmoke; border:1px solid lightgrey; font-weight:bold; padding:0 1em;" | Coats of arms of Baroness Thatcher
			|-
			| Pre–Garter appointment|| style="width:.2em;"|
			| colspan=2|Post–Garter appointment
			|-
			| style="border:1px solid lightgrey; padding:.7em;"|]||
			| colspan=2 style="border:1px solid lightgrey; padding:.7em;"|]{{pad|.7em}}]
			|-
			| 1992–1995||
			| ]: 1995–2013
			| ]: 1995–2013
			|}
			In the US, Thatcher received the ] from the ] in 1998;<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Ronald Reagan Freedom Award |url=https://www.reaganfoundation.org/programs-events/the-ronald-reagan-freedom-award/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180104052308/https://www.reaganfoundation.org/programs-events/the-ronald-reagan-freedom-award/ |archive-date=4 January 2018 |access-date=19 July 2017 |publisher=]}}</ref> she was designated a patron of ] in 2006,<ref>{{Cite report |url=http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/04/demint-on-lady-thatcher-freedoms-champion |title=Jim DeMint on Lady Thatcher |publisher=The Heritage Foundation |access-date=27 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630181752/http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/04/demint-on-lady-thatcher-freedoms-champion |archive-date=30 June 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Baroness Thatcher |url=http://www.heritage.org/about-heritage/staff/leadership/nonstaff/t/baroness-thatcher |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130625154102/http://www.heritage.org/about/staff/nonstaff/t/baroness-thatcher |archive-date=25 June 2013 |access-date=20 July 2017 |publisher=The Heritage Foundation}}</ref> where she established the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ros-Lehtinen |first=Ileana |author-link=Ileana Ros-Lehtinen |date=13 September 2006 |title=Honoring the Iron Lady |url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2006/sep/13/20060913-085945-8112r/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180423033402/https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2006/sep/13/20060913-085945-8112r/ |archive-date=23 April 2018 |access-date=22 April 2018 |work=The Washington Times}}</ref>
			==Published works==
			{{refbegin}}
			* {{Cite book |last=Thatcher |first=Margaret |title=The Downing Street Years |title-link=The Downing Street Years |date=1993 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-00-255049-9 |ref=none |author-mask=0}}
			* {{Cite book |last=Thatcher |first=Margaret |title=The Path to Power |title-link=The Path to Power (Thatcher book) |date=1995 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-00-255050-5 |ref=none |author-mask=0}}
			* {{Cite book |last=Thatcher |first=Margaret |title=Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World |title-link=Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World |date=2003 |publisher=Harper Perennial |isbn=978-0-06-095912-8 |ref=none |author-mask=0}}
			{{refend}}
			==See also==
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
	==References==		==References==
	===Books===
	*''Statecraft: Strategies for Changing World'' by Margaret Thatcher (HarperCollins, 2002) ISBN 0-06-019973-3
	*''The Collected Speeches of Margaret Thatcher'' by Margaret Thatcher, ] (editor) (HarperCollins, 1997) ISBN 0-00-255703-7
	*''The Path to Power'' by Margaret Thatcher (HarperCollins, 1995) ISBN 0-00-255050-4
	*''The Downing Street Years'' by Margaret Thatcher (HarperCollins, 1993) ISBN 0-00-255354-6
	=== Biographies ===		=== Explanatory notes ===
			{{Reflist|group=nb|30em|refs=
	*''The Anatomy of Thatcherism'' by Shirley Robin Letwin (Flamingo, 1992) ISBN 0-00-686243-8
			{{refn|group=nb|name=Campbell|{{harvtxt|Campbell|2011a|p=800}} also writes about a third view that can be argued: Thatcher "achieved much less" than she and her "]" would claim; she failed to curb public spending, diminish or privatise the ], change fundamental attitudes of the general public, or "enhance" freedom where she had instead ] control over "many areas of national life".}}
	*''Margaret Thatcher; Volume One: The Grocer's Daughter'' by John Campbell (Pimlico, 2000) ISBN 0-7126-7418-7
			}}
	*''Margaret Thatcher; Volume Two: The Iron Lady'' by John Campbell (Pimlico, 2003) ISBN 0-7126-6781-4
	*''Memories of Maggie'' Edited by ] (Politicos, 2000) ISBN 1-902301-51-X
	*''Britain Under Thatcher'' by ] & Daniel Collings (Longman, 1999) ISBN 0-582-31714-2
	*''Thatcher for Beginners'' by Peter Pugh and Paul Flint (Icon Books, 1997) ISBN 1-874166-53-6
	*''One of Us: Life of Margaret Thatcher'' by ] (Macmillan, 1989) ISBN 0-333-34439-1
	*''The Iron Lady: A Biography of Margaret Thatcher'' by Hugo Young (Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1989) ISBN 0-374-22651-2
	*''Margaret, daughter of Beatrice'' by ] (Jonathan Cape, 1989) ISBN 0-224-02726-3
	*''Mrs. Thatcher's Revolution: Ending of the Socialist Era'' by ] (Jonathan Cape, 1987) ISBN 0-224-02516-3
	*''The Thatcher Phenomenon'' by Hugo Young (BBC, 1986) ISBN 0-563-20472-9
			===Citations===
	=== Ministerial autobiographies ===
			{{Reflist|20em|refs=
			<ref name="PoliticalStuff.co.uk">{{Cite web |title=1979 Conservative Party General Election Manifesto |url=http://www.conservativemanifesto.com/1979/1979-conservative-manifesto.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022052434/http://www.conservativemanifesto.com/1979/1979-conservative-manifesto.shtml |archive-date=22 October 2019 |access-date=28 July 2009 |website=PoliticalStuff.co.uk}}</ref><ref name="Heffer">{{Cite magazine |last=Heffer |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Heffer |date=29 October 2019 |title=The rats and cowards who brought down a Titan |url=https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/november-2019/the-rats-and-cowards-who-brought-down-a-titan/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803214158/https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/november-2019/the-rats-and-cowards-who-brought-down-a-titan/ |archive-date=3 August 2020 |access-date=18 July 2020 |magazine=]}}</ref>
			}}
			=== General bibliography ===
	*''Conflict of Loyalty'' by ] (Macmillan, 1994)
			{{Main|Bibliography of Margaret Thatcher}}
	*''The View from No. 11: Memoirs of a Tory Radical'' by ] (Bantam, 1992)
			{{Refbegin|30em}}
	*''The Autobiography'' by ] (HarperCollins, 1999)
			* {{Cite book
	*''Right at the Centre'' by ] (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1992)
			| last1=Adeney |first1=Martin
	*'''My Style of Government': The Thatcher Years'' by ] (Hutchinson, 1991) ISBN 0-09-175051-2
			| last2=Lloyd |first2=John |author-link2=John Lloyd (journalist)
	*''Upwardly Mobile'' by ] (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988)
			| name-list-style=amp
			| year=1988
			| title=The Miners' Strike 1984–85: Loss Without Limit
			| publisher=Routledge
			| isbn=978-0-7102-1371-6}}
			* {{Cite journal
			| last=Agar |first=Jon
			| year=2011
			| title=Thatcher, scientist
			| journal=] |volume=65 |issue=3 |pages=215–232
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			| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404112605/https://books.google.com/books?id=XRpdT3gc9KYC&pg=PA5 |archive-date=4 April 2023}}
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			| title=Racist Violence and the State: A Comparative Analysis of Britain, France and the Netherlands
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			| year=1996
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			| last1=Zemcov |first1=Ilya
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			| year=1989
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			| publisher=Transaction |publication-date=2009
			| isbn=978-1-4128-1382-2}}
			{{Refend}}
	==External links==		==External links==
	*		{{Sister project links|s=Author:Margaret Thatcher}}
			* {{Webarchive|title=Margaret Thatcher Centre |url=//web.archive.org/web/20200205104344/http://www.thatchercentre.com/margaret-thatcher/ |date=dmy }}
	*
			* {{official website|url=//margaretthatcher.org/essential/biography.asp|name=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}, with thousands of online documents and primary sources
	*
			* {{Hansard-contribs|mrs-margaret-thatcher|Margaret Thatcher}}
	* — written on the tenth anniversary of her resignation — ] ]
			* {{Internet Archive author|sname=Margaret Thatcher}}
	* ] ], President ] talks about Thatcher resignation
			* {{Library resources about}}
	* ] – New York Times marks Thatcher's resignation
			* {{Librivox author|id=3625}}
	*
			* {{UK National Archives ID}}
	*
			* {{C-SPAN|2071}}
	*
			* {{IMDb name}}
	* — A think tank inspired by Margaret Thatcher's Bruges speech in September 1988
			* {{Guardian topic}}
	* — A public policy center dedicated to advancing the ideas of Margaret Thatcher
			* {{New York Times topic|new_id=person/margaret-thatcher}}
	*
			* {{NPG name|05827}}
			* {{Webarchive|nolink=1|title=Obituary (BBC News Online) |url=//web.archive.org/web/20130408204606/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10364876 |date=dmy }}
			* {{Webarchive|nolink=1|title=History of Baroness Margaret Thatcher (Gov.uk) |url=//web.archive.org/web/20131005092036/https://www.gov.uk/government/history/past-prime-ministers/margaret-thatcher |date=dmy }}
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	|SHORT DESCRIPTION=Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
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Latest revision as of 20:13, 8 December 2024

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 "Iron Lady" redirects here. For other uses, see Iron Lady (disambiguation) and Margaret Thatcher (disambiguation).

The Right HonourableThe Baroness ThatcherLG OM DStJ PC FRS HonFRSC
Studio portrait, c. 1995–96
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 4 May 1979 – 28 November 1990
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Deputy	Geoffrey Howe (1989–90)
Preceded by	James Callaghan
Succeeded by	John Major
Leader of the Opposition
In office 11 February 1975 – 4 May 1979
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson James Callaghan
Deputy	William Whitelaw
Preceded by	Edward Heath
Succeeded by	James Callaghan
Leader of the Conservative Party
In office 11 February 1975 – 28 November 1990
Deputy	The Viscount Whitelaw
Chairman	See list The Lord Thorneycroft Cecil Parkinson John Gummer Norman Tebbit Peter Brooke Kenneth Baker
Preceded by	Edward Heath
Succeeded by	John Major
Ministerial portfolios Secretary of State for Education and Science In office 20 June 1970 – 4 March 1974 Prime Minister Edward Heath Preceded by Edward Short Succeeded by Reg Prentice Parliamentary Secretary 1961–1964 Ministry for Pensions
Shadow portfolios Shadow Secretary of State 1967–1970 Education and Science 1974–1975 Environment Shadow Minister 1967–1968 Fuel and Power 1968–1969 Transport
Parliamentary offices Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal Life peerage 30 June 1992 – 8 April 2013 Member of Parliament for Finchley In office 8 October 1959 – 16 March 1992 Preceded by John Crowder Succeeded by Hartley Booth
Personal details
Born	Margaret Hilda Roberts (1925-10-13)13 October 1925 Grantham, Lincolnshire, England
Died	8 April 2013(2013-04-08) (aged 87) London, England
Resting place	Royal Hospital Chelsea 51°29′21″N 0°09′22″W / 51.489057°N 0.156195°W / 51.489057; -0.156195
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Denis Thatcher ​ ​(m. 1951; died 2003)​
Children	Mark Carol
Parent	Alfred Roberts (father)
Alma mater	Somerville College, Oxford (MA)
Occupation	Barrister chemist politician
Awards	Full list
Signature
Website	Foundation
Nickname	"Iron Lady"
Margaret Thatcher's voice Joint Statement for the 10th G7 summit Recorded 9 June 1984

This article is part of a series aboutMargaret Thatcher
Bibliography Electoral history Honours MP for Finchley Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act Secretary of State for Education and Science Circular 10/70 Withdrawal of school milk Leader of the Opposition Shadow Cabinet 1975 leadership election 1979 VoNC in Callaghan ministry Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Premiership Policies Thatcherism domestic economic other Appointments Ministers wets and dries Articles by ministry and term: 1979–1983 First ministry 1979 election "The lady's not for turning" "TINA" 1979 budget 1980 budget 1981 budget 1982 budget 1983 budget Falklands War Right to Buy 1983–1987 Second ministry 1983 re-election 1984 budget 1985 budget 1986 budget 1987 budget Anglo-Irish Agreement Big Bang Brighton bombing Joint Declaration Miners' strike UK rebate Westland affair 1987–1990 Third ministry 1987 re-election 1988 budget 1989 budget 1989 leadership election 1990 budget 1990 leadership election and resignation Bruges speech Poll tax Sermon on the Mound Post-premiership Ceremonial funeral Legacy Publications The Downing Street Years (1993) The Path to Power (1995) Statecraft (2003)
v t e

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (née Roberts; 13 October 1925 – 8 April 2013), was a British stateswoman and Conservative politician 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 economic policies known as Thatcherism. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the "Iron Lady", a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style.

Thatcher studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, and worked briefly as a research chemist before becoming a barrister. She was elected Member of Parliament for Finchley in 1959. Edward Heath appointed her secretary of state for education and science in his 1970–1974 government. In 1975, she defeated Heath in the Conservative Party leadership election to become leader of the opposition, the first woman to lead a major political party in the UK.

On becoming prime minister after winning the 1979 general election, Thatcher introduced a series of economic policies intended to reverse high inflation and Britain's struggles in the wake of the Winter of Discontent and an oncoming recession. Her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised greater individual liberty, the privatisation of state-owned companies, and reducing the power and influence of trade unions. Her popularity in her first years in office waned amid recession and rising unemployment. Victory in the 1982 Falklands War and the recovering economy brought a resurgence of support, resulting in her landslide re-election in 1983. She survived an assassination attempt by the Provisional IRA in the 1984 Brighton hotel bombing and achieved a political victory against the National Union of Mineworkers in the 1984–85 miners' strike. In 1986, Thatcher oversaw the deregulation of UK financial markets, leading to an economic boom, in what came to be known as the Big Bang.

Thatcher was re-elected for a third term with another landslide in 1987, but her subsequent support for the Community Charge (also known as the "poll tax") was widely unpopular, and her increasingly Eurosceptic views on the European Community were not shared by others in her cabinet. She resigned as prime minister and party leader in 1990, after a challenge was launched to her leadership, and was succeeded by John Major, her chancellor of the Exchequer. After retiring from the Commons in 1992, she was given a life peerage as Baroness Thatcher (of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire) which entitled her to sit in the House of Lords. In 2013, she died of a stroke at the Ritz Hotel, London, at the age of 87.

A polarising figure in British politics, Thatcher is nonetheless viewed favourably in historical rankings and public opinion of British prime ministers. Her tenure constituted a realignment towards neoliberal policies in Britain; the complex legacy attributed to this shift continues to be debated into the 21st century.

Early life and education

Birthplace in Grantham2009 photograph of her father's former shopCommemorative plaqueMargaret and her elder sister were raised in the bottom of two flats on North Parade.

Family and childhood (1925–1943)

Margaret Hilda Roberts was born on 13 October 1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire. Her parents were Alfred Roberts (1892–1970), from Northamptonshire, and Beatrice Ethel Stephenson (1888–1960), from Lincolnshire. Her father's maternal grandmother, Catherine Sullivan, was born in County Kerry, Ireland.

Roberts spent her childhood in Grantham, where her father owned a tobacconist's and a grocery shop. In 1938, before the Second World War, the Roberts family briefly gave sanctuary to a teenage Jewish girl who had escaped Nazi Germany. With her pen-friending elder sister Muriel, Margaret saved pocket money to help pay for the teenager's journey.

Alfred was an alderman and a Methodist local preacher. He brought up his daughter as a strict Wesleyan Methodist, attending the Finkin Street Methodist Church, but Margaret was more sceptical; the future scientist told a friend that she could not believe in angels, having calculated that they needed a breastbone 6 feet (1.8 m) long to support wings. Alfred came from a Liberal family but stood (as was then customary in local government) as an Independent. He served as Mayor of Grantham from 1945 to 1946 and lost his position as alderman in 1952 after the Labour Party won its first majority on Grantham Council in 1950.

Roberts attended Huntingtower Road Primary School and won a scholarship to Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School, a grammar school. Her school reports showed hard work and continual improvement; her extracurricular activities included the piano, field hockey, poetry recitals, swimming and walking. She was head girl in 1942–43, and outside school, while the Second World War was ongoing, she voluntarily worked as a fire watcher in the local ARP service. Other students thought of Roberts as the "star scientist", although mistaken advice regarding cleaning ink from parquetry almost caused chlorine gas poisoning. In her upper sixth year, Roberts was accepted for a scholarship to study chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, a women's college, starting in 1944. After another candidate withdrew, Roberts entered Oxford in October 1943.

Oxford (1943–1947)

Following her arrival at Oxford, Roberts began studies under X-ray crystallographer Dorothy Hodgkin, the tutor in chemistry for Somerville College since 1934. Hodgkin considered Roberts a "good" student, and later recalled: "One could always rely on her producing a sensible, well-read essay." She opted to read for a classified honours degree, entailing an additional year of supervised research. As her thesis supervisor, Hodgkin assigned Roberts to work with Gerhard Schmidt, a researcher in Hodgkin's lab, to determine the structure of the antibiotic peptide gramicidin S. Although the research made some progress, the peptide's structure proved more complex than anticipated, and Schmidt would only determine its full structure much later; Roberts (by then Thatcher) learned this in the 1960s while visiting the Weizmann Institute, where her former research partner was then working.

Roberts graduated in 1947 with a second-class honours degree in chemistry, and in 1950 also received the degree of Master of Arts (as an Oxford BA, she was entitled to the degree 21 terms after her matriculation). Although Hodgkin would later be critical of her former student's politics, they continued to correspond into the 1980s, and Roberts in her memoirs would describe her mentor as "ever-helpful", "a brilliant scientist and a gifted teacher". As prime minister, she would keep a portrait of Hodgkin at 10 Downing Street. Later in life, she was reportedly prouder of becoming the first prime minister with a science degree than becoming the first female prime minister. While prime minister she attempted to preserve Somerville as a women's college. Twice a week outside study she worked in a local forces canteen.

During her time at Oxford, Roberts was noted for her isolated and serious attitude. Her first boyfriend, Tony Bray (1926–2014), recalled that she was "very thoughtful and a very good conversationalist. That's probably what interested me. She was good at general subjects".

Roberts's coursework involved subjects beyond chemistry as she was already contemplating an entry into law and politics. Her enthusiasm for politics as a girl made Bray think of her as "unusual" and her parents as "slightly austere" and "very proper". Roberts became President of the Oxford University Conservative Association in 1946. She was influenced at university by political works such as Friedrich Hayek's The Road to Serfdom (1944), which condemned economic intervention by government as a precursor to an authoritarian state.

Post-Oxford career (1947–1951)

After graduating, Roberts secured a position as a research chemist for British Xylonite (BX Plastics) following a series of interviews arranged by Oxford; she subsequently moved to Colchester in Essex to work at the firm. Little is known about her brief time there. By her own account, she was initially enthusiastic about the position, as she had been intended to function as a personal assistant to the company's head of research and development, providing opportunities to learn about operations management: "But on my arrival it was decided that there was not enough to do in that capacity." Instead, she seems to have researched methods of attaching polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to metals. While with the firm, she joined the Association of Scientific Workers. In 1948, she applied for a job at Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) but was rejected after the personnel department assessed her as "headstrong, obstinate and dangerously self-opinionated". Jon Agar in Notes and Records argues that her understanding of modern scientific research later impacted her views as prime minister.

Roberts joined the local Conservative Association and attended the party conference at Llandudno, Wales, in 1948, as a representative of the University Graduate Conservative Association. Meanwhile, she became a high-ranking affiliate of the Vermin Club, a group of grassroots Conservatives formed in response to a derogatory comment made by Aneurin Bevan. One of her Oxford friends was also a friend of the Chair of the Dartford Conservative Association in Kent, who were looking for candidates. Officials of the association were so impressed by her that they asked her to apply, even though she was not on the party's approved list; she was selected in January 1950 (aged 24) and added to the approved list post ante.

At a dinner following her formal adoption as Conservative candidate for Dartford in February 1949, she met divorcé Denis Thatcher, a successful and wealthy businessman, who drove her to her Essex train. After their first meeting, she described him to Muriel as "not a very attractive creature – very reserved but quite nice". In preparation for the election, Roberts moved to Dartford, while she supported herself by working as a research chemist for J. Lyons and Co. in Hammersmith, reportedly as part of a team developing emulsifiers for ice cream. As the work was more theoretical in nature than during her prior role with BX Plastics, Roberts found it "more satisfying". While at Lyons, she worked under the supervision of Hans Jellinek, who headed the company's physical chemistry section. Jellinek assigned her to research the saponification of α-monostearin (glycerol monostearate), which has properties as an emulsifier, stabiliser and food preservative. Agar has noted the research may have been connected with the emulsification of ice cream, but only as a possibility. In September 1951, their research was published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, a recently launched publication of the Society of Chemical Industry, as "The saponification of α-monostearin in a monolayer". This would be Roberts's sole scientific publication. In 1979, following his former assistant's election as prime minister, Jellinek, by then a professor of physical chemistry at Clarkson University in the United States, said she had done "a very good job" on the project, "showing great determination". She sent Jellinek a congratulatory letter upon his retirement in 1984, and another letter shortly before his death two years later.

Roberts married at Wesley's Chapel and her children were baptised there, but she and her husband began attending Church of England services and would later convert to Anglicanism.

Early political career

In the 1950 and 1951 general elections, Roberts was the Conservative candidate for the Labour seat of Dartford. The local party selected her as its candidate because, though not a dynamic public speaker, Roberts was well-prepared and fearless in her answers. A prospective candidate, Bill Deedes, recalled: "Once she opened her mouth, the rest of us began to look rather second-rate." She attracted media attention as the youngest and the only female candidate; in 1950, she was the youngest Conservative candidate in the country. She lost on both occasions to Norman Dodds but reduced the Labour majority by 6,000 and then a further 1,000. During the campaigns, she was supported by her parents and by her future husband Denis Thatcher, whom she married in December 1951. Denis funded his wife's studies for the bar; she qualified as a barrister in 1953 and specialised in taxation. Later that same year their twins Carol and Mark were born, delivered prematurely by Caesarean section.

Member of Parliament (1959–1970)

In 1954, Thatcher was defeated when she sought selection to be the Conservative Party candidate for the Orpington by-election of January 1955. She chose not to stand as a candidate in the 1955 general election, in later years, stating: "I really just felt the twins were only two, I really felt that it was too soon. I couldn't do that." Afterwards, Thatcher began looking for a Conservative safe seat and was selected as the candidate for Finchley in April 1958 (narrowly beating Ian Montagu Fraser). She was elected as MP for the seat after a hard campaign in the 1959 election. Benefiting from her fortunate result in a lottery for backbenchers to propose new legislation, Thatcher's maiden speech was, unusually, in support of her private member's bill, the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960, requiring local authorities to hold their council meetings in public; the bill was successful and became law. In 1961 she went against the Conservative Party's official position by voting for the restoration of birching as a judicial corporal punishment.

On the frontbenches

Thatcher's talent and drive caused her to be mentioned as a future prime minister in her early 20s although she herself was more pessimistic, stating as late as 1970: "There will not be a woman prime minister in my lifetime – the male population is too prejudiced." In October 1961 she was promoted to the frontbench as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry for Pensions by Harold Macmillan. Thatcher was the youngest woman in history to receive such a post, and among the first MPs elected in 1959 to be promoted. After the Conservatives lost the 1964 election, she became spokeswoman on housing and land. In that position, she advocated her party's policy of giving tenants the right to buy their council houses. She moved to the Shadow Treasury team in 1966 and, as Treasury spokeswoman, opposed Labour's mandatory price and income controls, arguing they would unintentionally produce effects that would distort the economy.

Jim Prior suggested Thatcher as a Shadow Cabinet member after the Conservatives' 1966 defeat, but party leader Edward Heath and Chief Whip William Whitelaw eventually chose Mervyn Pike as the Conservative shadow cabinet's sole woman member. At the 1966 Conservative Party conference, Thatcher criticised the high-tax policies of the Labour government as being steps "not only towards Socialism, but towards Communism", arguing that lower taxes served as an incentive to hard work. Thatcher was one of the few Conservative MPs to support Leo Abse's bill to decriminalise male homosexuality. She voted in favour of David Steel's bill to legalise abortion, as well as a ban on hare coursing. She supported the retention of capital punishment and voted against the relaxation of divorce laws.

In the Shadow Cabinet

In 1967, the United States Embassy chose Thatcher to take part in the International Visitor Leadership Program (then called the Foreign Leader Program), a professional exchange programme that allowed her to spend about six weeks visiting various US cities and political figures as well as institutions such as the International Monetary Fund. Although she was not yet a Shadow Cabinet member, the embassy reportedly described her to the State Department as a possible future prime minister. The description helped Thatcher meet with prominent people during a busy itinerary focused on economic issues, including Paul Samuelson, Walt Rostow, Pierre-Paul Schweitzer and Nelson Rockefeller. Following the visit, Heath appointed Thatcher to the Shadow Cabinet as fuel and power spokeswoman. Before the 1970 general election, she was promoted to shadow transport spokeswoman and later to education.

In 1968, Enoch Powell delivered his "Rivers of Blood" speech in which he strongly criticised Commonwealth immigration to the United Kingdom and the then-proposed Race Relations Bill. When Heath telephoned Thatcher to inform her that he would sack Powell from the Shadow Cabinet, she recalled that she "really thought that it was better to let things cool down for the present rather than heighten the crisis". She believed that his main points about Commonwealth immigration were correct and that the selected quotations from his speech had been taken out of context. In a 1991 interview for Today, Thatcher stated that she thought Powell had "made a valid argument, if in sometimes regrettable terms".

Around this time, she gave her first Commons speech as a shadow transport minister and highlighted the need for investment in British Rail. She argued: "f we build bigger and better roads, they would soon be saturated with more vehicles and we would be no nearer solving the problem." Thatcher made her first visit to the Soviet Union in the summer of 1969 as the Opposition transport spokeswoman, and in October, delivered a speech celebrating her ten years in Parliament. In early 1970, she told The Finchley Press that she would like to see a "reversal of the permissive society".

Education Secretary (1970–1974)

The Conservative Party, led by Edward Heath, won the 1970 general election, and Thatcher was appointed to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Education and Science. Thatcher caused controversy when, after only a few days in office, she withdrew Labour's Circular 10/65, which attempted to force comprehensivisation, without going through a consultation process. She was highly criticised for the speed at which she carried this out. Consequently, she drafted her own new policy (Circular 10/70), which ensured that local authorities were not forced to go comprehensive. Her new policy was not meant to stop the development of new comprehensives; she said: "We shall expect plans to be based on educational considerations rather than on the comprehensive principle."

Thatcher supported Lord Rothschild's 1971 proposal for market forces to affect government funding of research. Although many scientists opposed the proposal, her research background probably made her sceptical of their claim that outsiders should not interfere with funding. The department evaluated proposals for more local education authorities to close grammar schools and to adopt comprehensive secondary education. Although Thatcher was committed to a tiered secondary modern-grammar school system of education and attempted to preserve grammar schools, during her tenure as education secretary, she turned down only 326 of 3,612 proposals (roughly 9 per cent) for schools to become comprehensives; the proportion of pupils attending comprehensive schools consequently rose from 32 per cent to 62 per cent. Nevertheless, she managed to save 94 grammar schools.

During her first months in office, she attracted public attention due to the government's attempts to cut spending. She gave priority to academic needs in schools, while administering public expenditure cuts on the state education system, resulting in the abolition of free milk for schoolchildren aged seven to eleven. She held that few children would suffer if schools were charged for milk but agreed to provide younger children with 0.3 imperial pints (0.17 L) daily for nutritional purposes. She also argued that she was simply carrying on with what the Labour government had started since they had stopped giving free milk to secondary schools. Milk would still be provided to those children that required it on medical grounds, and schools could still sell milk. The aftermath of the milk row hardened her determination; she told the editor-proprietor Harold Creighton of The Spectator: "Don't underestimate me, I saw how they broke Keith [Joseph], but they won't break me."

Cabinet papers later revealed that she opposed the policy but had been forced into it by the Treasury. Her decision provoked a storm of protest from Labour and the press, leading to her being notoriously nicknamed "Margaret Thatcher, Milk Snatcher". She reportedly considered leaving politics in the aftermath and later wrote in her autobiography: "I learned a valuable lesson. I had incurred the maximum of political odium for the minimum of political benefit."

Leader of the Opposition (1975–1979)

See also: Shadow Cabinet of Margaret Thatcher

External audio
1975 speech to the US National Press Club
Thatcher in late 1975
National Press Club Luncheon Speakers: Margaret Thatcher (Speech). (Starts at 7:39, finishes at 28:33.)

The Heath government continued to experience difficulties with oil embargoes and union demands for wage increases in 1973, subsequently losing the February 1974 general election. Labour formed a minority government and went on to win a narrow majority in the October 1974 general election. Heath's leadership of the Conservative Party looked increasingly in doubt. Thatcher was not initially seen as the obvious replacement, but she eventually became the main challenger, promising a fresh start. Her main support came from the parliamentary 1922 Committee and The Spectator, but Thatcher's time in office gave her the reputation of a pragmatist rather than that of an ideologue. She defeated Heath on the first ballot, and he resigned from the leadership. In the second ballot she defeated Whitelaw, Heath's preferred successor. Thatcher's election had a polarising effect on the party; her support was stronger among MPs on the right, and also among those from southern England, and those who had not attended public schools or Oxbridge.

Thatcher became Conservative Party leader and Leader of the Opposition on 11 February 1975; she appointed Whitelaw as her deputy. Heath was never reconciled to Thatcher's leadership of the party.

Television critic Clive James, writing in The Observer prior to her election as Conservative Party leader, compared her voice of 1973 to "a cat sliding down a blackboard". Thatcher had already begun to work on her presentation on the advice of Gordon Reece, a former television producer. By chance, Reece met the actor Laurence Olivier, who arranged lessons with the National Theatre's voice coach.

Thatcher began attending lunches regularly at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), a think tank founded by Hayekian poultry magnate Antony Fisher; she had been visiting the IEA and reading its publications since the early 1960s. There she was influenced by the ideas of Ralph Harris and Arthur Seldon and became the face of the ideological movement opposing the British welfare state. Keynesian economics, they believed, was weakening Britain. The institute's pamphlets proposed less government, lower taxes, and more freedom for business and consumers.

With President Ford in the Oval Office, 1975With the Shah in the Niavaran Complex, 1978

Thatcher intended to promote neoliberal economic ideas at home and abroad. Despite setting the direction of her foreign policy for a Conservative government, Thatcher was distressed by her repeated failure to shine in the House of Commons. Consequently, Thatcher decided that as "her voice was carrying little weight at home", she would "be heard in the wider world". Thatcher undertook visits across the Atlantic, establishing an international profile and promoting her economic and foreign policies. She toured the United States in 1975 and met President Gerald Ford, visiting again in 1977, when she met President Jimmy Carter. Among other foreign trips, she met Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi during a visit to Iran in 1978. Thatcher chose to travel without being accompanied by her shadow foreign secretary, Reginald Maudling, in an attempt to make a bolder personal impact.

In domestic affairs, Thatcher opposed Scottish devolution (home rule) and the creation of a Scottish Assembly. She instructed Conservative MPs to vote against the Scotland and Wales Bill in December 1976, which was successfully defeated, and then when new Bills were proposed, she supported amending the legislation to allow the English to vote in the 1979 referendum on Scottish devolution.

Britain's economy during the 1970s was so weak that then Foreign Secretary James Callaghan warned his fellow Labour Cabinet members in 1974 of the possibility of "a breakdown of democracy", telling them: "If I were a young man, I would emigrate." In mid-1978, the economy began to recover, and opinion polls showed Labour in the lead, with a general election being expected later that year and a Labour win a serious possibility. Now prime minister, Callaghan surprised many by announcing on 7 September that there would be no general election that year and that he would wait until 1979 before going to the polls. Thatcher reacted to this by branding the Labour government "chickens", and Liberal Party leader David Steel joined in, criticising Labour for "running scared".

The Labour government then faced fresh public unease about the direction of the country and a damaging series of strikes during the winter of 1978–79, dubbed the "Winter of Discontent". The Conservatives attacked the Labour government's unemployment record, using advertising with the slogan "Labour Isn't Working". A general election was called after the Callaghan ministry lost a motion of no confidence in early 1979. The Conservatives won a 44-seat majority in the House of Commons, and Thatcher became the first female British prime minister.

"Iron Lady"

Main article: Britain Awake

External videos
1976 speech to Finchley Conservatives
Speech to Finchley Conservatives (admits to being an "Iron Lady") (Speech) – via the Margaret Thatcher Foundation.

I stand before you tonight in my Red Star chiffon evening gown, my face softly made up and my fair hair gently waved, the Iron Lady of the Western world.

— Thatcher embracing her Soviet nickname in 1976

In 1976, Thatcher gave her "Britain Awake" foreign policy speech which lambasted the Soviet Union, saying it was "bent on world dominance". The Soviet Army journal Red Star reported her stance in a piece headlined "Iron Lady Raises Fears", alluding to her remarks on the Iron Curtain. The Sunday Times covered the Red Star article the next day, and Thatcher embraced the epithet a week later; in a speech to Finchley Conservatives she likened it to the Duke of Wellington's nickname "Iron Duke". The "Iron" metaphor followed her throughout ever since, and would become a generic sobriquet for other strong-willed female politicians.

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1979–1990)

Main article: Premiership of Margaret Thatcher Further information: First Thatcher ministry, second Thatcher ministry, and third Thatcher ministry

External videos
1979 remarks on becoming prime minister
10 Downing Street, c. 1979
Remarks on becoming Prime Minister (St Francis's prayer) (Speech) – via the Margaret Thatcher Foundation.

Thatcher became prime minister on 4 May 1979. Arriving at Downing Street she said, paraphrasing the Prayer of Saint Francis:

Where there is discord, may we bring harmony;
Where there is error, may we bring truth;
Where there is doubt, may we bring faith;
And where there is despair, may we bring hope.

In office throughout the 1980s, Thatcher was frequently referred to as the most powerful woman in the world.

Domestic affairs

Minorities

Thatcher was the Opposition leader and prime minister at a time of increased racial tension in Britain. During the 1977 local elections, The Economist commented: "The Tory tide swamped the smaller parties – specifically the National Front [NF], which suffered a clear decline from last year." Her standing in the polls had risen by 11% after a 1978 interview for World in Action in which she said "the British character has done so much for democracy, for law and done so much throughout the world that if there is any fear that it might be swamped people are going to react and be rather hostile to those coming in", as well as "in many ways [minorities] add to the richness and variety of this country. The moment the minority threatens to become a big one, people get frightened". In the 1979 general election, the Conservatives had attracted votes from the NF, whose support almost collapsed. In a July 1979 meeting with Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington and Home Secretary William Whitelaw, Thatcher objected to the number of Asian immigrants, in the context of limiting the total of Vietnamese boat people allowed to settle in the UK to fewer than 10,000 over two years.

The Queen

As prime minister, Thatcher met weekly with Queen Elizabeth II to discuss government business, and their relationship came under scrutiny. Campbell (2011a, p. 464) states:

One question that continued to fascinate the public about the phenomenon of a woman Prime Minister was how she got on with the Queen. The answer is that their relations were punctiliously correct, but there was little love lost on either side. As two women of very similar age – Mrs Thatcher was six months older – occupying parallel positions at the top of the social pyramid, one the head of government, the other head of state, they were bound to be in some sense rivals. Mrs Thatcher's attitude to the Queen was ambivalent. On the one hand she had an almost mystical reverence for the institution of the monarchy Yet at the same time she was trying to modernise the country and sweep away many of the values and practices which the monarchy perpetuated.

Michael Shea, the Queen's press secretary, in 1986 leaked stories of a deep rift to The Sunday Times. He said that she felt Thatcher's policies were "uncaring, confrontational and socially divisive". Thatcher later wrote: "I always found the Queen's attitude towards the work of the Government absolutely correct stories of clashes between 'two powerful women' were just too good not to make up."

Economy and taxation

See also: 1979 budget

• v
• t
• e

Source: Stewart (2013, Appendix)

Economic growth and public spending % change in real terms: 1979/80 to 1989/90
Economic growth (GDP)	+23.3
Total government spending	+12.9
Law and order	+53.3
Employment and training	+33.3
NHS	+31.8
Social security	+31.8
Education	+13.7
Defence	+9.2
Environment	+7.9
Transport	−5.8
Trade and industry	−38.2
Housing	−67.0

Thatcher's economic policy was influenced by monetarist thinking and economists such as Milton Friedman and Alan Walters. Together with her first chancellor, Geoffrey Howe, she lowered direct taxes on income and increased indirect taxes. She increased interest rates to slow the growth of the money supply, and thereby lower inflation; introduced cash limits on public spending and reduced expenditure on social services such as education and housing. Cuts to higher education led to Thatcher being the first Oxonian post-war prime minister without an honorary doctorate from Oxford University after a 738–319 vote of the governing assembly and a student petition.

Some Heathite Conservatives in the Cabinet, the so-called "wets", expressed doubt over Thatcher's policies. The 1981 England riots resulted in the British media discussing the need for a policy U-turn. At the 1980 Conservative Party conference, Thatcher addressed the issue directly with a speech written by the playwright Ronald Millar, that notably included the following lines:

To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the "U" turn, I have only one thing to say. "You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning."

See also: 1981 budget

Thatcher's job approval rating fell to 23% by December 1980, lower than recorded for any previous prime minister. As the recession of the early 1980s deepened, she increased taxes, despite concerns expressed in a March 1981 statement signed by 364 leading economists, which argued there was "no basis in economic theory for the Government's belief that by deflating demand they will bring inflation permanently under control", adding that "present policies will deepen the depression, erode the industrial base of our economy and threaten its social and political stability".

By 1982, the UK began to experience signs of economic recovery; inflation was down to 8.6% from a high of 18%, but unemployment was over 3 million for the first time since the 1930s. By 1983, overall economic growth was stronger, and inflation and mortgage rates had fallen to their lowest levels in 13 years, although manufacturing employment as a share of total employment fell to just over 30%, with total unemployment remaining high, peaking at 3.3 million in 1984.

During the 1982 Conservative Party Conference, Thatcher said: "We have done more to roll back the frontiers of socialism than any previous Conservative Government." She said at the Party Conference the following year that the British people had completely rejected state socialism and understood "the state has no source of money other than money which people earn themselves There is no such thing as public money; there is only taxpayers' money."

By 1987, unemployment was falling, the economy was stable and strong, and inflation was low. Opinion polls showed a comfortable Conservative lead, and local council election results had also been successful, prompting Thatcher to call a general election for 11 June that year, despite the deadline for an election still being 12 months away. The election saw Thatcher re-elected for a third successive term.

Thatcher had been firmly opposed to British membership of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM, a precursor to European Economic and Monetary Union), believing that it would constrain the British economy, despite the urging of both Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson and Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe; in October 1990 she was persuaded by John Major, Lawson's successor as chancellor, to join the ERM at what proved to be too high a rate.

Thatcher reformed local government taxes by replacing domestic rates (a tax based on the nominal rental value of a home) with the Community Charge (or poll tax) in which the same amount was charged to each adult resident. The new tax was introduced in Scotland in 1989 and in England and Wales the following year, and proved to be among the most unpopular policies of her premiership. Public disquiet culminated in a 70,000 to 200,000-strong demonstration in London in March 1990; the demonstration around Trafalgar Square deteriorated into riots, leaving 113 people injured and 340 under arrest. The Community Charge was abolished in 1991 by her successor, John Major. It has since transpired that Thatcher herself had failed to register for the tax and was threatened with financial penalties if she did not return her form.

Industrial relations

See also: GCHQ trade union ban and the GCHQ case

Thatcher believed that the trade unions were harmful to both ordinary trade unionists and the public. She was committed to reducing the power of the unions, whose leadership she accused of undermining parliamentary democracy and economic performance through strike action. Several unions launched strikes in response to legislation introduced to limit their power, but resistance eventually collapsed. Only 39% of union members voted Labour in the 1983 general election. According to the BBC's political correspondent in 2004, Thatcher "managed to destroy the power of the trade unions for almost a generation". The miners' strike of 1984–85 was the biggest and most devastating confrontation between the unions and the Thatcher government.

In March 1984, the National Coal Board (NCB) proposed to close 20 of the 174 state-owned mines and cut 20,000 jobs out of 187,000. Two-thirds of the country's miners, led by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) under Arthur Scargill, went on strike in protest. However, Scargill refused to hold a ballot on the strike, having previously lost three ballots on a national strike (in January and October 1982, and March 1983). This led to the strike being declared illegal by the High Court of Justice.

Thatcher refused to meet the union's demands and compared the miners' dispute to the Falklands War, declaring in a speech in 1984: "We had to fight the enemy without in the Falklands. We always have to be aware of the enemy within, which is much more difficult to fight and more dangerous to liberty." Thatcher's opponents characterised her words as indicating contempt for the working class and have been employed in criticism of her ever since.

After a year out on strike in March 1985, the NUM leadership conceded without a deal. The cost to the economy was estimated to be at least £1.5 billion, and the strike was blamed for much of the pound's fall against the US dollar. Thatcher reflected on the end of the strike in her statement that "if anyone has won", it was "the miners who stayed at work" and all those "that have kept Britain going".

The government closed 25 unprofitable coal mines in 1985, and by 1992 a total of 97 mines had been closed; those that remained were privatised in 1994. The resulting closure of 150 coal mines, some of which were not losing money, resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of jobs and had the effect of devastating entire communities. Strikes had helped bring down Heath's government, and Thatcher was determined to succeed where he had failed. Her strategy of preparing fuel stocks, appointing hardliner Ian MacGregor as NCB leader and ensuring that police were adequately trained and equipped with riot gear contributed to her triumph over the striking miners.

The number of stoppages across the UK peaked at 4,583 in 1979, when more than 29 million working days had been lost. In 1984, the year of the miners' strike, there were 1,221, resulting in the loss of more than 27 million working days. Stoppages then fell steadily throughout the rest of Thatcher's premiership; in 1990, there were 630 and fewer than 2 million working days lost, and they continued to fall thereafter. Thatcher's tenure also witnessed a sharp decline in trade union density, with the percentage of workers belonging to a trade union falling from 57.3% in 1979 to 49.5% in 1985. In 1979 up until Thatcher's final year in office, trade union membership also fell, from 13.5 million in 1979 to fewer than 10 million.

Privatisation

The policy of privatisation has been called "a crucial ingredient of Thatcherism". After the 1983 election, the sale of state utilities accelerated; more than £29 billion was raised from the sale of nationalised industries, and another £18 billion from the sale of council houses. The process of privatisation, especially the preparation of nationalised industries for privatisation, was associated with marked improvements in performance, particularly in terms of labour productivity.

Some of the privatised industries, including gas, water, and electricity, were natural monopolies for which privatisation involved little increase in competition. The privatised industries that demonstrated improvement sometimes did so while still under state ownership. British Steel Corporation had made great gains in profitability while still a nationalised industry under the government-appointed MacGregor chairmanship, which faced down trade-union opposition to close plants and halve the workforce. Regulation was also significantly expanded to compensate for the loss of direct government control, with the foundation of regulatory bodies such as Oftel (1984), Ofgas (1986), and the National Rivers Authority (1989). There was no clear pattern to the degree of competition, regulation, and performance among the privatised industries.

In most cases, privatisation benefited consumers in terms of lower prices and improved efficiency but results overall have been mixed. Not all privatised companies have had successful share price trajectories in the longer term. A 2010 review by the IEA states: "t does seem to be the case that once competition and/or effective regulation was introduced, performance improved markedly But I hasten to emphasise again that the literature is not unanimous."

Thatcher always resisted privatising British Rail and was said to have told Transport Secretary Nicholas Ridley: "Railway privatisation will be the Waterloo of this government. Please never mention the railways to me again." Shortly before her resignation in 1990, she accepted the arguments for privatisation, which her successor John Major implemented in 1994.

The privatisation of public assets was combined with financial deregulation to fuel economic growth. Chancellor Geoffrey Howe abolished the UK's exchange controls in 1979, which allowed more capital to be invested in foreign markets, and the Big Bang of 1986 removed many restrictions on the London Stock Exchange.

Northern Ireland

In 1980 and 1981, Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) prisoners in Northern Ireland's Maze Prison carried out hunger strikes to regain the status of political prisoners that had been removed in 1976 by the preceding Labour government. Bobby Sands began the 1981 strike, saying that he would fast until death unless prison inmates won concessions over their living conditions. Thatcher refused to countenance a return to political status for the prisoners, having declared "Crime is crime is crime; it is not political". Nevertheless, the British government privately contacted republican leaders in a bid to bring the hunger strikes to an end. After the deaths of Sands and nine others, the strike ended. Some rights were restored to paramilitary prisoners, but not official recognition of political status. Violence in Northern Ireland escalated significantly during the hunger strikes.

Thatcher narrowly escaped injury in an IRA assassination attempt at a Brighton hotel early in the morning on 12 October 1984. Five people were killed, including the wife of minister John Wakeham. Thatcher was staying at the hotel to prepare for the Conservative Party conference, which she insisted should open as scheduled the following day. She delivered her speech as planned, though rewritten from her original draft, in a move that was supported across the political spectrum and enhanced her popularity with the public.

On 6 November 1981, Thatcher and Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Garret FitzGerald had established the Anglo-Irish Inter-Governmental Council, a forum for meetings between the two governments. On 15 November 1985, Thatcher and FitzGerald signed the Hillsborough Anglo-Irish Agreement, which marked the first time a British government had given the Republic of Ireland an advisory role in the governance of Northern Ireland. In protest, the Ulster Says No movement led by Ian Paisley attracted 100,000 to a rally in Belfast, Ian Gow, later assassinated by the PIRA, resigned as Minister of State in HM Treasury, and all 15 Unionist MPs resigned their parliamentary seats; only one was not returned in the subsequent by-elections on 23 January 1986.

Environment

Thatcher supported an active climate protection policy; she was instrumental in the passing of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the founding of the Hadley Centre for Climate Research and Prediction, the establishment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the ratification of the Montreal Protocol on preserving the ozone.

Thatcher helped to put climate change, acid rain and general pollution in the British mainstream in the late 1980s, calling for a global treaty on climate change in 1989. Her speeches included one to the Royal Society in 1988, followed by another to the UN General Assembly in 1989.

Foreign affairs

With President Carter in the Oval Office, 1979With President Reagan in the Oval Office, 1988With President Bush in Aspen, Colorado, 1990

Thatcher appointed Lord Carrington, an ennobled member of the party and former Secretary of State for Defence, to run the Foreign Office in 1979. Although considered a "wet", he avoided domestic affairs and got along well with Thatcher. One issue was what to do with Rhodesia, where the white minority had determined to rule the prosperous, black-majority breakaway colony in the face of overwhelming international criticism. With the 1975 Portuguese collapse in the continent, South Africa (which had been Rhodesia's chief supporter) realised that their ally was a liability; black rule was inevitable, and the Thatcher government brokered a peaceful solution to end the Rhodesian Bush War in December 1979 via the Lancaster House Agreement. The conference at Lancaster House was attended by Rhodesian prime minister Ian Smith, as well as by the key black leaders: Muzorewa, Mugabe, Nkomo and Tongogara. The result was the new Zimbabwean nation under black rule in 1980.

Cold War

Thatcher's first foreign-policy crisis came with the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. She condemned the invasion, said it showed the bankruptcy of a détente policy and helped convince some British athletes to boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics. She gave weak support to US president Jimmy Carter who tried to punish the USSR with economic sanctions. Britain's economic situation was precarious, and most of NATO was reluctant to cut trade ties. Thatcher nevertheless gave the go-ahead for Whitehall to approve MI6 (along with the SAS) to undertake "disruptive action" in Afghanistan. As well as working with the CIA in Operation Cyclone, they also supplied weapons, training and intelligence to the mujaheddin.

The Financial Times reported in 2011 that her government had secretly supplied Iraq under Saddam Hussein with "non-lethal" military equipment since 1981.

Having withdrawn formal recognition from the Pol Pot regime in 1979, the Thatcher government backed the Khmer Rouge keeping their UN seat after they were ousted from power in Cambodia by the Cambodian–Vietnamese War. Although Thatcher denied it at the time, it was revealed in 1991 that, while not directly training any Khmer Rouge, from 1983 the Special Air Service (SAS) was sent to secretly train "the armed forces of the Cambodian non-communist resistance" that remained loyal to Prince Norodom Sihanouk and his former prime minister Son Sann in the fight against the Vietnamese-backed puppet regime.

Thatcher was one of the first Western leaders to respond warmly to reformist Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Following Reagan–Gorbachev summit meetings and reforms enacted by Gorbachev in the USSR, she declared in November 1988 that "e're not in a Cold War now" but rather in a "new relationship much wider than the Cold War ever was". She went on a state visit to the Soviet Union in 1984 and met with Gorbachev and Council of Ministers chairman Nikolai Ryzhkov.

Ties with the US

Despite opposite personalities, Thatcher bonded quickly with US president Ronald Reagan. She gave strong support to the Reagan administration's Cold War policies based on their shared distrust of communism. A sharp disagreement came in 1983 when Reagan did not consult with her on the invasion of Grenada.

During her first year as prime minister, she supported NATO's decision to deploy US nuclear cruise and Pershing II missiles in Western Europe, permitting the US to station more than 160 cruise missiles at RAF Greenham Common, starting in November 1983 and triggering mass protests by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. She bought the Trident nuclear missile submarine system from the US to replace Polaris, tripling the UK's nuclear forces at an eventual cost of more than £12 billion (at 1996–97 prices). Thatcher's preference for defence ties with the US was demonstrated in the Westland affair of 1985–86 when she acted with colleagues to allow the struggling helicopter manufacturer Westland to refuse a takeover offer from the Italian firm Agusta in favour of the management's preferred option, a link with Sikorsky Aircraft. Defence Secretary Michael Heseltine, who had supported the Agusta deal, resigned from the government in protest.

In April 1986 she permitted US F-111s to use Royal Air Force bases for the bombing of Libya in retaliation for the Libyan bombing of a Berlin discothèque, citing the right of self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter. Polls suggested that fewer than one in three British citizens approved of her decision.

Thatcher was in the US on a state visit when Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in August 1990. During her talks with President George H. W. Bush, who succeeded Reagan in 1989, she recommended intervention, and put pressure on Bush to deploy troops in the Middle East to drive the Iraqi Army out of Kuwait. Bush was apprehensive about the plan, prompting Thatcher to remark to him during a telephone conversation: "This was no time to go wobbly!" Thatcher's government supplied military forces to the international coalition in the build-up to the Gulf War, but she had resigned by the time hostilities began on 17 January 1991. She applauded the coalition victory on the backbenches, while warning that "the victories of peace will take longer than the battles of war". It was disclosed in 2017 that Thatcher had suggested threatening Saddam with chemical weapons after the invasion of Kuwait.

Crisis in the South Atlantic

See also: "Rejoice" and the Diana Gould exchange

On 2 April 1982, the ruling military junta in Argentina ordered the invasion of the British Overseas Territories of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia, triggering the Falklands War. The subsequent crisis was "a defining moment of [Thatcher's] premiership". At the suggestion of Harold Macmillan and Robert Armstrong, she set up and chaired a small War Cabinet (formally called ODSA, Overseas and Defence committee, South Atlantic) to oversee the conduct of the war, which by 5–6 April had authorised and dispatched a naval task force to retake the islands. Argentina surrendered on 14 June and Operation Corporate was hailed a success, notwithstanding the deaths of 255 British servicemen and three Falkland Islanders. Argentine fatalities totalled 649, half of them after the nuclear-powered submarine HMS Conqueror torpedoed and sank the cruiser ARA General Belgrano on 2 May.

Thatcher was criticised for the neglect of the Falklands' defence that led to the war, and especially by Labour MP Tam Dalyell in Parliament for the decision to torpedo the General Belgrano, but overall, she was considered a competent and committed war leader. The "Falklands factor", an economic recovery beginning early in 1982, and a bitterly divided opposition all contributed to Thatcher's second election victory in 1983. Thatcher frequently referred after the war to the "Falklands spirit"; Hastings & Jenkins (1983, p. 329) suggests that this reflected her preference for the streamlined decision-making of her War Cabinet over the painstaking deal-making of peacetime cabinet government.

Negotiating Hong Kong

In September 1982, she visited China to discuss with Deng Xiaoping the sovereignty of Hong Kong after 1997. China was the first communist state Thatcher had visited as prime minister, and she was the first British prime minister to visit China. Throughout their meeting, she sought the PRC's agreement to a continued British presence in the territory. Deng insisted that the PRC's sovereignty over Hong Kong was non-negotiable but stated his willingness to settle the sovereignty issue with the British government through formal negotiations. Both governments promised to maintain Hong Kong's stability and prosperity. After the two-year negotiations, Thatcher conceded to the PRC government and signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration in Beijing in 1984, agreeing to hand over Hong Kong's sovereignty in 1997.

Apartheid in South Africa

Despite saying that she was in favour of "peaceful negotiations" to end apartheid, Thatcher opposed sanctions imposed on South Africa by the Commonwealth and the European Economic Community (EEC). She attempted to preserve trade with South Africa while persuading its government to abandon apartheid. This included "asting herself as President Botha's candid friend" and inviting him to visit the UK in 1984, despite the "inevitable demonstrations" against his government. Alan Merrydew of the Canadian broadcaster BCTV News asked Thatcher what her response was "to a reported ANC statement that they will target British firms in South Africa?" to which she later replied: " when the ANC says that they will target British companies This shows what a typical terrorist organisation it is. I fought terrorism all my life and if more people fought it, and we were all more successful, we should not have it and I hope that everyone in this hall will think it is right to go on fighting terrorism." During his visit to Britain five months after his release from prison, Nelson Mandela praised Thatcher: "She is an enemy of apartheid We have much to thank her for."

Europe

See also: Bruges speech

External videos
1988 speech to the College of Europe
Speech to the College of Europe ('The Bruges Speech') (Speech) – via the Margaret Thatcher Foundation.

Thatcher and her party supported British membership of the EEC in the 1975 national referendum and the Single European Act of 1986, and obtained the UK rebate on contributions, but she believed that the role of the organisation should be limited to ensuring free trade and effective competition, and feared that the EEC approach was at odds with her views on smaller government and deregulation. Believing that the single market would result in political integration, Thatcher's opposition to further European integration became more pronounced during her premiership and particularly after her third government in 1987. In her Bruges speech in 1988, Thatcher outlined her opposition to proposals from the EEC, forerunner of the European Union, for a federal structure and increased centralisation of decision-making:

We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain, only to see them re-imposed at a European level, with a European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels.

Sharing the concerns of French president François Mitterrand, Thatcher was initially opposed to German reunification, telling Gorbachev that it "would lead to a change to postwar borders, and we cannot allow that because such a development would undermine the stability of the whole international situation and could endanger our security". She expressed concern that a united Germany would align itself more closely with the Soviet Union and move away from NATO.

In March 1990, Thatcher held a Chequers seminar on the subject of German reunification that was attended by members of her cabinet and historians such as Norman Stone, George Urban, Timothy Garton Ash and Gordon A. Craig. During the seminar, Thatcher described "what Urban called 'saloon bar clichés' about the German character, including 'angst, aggressiveness, assertiveness, bullying, egotism, inferiority complex [and] sentimentality'". Those present were shocked to hear Thatcher's utterances and "appalled" at how she was "apparently unaware" about the post-war German collective guilt and Germans' attempts to work through their past. The words of the meeting were leaked by her foreign-policy advisor Charles Powell and, subsequently, her comments were met with fierce backlash and controversy.

During the same month, German chancellor Helmut Kohl reassured Thatcher that he would keep her "informed of all his intentions about unification", and that he was prepared to disclose "matters which even his cabinet would not know".

Challenges to leadership and resignation

Main articles: 1989 Conservative Party leadership election and 1990 Conservative Party leadership election

During her premiership, Thatcher had the second-lowest average approval rating (40%) of any post-war prime minister. Since Nigel Lawson's resignation as chancellor in October 1989, polls consistently showed that she was less popular than her party. A self-described conviction politician, Thatcher always insisted that she did not care about her poll ratings and pointed instead to her unbeaten election record.

In December 1989, Thatcher was challenged for the leadership of the Conservative Party by the little-known backbench MP Sir Anthony Meyer. Of the 374 Conservative MPs eligible to vote, 314 voted for Thatcher and 33 for Meyer. Her supporters in the party viewed the result as a success and rejected suggestions that there was discontent within the party.

Opinion polls in September 1990 reported that Labour had established a 14% lead over the Conservatives, and by November, the Conservatives had been trailing Labour for 18 months. These ratings, together with Thatcher's combative personality and tendency to override collegiate opinion, contributed to further discontent within her party.

In July 1989, Thatcher removed Geoffrey Howe as foreign secretary after he and Lawson had forced her to agree to a plan for Britain to join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). Britain joined the ERM in October 1990.

On 1 November 1990, Howe, by then the last remaining member of Thatcher's original 1979 cabinet, resigned as deputy prime minister, ostensibly over her open hostility to moves towards European monetary union. In his resignation speech on 13 November, which was instrumental in Thatcher's downfall, Howe attacked Thatcher's openly dismissive attitude to the government's proposal for a new European currency competing against existing currencies (a "hard ECU"):

How on earth are the Chancellor and the Governor of the Bank of England, commending the hard ECU as they strive to, to be taken as serious participants in the debate against that kind of background noise? I believe that both the Chancellor and the Governor are cricketing enthusiasts, so I hope that there is no monopoly of cricketing metaphors. It is rather like sending your opening batsmen to the crease only for them to find, the moment the first balls are bowled, that their bats have been broken before the game by the team captain.

On 14 November, Michael Heseltine mounted a challenge for the leadership of the Conservative Party. Opinion polls had indicated that he would give the Conservatives a national lead over Labour. Although Thatcher led on the first ballot with the votes of 204 Conservative MPs (54.8%) to 152 votes (40.9%) for Heseltine, with 16 abstentions, she was four votes short of the required 15% majority. A second ballot was therefore necessary. Thatcher initially declared her intention to "fight on and fight to win" the second ballot, but consultation with her cabinet persuaded her to withdraw. After holding an audience with the Queen, calling other world leaders, and making one final Commons speech, on 28 November she left Downing Street in tears. She reportedly regarded her ousting as a betrayal. Her resignation was a shock to many outside Britain, with such foreign observers as Henry Kissinger and Gorbachev expressing private consternation.

Chancellor John Major replaced Thatcher as head of government and party leader, whose lead over Heseltine in the second ballot was sufficient for Heseltine to drop out. Major oversaw an upturn in Conservative support in the 17 months leading to the 1992 general election and led the party to a fourth successive victory on 9 April 1992. Thatcher had lobbied for Major in the leadership contest against Heseltine, but her support for him waned in later years.

Later life

Return to backbenches (1990–1992)

After leaving the premiership, Thatcher returned to the backbenches as a constituency parliamentarian. Her domestic approval rating recovered after her resignation, though public opinion remained divided on whether her government had been good for the country. Aged 66, she retired from the House of Commons at the 1992 general election, saying that leaving the Commons would allow her more freedom to speak her mind.

Post-Commons (1992–2003)

On leaving the Commons, Thatcher became the first former British prime minister to set up a foundation; the British wing of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation was dissolved in 2005 due to financial difficulties. She wrote two volumes of memoirs, The Downing Street Years (1993) and The Path to Power (1995). In 1991, she and her husband Denis moved to a house in Chester Square, a residential garden square in central London's Belgravia district.

Thatcher was hired by the tobacco company Philip Morris as a "geopolitical consultant" in July 1992 for $250,000 per year and an annual contribution of $250,000 to her foundation. Thatcher earned $50,000 for each speech she delivered.

Thatcher became an advocate of Croatian and Slovenian independence. Commenting on the Yugoslav Wars, in a 1991 interview for Croatian Radiotelevision, she was critical of Western governments for not recognising the breakaway republics of Croatia and Slovenia as independent and for not supplying them with arms after the Serbian-led Yugoslav Army attacked. In August 1992, she called for NATO to stop the Serbian assault on Goražde and Sarajevo to end ethnic cleansing during the Bosnian War, comparing the situation in Bosnia–Herzegovina to "the barbarities of Hitler's and Stalin's".

She made a series of speeches in the Lords criticising the Maastricht Treaty, describing it as "a treaty too far" and stated: "I could never have signed this treaty." She cited A. V. Dicey when arguing that, as all three main parties were in favour of the treaty, the people should have their say in a referendum.

Thatcher served as honorary chancellor of the College of William & Mary in Virginia from 1993 to 2000, while also serving as chancellor of the private University of Buckingham from 1992 to 1998, a university she had formally opened in 1976 as the former education secretary.

After Tony Blair's election as Labour Party leader in 1994, Thatcher praised Blair as "probably the most formidable Labour leader since Hugh Gaitskell", adding: "I see a lot of socialism behind their front bench, but not in Mr Blair. I think he genuinely has moved." Blair responded in kind: "She was a thoroughly determined person, and that is an admirable quality."

In 1998, Thatcher called for the release of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet when Spain had him arrested and sought to try him for human rights violations. She cited the help he gave Britain during the Falklands War. In 1999, she visited him while he was under house arrest near London. Pinochet was released in March 2000 on medical grounds by Home Secretary Jack Straw.

At the 2001 general election, Thatcher supported the Conservative campaign, as she had done in 1992 and 1997, and in the Conservative leadership election following its defeat, she endorsed Iain Duncan Smith over Kenneth Clarke. In 2002 she encouraged George W. Bush to aggressively tackle the "unfinished business" of Iraq under Saddam Hussein, and praised Blair for his "strong, bold leadership" in standing with Bush in the Iraq War.

She broached the same subject in her Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World, which was published in April 2002 and dedicated to Ronald Reagan, writing that there would be no peace in the Middle East until Saddam was toppled. Her book also said that Israel must trade land for peace and that the European Union (EU) was a "fundamentally unreformable", "classic utopian project, a monument to the vanity of intellectuals, a programme whose inevitable destiny is failure". She argued that Britain should renegotiate its terms of membership or else leave the EU and join the North American Free Trade Area.

Following several small strokes, her doctors advised her not to engage in further public speaking. In March 2002 she announced that, on doctors' advice, she would cancel all planned speaking engagements and accept no more.

Extract from The Downing Street Years

Being Prime Minister is a lonely job. In a sense, it ought to be: you cannot lead from the crowd. But with Denis there I was never alone. What a man. What a husband. What a friend.

Thatcher (1993, p. 23)

On 26 June 2003, Thatcher's husband, Sir Denis, died aged 88; his body was cremated on 3 July at Mortlake Crematorium in London.

Final years (2003–2013)

On 11 June 2004, Thatcher (against doctors' orders) attended the state funeral service for Ronald Reagan. She delivered her eulogy via videotape; in view of her health, the message had been pre-recorded several months earlier. Thatcher flew to California with the Reagan entourage, and attended the memorial service and interment ceremony for the president at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

In 2005, Thatcher criticised how Blair had decided to invade Iraq two years previously. Although she still supported the intervention to topple Saddam Hussein, she said that (as a scientist) she would always look for "facts, evidence and proof" before committing the armed forces. She celebrated her 80th birthday on 13 October at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hyde Park, London; guests included the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Alexandra and Tony Blair. Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, was also in attendance and said of his former leader: "Her real triumph was to have transformed not just one party but two, so that when Labour did eventually return, the great bulk of Thatcherism was accepted as irreversible."

In the US, 2006Thatcher (left) at a Washington memorial service on the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacksWith Donald Rumsfeld and General Pace at the Pentagon

In 2006, Thatcher attended the official Washington memorial service to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the US. She was a guest of Vice President Dick Cheney and met Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her visit. In February 2007 Thatcher became the first living British prime minister to be honoured with a statue in the Houses of Parliament. The bronze statue stood opposite that of her political hero, Winston Churchill, and was unveiled on 21 February 2007 with Thatcher in attendance; she remarked in the Members' Lobby of the Commons: "I might have preferred iron – but bronze will do It won't rust."

Thatcher was a public supporter of the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism and the resulting Prague Process and sent a public letter of support to its preceding conference.

After collapsing at a House of Lords dinner, Thatcher, suffering low blood pressure, was admitted to St Thomas' Hospital in central London on 7 March 2008 for tests. In 2009 she was hospitalised again when she fell and broke her arm. Thatcher returned to 10 Downing Street in late November 2009 for the unveiling of an official portrait by artist Richard Stone, an unusual honour for a living former prime minister. Stone was previously commissioned to paint portraits of the Queen and Queen Mother.

On 4 July 2011, Thatcher was to attend a ceremony for the unveiling of a 10 ft (3.0 m) statue of Ronald Reagan outside the US embassy in London, but was unable to attend due to her frail health. She last attended a sitting of the House of Lords on 19 July 2010, and on 30 July 2011 it was announced that her office in the Lords had been closed. Earlier that month, Thatcher was named the most competent prime minister of the past 30 years in an Ipsos MORI poll.

Thatcher's daughter Carol first revealed that her mother had dementia in 2005, saying "Mum doesn't read much any more because of her memory loss". In her 2008 memoir, Carol wrote that her mother "could hardly remember the beginning of a sentence by the time she got to the end". She later recounted how she was first struck by her mother's dementia when, in conversation, Thatcher confused the Falklands and Yugoslav conflicts; she recalled the pain of needing to tell her mother repeatedly that her husband Denis was dead.

Death and funeral (2013)

Main article: Death and funeral of Margaret Thatcher Thatcher's coffin being carried up the steps of St Paul's CathedralPlaques on the graves of Margaret and Denis Thatcher at the Royal Hospital Chelsea

Thatcher died on 8 April 2013, at the age of 87, after suffering a stroke. She had been staying at a suite in the Ritz Hotel in London since December 2012 after having difficulty with stairs at her Chester Square home in Belgravia. Her death certificate listed the primary causes of death as a "cerebrovascular accident" and "repeated transient ischaemic attack"; secondary causes were listed as a "carcinoma of the bladder" and dementia.

Reactions to the news of Thatcher's death were mixed across the UK, ranging from tributes lauding her as Britain's greatest-ever peacetime prime minister to public celebrations of her death and expressions of hatred and personalised vitriol.

Details of Thatcher's funeral had been agreed upon with her in advance. She received a ceremonial funeral, including full military honours, with a church service at St Paul's Cathedral on 17 April.

Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh attended her funeral, marking only the second and final time in the Queen's reign that she attended the funeral of any of her former prime ministers, after that of Churchill, who received a state funeral in 1965.

After the service at St Paul's, Thatcher's body was cremated at Mortlake, where her husband's had been cremated. On 28 September, a service for Thatcher was held in the All Saints Chapel of the Royal Hospital Chelsea's Margaret Thatcher Infirmary. In a private ceremony, Thatcher's ashes were interred in the hospital's grounds, next to her husband's.

Legacy

Political impact

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Thatcherism represented a systematic and decisive overhaul of the post-war consensus, whereby the major political parties largely agreed on the central themes of Keynesianism, the welfare state, nationalised industry, and close regulation of the economy, and high taxes. Thatcher generally supported the welfare state while proposing to rid it of abuses.

She promised in 1982 that the highly popular National Health Service was "safe in our hands". At first, she ignored the question of privatising nationalised industries; heavily influenced by right-wing think tanks, and especially by Sir Keith Joseph, Thatcher broadened her attack. Thatcherism came to refer to her policies as well as aspects of her ethical outlook and personal style, including moral absolutism, nationalism, liberal individualism, and an uncompromising approach to achieving political goals.

Thatcher defined her political philosophy, in a major and controversial break with the one-nation conservatism of her predecessor Edward Heath, in a 1987 interview published in Woman's Own magazine:

I think we have gone through a period when too many children and people have been given to understand "I have a problem, it is the Government's job to cope with it!" or "I have a problem, I will go and get a grant to cope with it!" "I am homeless, the Government must house me!" and so they are casting their problems on society and who is society? There is no such thing! There are individual men and women and there are families and no government can do anything except through people and people look to themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then also to help look after our neighbour and life is a reciprocal business and people have got the entitlements too much in mind without the obligations.

Overview

The number of adults owning shares rose from 7 per cent to 25 per cent during her tenure, and more than a million families bought their council houses, increasing from 55 per cent to 67 per cent in owner-occupiers from 1979 to 1990. The houses were sold at a discount of 33–55 per cent, leading to large profits for some new owners. Personal wealth rose by 80 per cent in real terms during the 1980s, mainly due to rising house prices and increased earnings. Shares in the privatised utilities were sold below their market value to ensure quick and wide sales rather than maximise national income.

The "Thatcher years" were also marked by periods of high unemployment and social unrest, and many critics on the left of the political spectrum fault her economic policies for the unemployment level; many of the areas affected by mass unemployment as well as her monetarist economic policies remained blighted for decades, by such social problems as drug abuse and family breakdown. Unemployment did not fall below its May 1979 level during her tenure, only falling below its April 1979 level in 1990. The long-term effects of her policies on manufacturing remain contentious.

Speaking in Scotland in 2009, Thatcher insisted she had no regrets and was right to introduce the poll tax and withdraw subsidies from "outdated industries, whose markets were in terminal decline", subsidies that created "the culture of dependency, which had done such damage to Britain". Political economist Susan Strange termed the neoliberal financial growth model "casino capitalism", reflecting her view that speculation and financial trading were becoming more important to the economy than industry.

Critics on the left describe her as divisive and say she condoned greed and selfishness. Leading Welsh politician Rhodri Morgan, among others, characterised Thatcher as a "Marmite" figure. Journalist Michael White, writing in the aftermath of the 2007–2008 financial crisis, challenged the view that her reforms were still a net benefit. Others consider her approach to have been "a mixed bag" and "[a] Curate's egg".

Thatcher did "little to advance the political cause of women" within her party or the government. Some British feminists regarded her as "an enemy". June Purvis in Women's History Review says that, although Thatcher had struggled laboriously against the sexist prejudices of her day to rise to the top, she made no effort to ease the path for other women. Thatcher did not regard women's rights as requiring particular attention as she did not, especially during her premiership, consider that women were being deprived of their rights. She had once suggested the shortlisting of women by default for all public appointments and proposed that those with young children should leave the workforce.

Thatcher's stance on immigration in the late 1970s was perceived as part of a rising racist public discourse, which Martin Barker terms "new racism". In opposition, Thatcher believed that the National Front (NF) was winning over large numbers of Conservative voters with warnings against floods of immigrants. Her strategy was to undermine the NF narrative by acknowledging that many of their voters had serious concerns in need of addressing. In 1978 she criticised Labour's immigration policy to attract voters away from the NF to the Conservatives. Her rhetoric was followed by increased Conservative support at the expense of the NF. Critics on the left accused her of pandering to racism.

Many Thatcherite policies influenced the Labour Party, which returned to power in 1997 under Tony Blair. Blair rebranded the party "New Labour" in 1994 with the aim of increasing its appeal beyond its traditional supporters, and to attract those who had supported Thatcher, such as the "Essex man". Thatcher is said to have regarded the "New Labour" rebranding as her greatest achievement. In contrast to Blair, the Conservative Party under William Hague attempted to distance himself and the party from Thatcher's economic policies in an attempt to gain public approval.

Shortly after Thatcher died in 2013, Scottish first minister Alex Salmond argued that her policies had the "unintended consequence" of encouraging Scottish devolution. Lord Foulkes of Cumnock agreed on Scotland Tonight that she had provided "the impetus" for devolution. Writing for The Scotsman in 1997, Thatcher argued against devolution on the basis that it would eventually lead to Scottish independence.

Reputation

Margaret Thatcher was not merely the first woman and the longest-serving Prime Minister of modern times, but the most admired, most hated, most idolised and most vilified public figure of the second half of the twentieth century. To some she was the saviour of her country who created a vigorous enterprise economy which twenty years later was still outperforming the more regulated economies of the Continent. To others, she was a narrow ideologue whose hard-faced policies legitimised greed, deliberately increased inequality and destroyed the nation's sense of solidarity and civic pride. There is no reconciling these views: yet both are true.

Biographer John Campbell (2011b, p. 499)

Thatcher's tenure of 11 years and 209 days as British prime minister was the longest since Lord Salisbury in the late 19th century (13 years and 252 days, in three spells) and the longest continuous period in office since Lord Liverpool in the early 19th century (14 years and 305 days).

Having led the Conservative Party to victory in three consecutive general elections, twice in a landslide, she ranks among the most popular party leaders in British history regarding votes cast for the winning party; over 40 million ballots were cast in total for the party under her leadership. Her electoral successes were dubbed a "historic hat trick" by the British press in 1987.

Thatcher ranked highest among living persons in the 2002 BBC poll 100 Greatest Britons. In 1999, Time deemed Thatcher one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century. In 2015 she topped a poll by Scottish Widows, a major financial services company, as the most influential woman of the past 200 years; and in 2016 topped BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour Power List of women judged to have had the biggest impact on female lives over the past 70 years. In 2020, Time magazine included Thatcher's name on its list of 100 Women of the Year. She was chosen as the Woman of the Year in 1982 when the Falklands War began under her command, resulting in the British victory.

In contrast to her relatively poor average approval rating as prime minister, Thatcher has since ranked highly in retrospective opinion polling and, according to YouGov, is "see in overall positive terms" by the British public. Just after her death in 2013, according to a poll by The Guardian, about half of the public viewed her positively while one third viewed her negatively. In a 2019 opinion poll by YouGov, most Britons rated her as Britain's greatest post-war leader (with Churchill coming second). According to the poll, more than four in ten Britons (44%) think that Thatcher was a "good" or "great" prime minister, compared to 29% who think she was a "poor" or "terrible" one. She was voted the fourth-greatest British prime minister of the 20th century in a 2011 poll of 139 academics organised by MORI. In a 2016 University of Leeds survey of 82 academics specialising in post-1945 British history and politics, she was voted the second-greatest British prime minister after the Second World War.

Cultural depictions

Main article: Cultural depictions of Margaret Thatcher

According to theatre critic Michael Billington, Thatcher left an "emphatic mark" on the arts while prime minister. One of the earliest satires of Thatcher as prime minister involved satirist John Wells (as writer and performer), actress Janet Brown (voicing Thatcher) and future Spitting Image producer John Lloyd (as co-producer), who in 1979 were teamed up by producer Martin Lewis for the satirical audio album The Iron Lady, which consisted of skits and songs satirising Thatcher's rise to power. The album was released in September 1979. Thatcher was heavily satirised on Spitting Image, and The Independent labelled her "every stand-up's dream".

Thatcher was the subject or the inspiration for 1980s protest songs. Musicians Billy Bragg and Paul Weller helped to form the Red Wedge collective to support Labour in opposition to Thatcher. Known as "Maggie" by supporters and opponents alike, the chant song "Maggie Out" became a signature rallying cry among the left during the latter half of her premiership.

Wells parodied Thatcher in several media. He collaborated with Richard Ingrams on the spoof "Dear Bill" letters, which ran as a column in Private Eye magazine; they were also published in book form and became a West End stage revue titled Anyone for Denis?, with Wells in the role of Thatcher's husband. It was followed by a 1982 TV special directed by Dick Clement, in which Thatcher was played by Angela Thorne.

Since her premiership, Thatcher has been portrayed in a number of television programmes, documentaries, films and plays. She was portrayed by Patricia Hodge in Ian Curteis's long unproduced The Falklands Play (2002) and by Andrea Riseborough in the TV film The Long Walk to Finchley (2008). She is the protagonist in two films, played by Lindsay Duncan in Margaret (2009) and by Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady (2011), in which she is depicted as suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's disease. She is a main character in the fourth season of The Crown, played by Gillian Anderson. Thatcher has a supporting role in the 2024 biographical film Reagan, played by Lesley-Anne Down.

Titles, awards and honours

Main article: List of honours of Margaret Thatcher

Thatcher became a privy counsellor (PC) on becoming a secretary of state in 1970. She was the first woman entitled to full membership rights as an honorary member of the Carlton Club on becoming Conservative Party leader in 1975.

As prime minister, Thatcher received two honorary distinctions:

• 24 October 1979 (1979-10-24): Honorary Fellowship (Hon.) of the Royal Institute of Chemistry (FRIC), which was merged into the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) the following year;
• 1 July 1983 (1983-07-01): Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS), a point of controversy among some of the then-existing Fellows.

Orders of chivalryThe Garter
UK, 1995
Good Hope
RSA, 1991
Merit
UK, 1990
Saint John
UK, 1991
Shown are the ribbons for each order bestowed on Thatcher.

Two weeks after her resignation, Thatcher was appointed Member of the Order of Merit (OM) by the Queen. Her husband Denis was made a hereditary baronet at the same time; as his wife, Thatcher was entitled to use the honorific style "Lady", an automatically conferred title that she declined to use. She would be made Lady Thatcher in her own right on her subsequent ennoblement in the House of Lords.

In the Falklands, Margaret Thatcher Day has been marked each 10 January since 1992, commemorating her first visit to the Islands in January 1983, six months after the end of the Falklands War in June 1982.

Thatcher became a member of the House of Lords in 1992 with a life peerage as Baroness Thatcher, of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire. Subsequently, the College of Arms granted her use of a personal coat of arms; she was allowed to revise these arms on her appointment as Lady Companion of the Order of the Garter (LG) in 1995, the highest order of chivalry.

Coats of arms of Baroness Thatcher

Pre–Garter appointment		Post–Garter appointment
1992–1995		Lozenge: 1995–2013	Escutcheon: 1995–2013

In the US, Thatcher received the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award from the Reagan Presidential Foundation in 1998; she was designated a patron of the Heritage Foundation in 2006, where she established the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom.

Published works

• The Downing Street Years. HarperCollins. 1993. ISBN 978-0-00-255049-9.
• The Path to Power. HarperCollins. 1995. ISBN 978-0-00-255050-5.
• Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World. Harper Perennial. 2003. ISBN 978-0-06-095912-8.

See also

• Cadby Hall
• Economic history of the United Kingdom
• List of elected and appointed female heads of state and government
• Political history of the United Kingdom (1979–present)
• Social history of the United Kingdom (1979–present)

References

Explanatory notes

1. On 30 July 2011 it was announced that her office in the Lords had been closed.
2. LG, OM, DStJ, PC, FRS, HonFRSC
3. In her foreword to the Conservative manifesto of 1979, she wrote of "a feeling of helplessness, that we are a once great nation that has somehow fallen behind".
4. Winning support from a majority of her party in the first round of votes, Thatcher fell four votes short of the required 15% margin to win the contest outright. Her fall has been characterised as "a rare coup d'état at the top of the British politics: the first since Lloyd George sawed Asquith off at the knees in 1916."
5. James (1977, pp. 119–120): The hang-up has always been the voice. Not the timbre so much as, well, the tone – the condescending explanatory whine which treats the squirming interlocutor as an eight-year-old child with personality deficiencies. It has been fascinating, recently, to watch her striving to eliminate this. BBC2 News Extra on Tuesday night rolled a clip from May 1973 demonstrating the Thatcher sneer at full pitch. (She was saying that she wouldn't dream of seeking the leadership.) She sounded like a cat sliding down a blackboard.
6. Thatcher succeeded in completely suppressing her Lincolnshire dialect except when under stress, notably after provocation from Denis Healey in the Commons in 1983, when she accused the Labour frontbench of being frit.
7. Cannadine (2017): In many ways they were very different figures: he was sunny, genial, charming, relaxed, upbeat, and with little intellectual curiosity or command of policy detail; she was domineering, belligerent, confrontational, tireless, hyperactive, and with an unrivalled command of facts and figures. But the chemistry between them worked. Reagan had been grateful for her interest in him at a time when the British establishment refused to take him seriously; she agreed with him about the importance of creating wealth, cutting taxes, and building up stronger defences against Soviet Russia; and both believed in liberty and free-market freedom, and in the need to outface what Reagan would later call 'the evil empire'.
8. The United States has more than 330,000 members of her forces in Europe to defend our liberty. Because they are here, they are subject to terrorist attack. It is inconceivable that they should be refused the right to use American aircraft and American pilots in the inherent right of self-defence, to defend their own people.
9. She was decidedly cool towards reunification prior to 1990, but made no attempt to block it.
10. Moore (2013, p. 87): Neither at the beginning of her career nor when she was prime minister, did Margaret Thatcher ever reject the wartime foundations of the welfare state, whether in health, social policy or education. In this she was less radical than her critics or some of her admirers supposed. Her concern was to focus more on abuse of the system, on bureaucracy and union militancy, and on the growth of what later came to be called the dependency culture, rather than on the system itself.
11. Lawson (1992, p. 64) lists the Thatcherite ideals as "a mixture of free markets, financial discipline, firm control over public expenditure, tax cuts, nationalism, 'Victorian values' (of the Samuel Smiles self-help variety), privatisation and a dash of populism".
12. Mitchell & Russell (1989) posits that she had been misinterpreted and that race was never a focus of Thatcherism. By the 1980s, both the Conservatives and Labour had taken similar positions on immigration policy; the British Nationality Act 1981 was passed with cross-party support. There were no policies passed or proposed by ministers to restrict legal immigration, nor would Thatcher highlight the subject of race in any of her later remarks.
13. Campbell (2011a, p. 800) also writes about a third view that can be argued: Thatcher "achieved much less" than she and her "dries" would claim; she failed to curb public spending, diminish or privatise the welfare state, change fundamental attitudes of the general public, or "enhance" freedom where she had instead centralised control over "many areas of national life".

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General bibliography

Main article: Bibliography of Margaret Thatcher

• Adeney, Martin & Lloyd, John (1988). The Miners' Strike 1984–85: Loss Without Limit. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7102-1371-6.
• Agar, Jon (2011). "Thatcher, scientist". Notes and Records. 65 (3): 215–232. doi:10.1098/rsnr.2010.0096. ISSN 0035-9149. S2CID 202575335.
  • (2022). "Margaret Hilda Thatcher. 13 October 1925 – 8 April 2013" (PDF). Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 74: 403–418. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2022.0036. S2CID 253246959.
• Aitken, Jonathan (2013). Margaret Thatcher: Power and Personality. A & C Black. ISBN 978-1-4088-3186-1.
• Anwar, Muhammad (2001). "The participation of ethnic minorities in British politics". Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 27 (3): 533–549. doi:10.1080/136918301200266220. S2CID 144867334.
• Atkinson, Max (1984). Our Masters' Voices: The Language and Body Language of Politics. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-415-01875-3.
• Barker, Martin (1981). The New Racism: Conservatives and the Ideology of the Tribe. London: Junction Books. ISBN 978-0-86245-031-1.
• Barr, Damian (2013). Maggie and Me. A & C Black. ISBN 978-1-4088-3806-8.
• Barrell, Ray, ed. (1994). The UK Labour Market: Comparative Aspects and Institutional Developments. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-46825-1.
• Beckett, Andy (2010). When the Lights Went Out: Britain in the Seventies. Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-25226-8.
• Beckett, Clare (2006). The 20 British Prime Ministers of the 20th Century: Thatcher. Haus. ISBN 978-1-904950-71-4.
• Bern, Paula (1987). How to Work for a Woman Boss, Even If You'd Rather Not. New York: Dodd Mead. ISBN 978-0-396-08839-4.
• Blundell, John (2008). Margaret Thatcher: A Portrait of the Iron Lady. Algora. ISBN 978-0-87586-632-1.
  • (2013). Remembering Margaret Thatcher: Commemorations, Tributes, and Assessments. Algora. ISBN 978-1-62894-017-6.
• Burns, William E. (2009). A Brief History of Great Britain. Infobase. ISBN 978-1-4381-2737-8.
• Butler, David; et al. (1980). The British General Election of 1979. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-349-04755-0.
  • (1994). British Political Facts 1900–1994. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-333-52616-3.
• Campbell, John (2000). Margaret Thatcher: The Grocer's Daughter. Vol. 1. Pimlico. ISBN 978-0-7126-7418-8.
  • (2003). Margaret Thatcher: The Iron Lady. Vol. 2. Pimlico. ISBN 978-0-7126-6781-4.
  • (2011a). Margaret Thatcher: The Iron Lady. Vol. 2. Random House. ISBN 978-1-4464-2008-9.
  • (2011b). Freeman, David (ed.). The Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher, from Grocer's Daughter to Prime Minister. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-1-101-55866-9.
• Cannadine, David (2017). "Thatcher , Margaret Hilda, Baroness Thatcher (1925–2013), prime minister". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/106415. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Childs, David (2006). Britain Since 1945: A Political History. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-39326-3.
• Chin, Rita (2009). "Guest Worker Migration and the Unexpected Return of Race". After the Nazi Racial State: Difference and Democracy in Germany and Europe. University of Michigan Press (published 2010). ISBN 978-0-472-02578-7.
• Cochrane, Feargal (1997). Unionist Politics and the Politics of Unionism Since the Anglo-Irish Agreement. Cork University Press. ISBN 978-1-85918-138-6.
• Cooper, James (2010). "The Foreign Politics of Opposition: Margaret Thatcher and the Transatlantic Relationship before Power". Contemporary British History. 24 (1): 23–42. doi:10.1080/13619460903565358. S2CID 144038789.
• Cormac, Rory (2018). Disrupt and Deny: Spies, Special Forces, and the Secret Pursuit of British Foreign Policy. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-878459-3.
• Cowley, Philip & Bailey, Matthew (2000). "Peasants' Uprising or Religious War? Re-examining the 1975 Conservative Leadership Contest". British Journal of Political Science. 30 (4): 599–630. doi:10.1017/s0007123400000260. JSTOR 194287. S2CID 154834667.
• Crewe, Ivor (1991). "Margaret Thatcher: As the British Saw Her" (PDF). The Public Perspective: 15–16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 January 2019.
• Dorril, Stephen (2002). MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-1778-1.
• Dougill, John (1987). Oxford's Famous Faces (New ed.). Oxford: Oxface (published 2007). ISBN 978-0-9512388-0-6.
• English, Richard (2005). Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-517753-4.
• Evans, Eric J. (2004). Thatcher and Thatcherism. Routledge (published 2013). ISBN 978-0-415-66018-1.
• Feigenbaum, Harvey; Henig, Jeffrey & Hamnett, Chris (1998). Shrinking the State: The Political Underpinnings of Privatization. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-63918-7.
• Floud, Roderick & Johnson, Paul, eds. (2004). The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain: Structural Change and Growth, 1939–2000. Vol. 3. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-52738-5.
• Friedman, Lester D., ed. (2006). Fires Were Started: British Cinema and Thatcherism. Wallflower Press. ISBN 978-1-904764-71-7.
• Gamble, Andrew (2009). The Spectre at the Feast: Capitalist Crisis and the Politics of Recession. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-23074-3.
• Gardiner, Nile & Thompson, Stephen (2013). Margaret Thatcher on Leadership: Lessons for American Conservatives Today. Regnery. ISBN 978-1-62157-179-7.
• Gelb, Joyce (1989). Feminism and Politics: A Comparative Perspective. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-07184-1.
• Glover, Peter C. & Economides, Michael J. (2010). Energy and Climate Wars: How Naive Politicians, Green Ideologues, and Media Elites are Undermining the Truth about Energy and Climate. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-4411-5307-4.
• Görtemaker, Manfred, ed. (2006). Britain and Germany in the Twentieth Century. Berg. ISBN 978-1-85973-842-9.
• Hansen, Randall (2000). Citizenship and Immigration in Post-war Britain. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-158301-8.
• Hastings, Max & Jenkins, Simon (1983). The Battle for the Falklands. Macmillan (published 2012). ISBN 978-0-330-53676-9.
• Jackling, Roger (2005). "The Impact of the Falklands Conflict on Defence Policy". In Badsey, Stephen; Grove, Mark & Havers, Rob (eds.). The Falklands Conflict Twenty Years On: Lessons for the Future. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-35029-7.
• Jackson, Ben & Saunders, Robert, eds. (2012). Making Thatcher's Britain. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-01238-7.
• James, Clive (1977). "Thatcher takes command". Visions Before Midnight. Macmillan (published 2017). ISBN 978-1-5098-3244-6.
• Jellinek, H. H. G.; et al. (1951). "The saponification of α-monostearin in a monolayer". Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. 2 (9): 391–394. Bibcode:1951JSFA....2..391J. doi:10.1002/jsfa.2740020904.
  • (1979). "Letters: Thatcher the chemist". Chemical & Engineering News. 57 (36): 5. doi:10.1021/cen-v057n036.p004.
• Johnson, Christopher (1991). The Grand Experiment: Mrs. Thatcher's Economy and How It Spread. Westview Press. ISBN 978-0-8133-1913-1.
• Jones, Bill (2007). "Media organisations and the political process". In Jones, Bill; Kavanagh, Dennis & Moran, Michael (eds.). Politics UK. Pearson Education. ISBN 978-1-4058-2411-8.
• (2012). "Session 2010–12" (PDF). Journals of the House of Lords. 244: 217. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 May 2013.
• Kaplan, Morton (2000). Character and Identity: The Sociological Foundations of Literary and Historical Perspectives. Vol. 2. Professors World Peace Academy. ISBN 978-1-885118-10-3. OL 8702932M.
• Kerker, Milton (1987). "In Memoriam: Hans Jellinek (1917–1986)". Journal of Colloid and Interface Science. 116 (2): 604–605. doi:10.1016/0021-9797(87)90159-7.
• Khabaz, David V. (2006). Manufactured Schema: Thatcher, the Miners and the Culture Industry. Troubador. ISBN 978-1-905237-61-6.
• Kirby, M. W. (2006). "MacGregor, Sir Ian Kinloch (1912–1998), metallurgical engineer and industrialist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/69687. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Klein, Rudolf (1985). "Why Britain's conservatives support a socialist health care system". Health Affairs. 4 (1): 41–58. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.4.1.41. PMID 3997046. S2CID 10254793.
• Lahey, Daniel James (2013). "The Thatcher government's response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, 1979–1980". Cold War History. 13 (1): 21–42. doi:10.1080/14682745.2012.721355. S2CID 153081281.
• Lanoue, David J. & Headrick, Barbara (1998). "Short-Term political Events and British Government Popularity: Direct and Indirect Effects". Polity. 30 (3): 417–433. doi:10.2307/3235208. JSTOR 3235208. S2CID 155204417.
• Lawson, Nigel (1992). The View from No. 11: Memoirs of a Tory Radical. Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-593-02218-4.
• Laybourn, Keith (1992). A History of British Trade Unionism, c. 1770–1990. Stroud: Alan Sutton. ISBN 978-0-86299-785-4.
• Lewis, Roy (1980). "From Zimbabwe-Rhodesia to Zimbabwe: The Lancaster House conference". The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs. 70 (277): 6–9. doi:10.1080/00358538008453415.
• Marr, Andrew (2007). A History of Modern Britain. Pan Books (published 2009). ISBN 978-0-330-51329-6.
• McAleese, Dermot (2004). Economics for Business: Competition, Macro-stability, and Globalisation. FT Press. ISBN 978-0-273-68398-8.
• Mitchell, Mark & Russell, Dave (1989). "Race, the new right and state policy in Britain". Immigrants & Minorities. 8 (1–2): 175–190. doi:10.1080/02619288.1989.9974714.
• Moloney, Ed (2002). A Secret History of the IRA. Penguin Books (published 2007). ISBN 978-0-14-190069-8.
• Moore, Charles (2013). Margaret Thatcher: From Grantham to the Falklands. Vol. 1. Knopf Group. ISBN 978-0-307-95894-5.
  • (2015). Margaret Thatcher: Everything She Wants. Vol. 2. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-241-20126-8.
  • (2019). Margaret Thatcher: Herself Alone. Vol. 3. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-241-32474-5.
• Neville, Leigh (2016). The SAS 1983–2014. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-4728-1404-3.
• (1983). "Cream of the crop at Royal Society". New Scientist. 99 (1365): 5. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023.
• Ogden, Chris (1990). Maggie: An Intimate Portrait of a Woman in Power. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-66760-3. OL 2002988W.
• Parker, David & Martin, Stephen (1995). "The impact of UK privatisation on labour and total factor productivity". Scottish Journal of Political Economy. 42 (2): 216–217. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9485.1995.tb01154.x.
• Pimlott, Ben (1996). The Queen: Elizabeth II and the Monarchy (Text Only). HarperCollins (published 2012). ISBN 978-0-00-749044-8.
• Purvis, June (2013). "What Was Margaret Thatcher's Legacy for Women?" (PDF). Women's History Review. 22 (6): 1014–1018. doi:10.1080/09612025.2013.801136. S2CID 143720143.
• Ratti, Luca (2017). Not-So-Special Relationship: The US, The UK and German Unification, 1945–1990. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-8016-0.
• Reitan, Earl A. (2003). The Thatcher Revolution: Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, and the Transformation of Modern Britain, 1979–2001. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-7425-2203-9.
• Richards, Howard (2004). Understanding the Global Economy. Peace Education Books. ISBN 978-0-9748961-0-6.
• Rothbard, Murray (1995). Making Economic Sense. Ludwig von Mises Institute (published 2006). ISBN 978-1-61016-401-6.
• Rowthorn, Robert & Wells, John R. (1987). De-Industrialization and Foreign Trade. CUP Archive. ISBN 978-0-521-26360-3.
• Sanders, David; Ward, Hugh & Marsh, David (1987). "Government Popularity and the Falklands War: A Reassessment". British Journal of Political Science. 17 (3): 281–313. doi:10.1017/s0007123400004762. S2CID 153797546.
• Scott-Smith, Giles (2003). "'Her Rather Ambitious Washington Program': Margaret Thatcher's International Visitor Program Visit to the United States in 1967". British Contemporary History. 17 (4): 65–86. doi:10.1080/13619460308565458. ISSN 1743-7997. S2CID 143466586.
• Seldon, Anthony; et al. (2000). Britain under Thatcher. Taylor & Francis (published 2014). ISBN 978-1-317-88291-6.
  • (2007). Blair's Britain, 1997–2007. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-46898-5.
• Senden, Linda (2004). Soft Law in European Community Law. Hart. ISBN 978-1-84113-432-1.
• Seward, Ingrid (2001). The Queen and Di: The Untold Story. Arcade. ISBN 978-1-55970-561-5.
• Sked, Alan & Cook, Chris (1993). Post-War Britain: A Political History, 1945–1992 (Fourth ed.). Harmondsworth: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-017912-5.
• Smith, Gordon (1989). Battles of the Falklands War. Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0-7110-1792-4. Archived from the original on 3 January 2018.
• Soames, The Lord (1980). "From Rhodesia to Zimbabwe". International Affairs. 56 (3): 405–419. doi:10.2307/2617389. JSTOR 2617389.
• Stewart, Graham (2013). Bang!: A History of Britain in the 1980s. Atlantic Books. ISBN 978-1-78239-137-1.
• Tewdwr-Jones, Mark (2003). The Planning Polity: Planning, Government and the Policy Process. Routledge (published 2005). ISBN 978-1-134-44789-3.
• Thatcher, Margaret (1993). The Downing Street Years. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-745663-5.
  • (1995). The Path to Power. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-638753-4.
• Thornton, Richard C. (2004). The Reagan Revolution II: Rebuilding the Western Alliance (Second ed.). Trafford. ISBN 978-1-4120-1356-7.
• Veljanovski, Cento (1990). "The Political Economy of Regulation". In Dunleavy, Patrick; Gamble, Andrew & Peele, Gillian (eds.). Developments in British Politics. Vol. 3. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-312-04844-0.
• Vinen, Richard (2009). Thatcher's Britain: The Politics and Social Upheaval of the Thatcher Era. Simon & Schuster (published 2013). ISBN 978-1-4711-2828-8.
• Wapshott, Nicholas (2007). Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher: A Political Marriage. Sentinel. ISBN 978-1-59523-047-8.
• Ward, Paul (2004). "A new way of being British". Britishness Since 1870. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-415-22016-3.
• West, Chris (2012). First Class: A History of Britain in 36 Postage Stamps. Random House. ISBN 978-1-4481-1437-5.
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• Witte, Rob (2014). Racist Violence and the State: A Comparative Analysis of Britain, France and the Netherlands. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-88919-9.
• Yahuda, Michael B. (1996). Hong Kong: China's Challenge. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-415-14071-3.
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External links

• Margaret Thatcher Centre at the Wayback Machine (archived 5 February 2020)
• Margaret Thatcher Foundation, with thousands of online documents and primary sources
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Margaret Thatcher
• Works by or about Margaret Thatcher at the Internet Archive
• Library resources in your library and in other libraries about Margaret Thatcher
• Works by Margaret Thatcher at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• "Archival material relating to Margaret Thatcher". UK National Archives.
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Margaret Thatcher at IMDb 
• Margaret Thatcher collected news and commentary at The Guardian
• Margaret Thatcher collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Portraits of Margaret Thatcher at the National Portrait Gallery, London
• Obituary (BBC News Online) at the Wayback Machine (archived 8 April 2013)
• History of Baroness Margaret Thatcher (Gov.uk) at the Wayback Machine (archived 5 October 2013)

Offices and distinctions

Parliament of the United Kingdom Preceded byJohn Crowder Member of Parliament for Finchley 1959–1992 Succeeded byHartley Booth Political offices Preceded byRichard Crossman Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Science 1967–1970 Succeeded byEdward Short Preceded byEdward Short Secretary of State for Education and Science 1970–1974 Succeeded byReg Prentice Preceded byAnthony Crosland Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment 1974–1975 Succeeded byTimothy Raison Preceded byEdward Heath Leader of the Opposition 1975–1979 Succeeded byJames Callaghan Preceded byJames Callaghan Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1979–1990 Succeeded byJohn Major First Lord of the Treasury 1979–1990 Minister for the Civil Service 1979–1990 Party political offices Preceded byEdward Heath Leader of the Conservative Party 1975–1990 Succeeded byJohn Major Diplomatic posts Preceded byRonald Reagan Chair of the Group of Seven 1984 Succeeded byHelmut Kohl Academic offices Preceded byFrançois Mitterrand Invocation Speaker of the College of Europe 1988 Succeeded byJacques Delors Preceded byThe Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone Chancellor of the University of Buckingham 1992–1998 Succeeded byMartin Jacomb Preceded byWarren E. Burger Chancellor of the College of William & Mary 1993–2000 Succeeded byHenry Kissinger Awards Preceded byBob Hope Recipient of the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award 1998 Succeeded byBilly Graham

v t e Margaret Thatcher
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1979–1990) Leader of the Conservative Party (1975–1990) MP for Finchley (1959–1992)
Member of Parliament	Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act (1960) Circular 10/70 (1970) Shadow Cabinet "Britain Awake" (1976) Vote of no confidence in the Callaghan ministry (1979)
Ideology	Thatcherism Conservatism Free market Union democracy
Premiership	Ministers wets and dries Cold War 1st term 2nd–3rd term 1st ministry (1979–1983) Budget (1979) Budget (1980) "The lady's not for turning" (1980) Budget (1981) Gang of 25 Irish hunger strike (1981) Budget (1982) Falklands War (1982) "Rejoice" Diana Gould exchange "White flags over Port Stanley" Budget (1983) 2nd ministry (1983–1987) Budget (1984) Brighton hotel bombing (1984) GCHQ trade union ban (1984) CCSU case Miners' strike (1984–85) Budget (1985) Anglo-Irish Agreement (1985) Local Government Act (1985) rate-capping rebellion Westland affair (1986) Budget (1986) Budget (1987) 3rd ministry (1987–1990) Budget (1988) Broadcasting restrictions (1988) "Sermon on the Mound" (1988) Bruges speech (1988) Budget (1989) Community Charge (1989–90) Poll tax riots Budget (1990) Gulf War (1990) "No. No. No." (1990) Resignation Honours (1990)
Party elections	1975 1989 1990
General elections	1979 1983 1987
Books	The Downing Street Years (1993 autobiography) The Path to Power (1995 memoir) Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World (2003)
Family	Denis Thatcher (husband) baronetcy Mark Thatcher (son) Carol Thatcher (daughter) Alfred Roberts (father) "We have become a grandmother" (1989)
Cultural depictions	Film and television Anyone for Denis? (1982 TV play) Spitting Image (1984–1996 & 2020 TV series) The New Statesman (1987–1991 TV series) Thatcher: The Final Days (1991 film) The Falklands Play (2002 play) Jeffrey Archer: The Truth (2002 TV film) The Alan Clark Diaries (2004 TV series) Pinochet in Suburbia (2006 docudrama) The Long Walk to Finchley (2008 film) Margaret (2009 film) The Queen (2009 TV serial) The Iron Lady (2011 film) The Hunt for Tony Blair (2011 episode) In Search of La Che (2011 film) The Crown (2020 TV series) Reagan (2024 film) Plays Handbagged (2010, 2013) The Audience (2013) Statues London Guildhall (1998) Palace of Westminster (2007) Grantham (2022) Paintings Richard Stone portrait
Related	Blatcherism Death and funeral Honours Thatchergate
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Articles related to Margaret Thatcher

v t e Prime ministers of the United Kingdom (list) Great Britain Walpole (Orford) Wilmington Pelham Newcastle Devonshire Newcastle Bute G. Grenville Rockingham Chatham (Pitt the Elder) Grafton North Rockingham Shelburne Portland Pitt the Younger United Kingdom Pitt the Younger Addington Pitt the Younger Lord Grenville Portland Perceval Liverpool Canning Goderich Wellington Grey Melbourne Wellington Peel Melbourne Peel Russell Derby Aberdeen Palmerston Derby Palmerston Russell Derby Disraeli Gladstone Disraeli (Beaconsfield) Gladstone Salisbury Gladstone Salisbury Gladstone Rosebery Salisbury Balfour Campbell-Bannerman Asquith Lloyd George Law Baldwin MacDonald Baldwin MacDonald Baldwin Chamberlain Churchill Attlee Churchill Eden Macmillan Douglas-Home Wilson Heath Wilson Callaghan Thatcher Major Blair Brown Cameron May Johnson Truss Sunak Starmer Category v t e Leaders of the Opposition of the United Kingdom House of Commons Fox Howick Ponsonby Tierney Peel Althorp Peel Russell Peel Russell Bentinck Granby Granby/Herries/Disraeli Disraeli Russell Disraeli Palmerston Disraeli Gladstone Disraeli Gladstone Hartington Northcote Gladstone Hicks Beach Gladstone Balfour Harcourt Campbell-Bannerman Balfour Chamberlain Balfour Law Vacant Carson Asquith Maclean Asquith MacDonald Baldwin MacDonald Baldwin Henderson Lansbury Attlee Lees-Smith Pethick-Lawrence Greenwood Attlee Churchill Attlee Morrison Gaitskell Brown Wilson Douglas-Home Heath Wilson Heath Thatcher Callaghan Foot Kinnock Smith Beckett Blair Major Hague Duncan Smith Howard Cameron Harman Miliband Harman Corbyn Starmer Sunak Badenoch House of Lords Grenville Grey 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne Wellington 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne Wellington Melbourne Wellington Melbourne 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne Stanley 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne Derby (Stanley) Granville Derby Russell Granville Malmesbury Cairns Richmond Granville Beaconsfield 3rd Marquess of Salisbury Granville 3rd Marquess of Salisbury Granville Kimberley 3rd Marquess of Salisbury Rosebery Kimberley Spencer Ripon 5th Marquess of Lansdowne Crewe Curzon of Kedleston Haldane Parmoor 4th Marquess of Salisbury Hailsham Parmoor Ponsonby of Shulbrede Snell Addison 5th Marquess of Salisbury Addison Jowitt Alexander of Hillsborough Carrington Shackleton Carrington Peart Cledwyn of Penrhos Richard Cranborne Strathclyde Royall of Blaisdon Smith of Basildon True v t e Conservative and Unionist Party History Organisations Conservative Party Archive Topics History of the Conservative Party History of conservatism in Great Britain Electoral history Tories Tamworth Manifesto Carlton Club Primrose League Tariff Reform League Unionist Free Food League Coalition Coupon Carlton Club meeting General election manifestos Fourth Party Liberal Unionist Party Irish Conservative Party Irish Unionist Party Scottish Unionist Party National Party (1917) National Liberal Party Leadership House of Lords (1828–1922) Wellington Derby Malmesbury Cairns Richmond Beaconsfield Salisbury Devonshire Lansdowne Curzon House of Commons (1834–1922) Peel Bentinck Granby vacant (1848–1849) Disraeli / Granby / Herries Disraeli Northcote Hicks Beach R. Churchill Smith Balfour Law A. Chamberlain Leaders (1922–) Law Baldwin N. Chamberlain W. Churchill Eden Macmillan Douglas-Home Heath Thatcher Major Hague Duncan Smith Howard Cameron May Johnson Truss Sunak Badenoch Chairmen (1911–) Steel-Maitland Younger Jackson Davidson N. Chamberlain Baird Hacking Dugdale Assheton Woolton Poole Hailsham Butler Macleod / Poole Blakenham du Cann Barber Thomas Carrington Whitelaw Thorneycroft Parkinson Gummer Tebbit Brooke Baker Patten Fowler Hanley Mawhinney Parkinson Ancram Davis May Fox / Saatchi Maude Spelman Pickles Warsi / Feldman Shapps / Feldman Feldman McLoughlin Lewis Cleverly / Elliot Milling / Elliot Dowden / Elliot Stephenson / Elliot Berry Zahawi Hands Holden Fuller See also Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party Maudling Whitelaw Lilley Ancram Leadership elections 1965 Heath 1975 Thatcher 1989 Thatcher re-elected 1990 Major 1995 Major re-elected 1997 Hague 2001 Duncan Smith 2003 Howard 2005 Cameron 2016 May 2019 Johnson July–September 2022 Truss October 2022 Sunak 2024 Badenoch Party structure Professional Conservative Party Board Conservative Campaign Headquarters Treasurer of the Conservative Party Conservative Research Department Voluntary National Conservative Convention Parliamentary 1922 Committee Conservative Chief Whip's Office Conference Conservative Party Conference Subnational Northern Ireland Conservatives Scottish Conservatives Welsh Conservatives Gibraltar Conservatives Directly elected city mayoral authorities London Conservatives Local Conservative Associations Other Conservative Party Review (2016) Associated organisations List Organisations associated with the Conservative Party Sectional groups Conservative Women's Organisation Young Conservatives Conservatives Abroad LGBT+ Conservatives Association of Conservative Clubs Factional groups 2020 group Activate The Atlantic Bridge Blue Collar Conservativism Common Sense Group Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation Conservative Christian Fellowship Conservative Co-operative Movement Conservative Countryside Forum Conservative Disability Group Conservative European Forum Conservative Friends of America Conservative Friends of the Chinese Conservative Friends of Gibraltar Conservative Friends of India Conservative Friends of Israel Conservative Friends of Palestine Conservative Friends of Turkey Conservative History Group Conservative Humanist Association Conservative Mainstream Conservative Health Conservative Muslim Forum Conservative Education Society Conservative National Property Advisory Committee Conservative Rural Affairs Group Conservative Science & Technology Forum Conservative Trade Unionists Conservative Transport Group Conservative Way Forward Conservative Women National Committee Conservative Workers & Trade Unionists Conservatives 4 Cities Conservatives Against Fox Hunting Conservatives at Work Conservatives for International Travel Cornerstone Group COVID Recovery Group European Foundation European Research Group Fresh Start Margaret Thatcher Foundation Monday Club 92 Group No Campaign No Turning Back Northern Research Group One Nation Conservatives Popular Conservatism Renewing One Nation Selsdon Group Tory Green Initiative Tory Reform Group Young Britons' Foundation Five Families Politicians List of MPs 2005–2010 2010–2015 London Think tanks Bow Group Bright Blue Bruges Group Centre for Policy Studies Centre for Social Justice European Foundation Onward Policy Exchange Society of Conservative Lawyers Party alliances Current List of current alliances European Conservatives and Reformists Party International Democrat Union (European Democrat Union) European Conservatives Group and Democratic Alliance Former List of former alliances Conservative–DUP agreement European People's Party (European People's Party Group) European Conservative Group European Conservatives and Reformists Group European Democrats Movement for European Reform Alliance for an Open Europe Ulster Conservatives and Unionists (Ulster Unionist Party) Conservatism portal United Kingdom portal v t e 1990 Conservative Party leadership election Outgoing Leader: Margaret Thatcher Michael Heseltine Douglas Hurd John Major Margaret Thatcher* *Withdrew after first ballot v t e 1989 Conservative Party leadership election Incumbent Leader: Margaret Thatcher Margaret Thatcher Sir Anthony Meyer v t e 1975 Conservative Party leadership election Outgoing Leader: Edward Heath Hugh Fraser* Edward Heath* Geoffrey Howe John Peyton Jim Prior Margaret Thatcher William Whitelaw *Withdrew after first ballot v t e 1979 United Kingdom general election MPs elected Scotland Wales Opinion polling Incumbent prime minister: James Callaghan (Labour) Appointed prime minister: Margaret Thatcher (Conservative) Parties elected to the House of Commons Conservative (Margaret Thatcher) Labour (James Callaghan) Liberal (David Steel) Ulster Unionist Party (Harry West) Democratic Unionist Party (Ian Paisley) Scottish National Party (William Wolfe) Plaid Cymru (Gwynfor Evans) Social Democratic and Labour Party (Gerry Fitt) United Ulster Unionist Party (Ernest Baird) Ulster Popular Unionist Party (James Kilfedder) Results by area England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales See also Thorpe affair Labour Isn't Working Winter of Discontent 1979 Scottish devolution referendum 1979 Welsh devolution referendum 1979 vote of no confidence in the Callaghan ministry Assassination of Airey Neave Thatcherism 1979 United Kingdom local elections v t e 1983 United Kingdom general election MPs elected Scotland Wales Opinion polling Results Incumbent prime minister: Margaret Thatcher (Conservative) Appointed prime minister: Margaret Thatcher (Conservative) Parties elected to the House of Commons Conservative (Margaret Thatcher) Labour (Michael Foot) SDP–Liberal Alliance David Steel - Liberal Roy Jenkins - SDP Ulster Unionist Party (James Molyneaux ) Democratic Unionist Party (Ian Paisley) Scottish National Party (Gordon Wilson) Plaid Cymru (Dafydd Wigley) Social Democratic and Labour Party (John Hume) Sinn Féin (Ruairí Ó Brádaigh) Ulster Popular Unionist Party (James Kilfedder) Results by area England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales See also Falklands factor Diana Gould–Margaret Thatcher exchange The longest suicide note in history v t e 1987 United Kingdom general election MPs elected Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Opinion polling Incumbent prime minister: Margaret Thatcher (Conservative) Appointed prime minister: Margaret Thatcher (Conservative) Parties elected to the House of Commons Conservative (Margaret Thatcher) Labour (Neil Kinnock) SDP–Liberal Alliance David Steel – Liberal David Owen – SDP Ulster Unionist Party (James Molyneaux) Democratic Unionist Party (Ian Paisley) Scottish National Party (Gordon Wilson) Plaid Cymru (Dafydd Elis-Thomas) Social Democratic and Labour Party (John Hume) Sinn Féin (Gerry Adams) Ulster Popular Unionist Party (James Kilfedder) Results by area England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales v t e Education secretaries of the United Kingdom Department for Education Presidents of the Board of Education Devonshire Londonderry Birrell McKenna Runciman Pease Henderson Crewe Fisher Wood Trevelyan Percy Trevelyan Lees-Smith Maclean Irwin Stanley Stanhope De La Warr Soulbury Butler Ministers of education Butler Law Wilkinson Tomlinson Horsbrugh Eccles Hailsham Lloyd Eccles Boyle Secretaries of state Education and science Hogg Stewart Crosland Gordon Walker Short Thatcher Prentice Mulley Williams Carlisle Joseph Baker MacGregor Clarke Education Patten Shephard Education and employment Shephard Blunkett Education and skills Morris Clarke Kelly Johnson Children, schools and families Balls Innovation, universities and skills Denham Education Gove Morgan Greening Hinds Williamson Zahawi Donelan Cleverly Malthouse Keegan v t e Thatcher Cabinet Margaret Thatcher Humphrey Atkins Kenneth Baker Lord Belstead John Biffen Leon Brittan Peter Brooke Mark Carlisle Lord Carrington Paul Channon Kenneth Clarke Lord Cockfield Nicholas Edwards Norman Fowler Sir Ian Gilmour Lord Gowrie John Gummer Lord Havers Lord Hailsham Michael Heseltine Michael Howard Sir Geoffrey Howe David Howell David Hunt Douglas Hurd Patrick Jenkin Michael Jopling Sir Keith Joseph Tom King Norman Lamont Nigel Lawson Peter Lilley John MacGregor James Mackay John Major Angus Maude John Moore Tony Newton John Nott Cecil Parkinson Chris Patten Jim Prior Francis Pym Peter Rees Nicholas Ridley Malcolm Rifkind Lord Soames Norman St John-Stevas Norman Tebbit David Waddington John Wakeham William Waldegrave Peter Walker William Whitelaw Lord Young of Graffham Baroness Young George Younger v t e Heath Cabinet Edward Heath Anthony Barber Tom Boardman Gordon Campbell Robert Carr Lord Carrington John Davies Sir Alec Douglas-Home Ian Gilmour Lord Hailsham Sir Geoffrey Howe Earl Jellicoe Patrick Jenkin Sir Keith Joseph Iain Macleod Maurice Macmillan Reginald Maudling Michael Noble John Peyton Jim Prior Francis Pym Geoffrey Rippon Margaret Thatcher Peter Thomas Peter Walker Lord Windlesham William Whitelaw v t e 1981 Irish hunger strike Participants who died Bobby Sands Francis Hughes Raymond McCreesh Patsy O'Hara Joe McDonnell Martin Hurson Kevin Lynch Kieran Doherty Thomas McElwee Michael Devine Participants who survived Brendan McLaughlin Paddy Quinn Laurence McKeown Pat McGeown Matt Devlin Liam McCloskey Patrick Sheehan Jackie McMullan Bernard Fox Hugh Carville John Pickering Gerard Hodgkins James Devine Political and religious figures Margaret Thatcher Garret FitzGerald Charles Haughey Humphrey Atkins Jim Prior Bernadette Devlin McAliskey Owen Carron Tomás Ó Fiaich Basil Hume Denis Faul John Magee Key events Blanket protest Dirty protest April 1981 Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election June 1981 Irish general election August 1981 Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election v t e Presidents of the European Council President-in-Office (1975–2009) Cosgrave Moro Thorn Den Uyl Callaghan Tindemans Jørgensen Schmidt Giscard d'Estaing Lynch Cossiga Haughey Werner Van Agt Thatcher Martens Jørgensen Schlüter Kohl Papandreou Mitterrand FitzGerald Craxi Santer Lubbers Martens González Mitterrand Andreotti Lubbers Cavaco Major Nyrup Rasmussen Dehaene Chirac González Dini Prodi Bruton Kok Juncker Blair Klima Schröder Lipponen Guterres Chirac Persson Verhofstadt Aznar Fogh Rasmussen Simitis Berlusconi Ahern Balkenende Juncker Blair Schüssel Vanhanen Merkel Sócrates Janša Sarkozy Topolánek Fischer Reinfeldt Permanent President (since 2009) Van Rompuy Tusk Michel Costa v t e Fellows of the Royal Society elected in 1983 Fellows Martin Aitken Patrick Bateson Edward Cocking Sivaramakrishna Chandrasekhar Pierre Deslongchamps William Douglas R. John Ellis Malcolm Ferguson-Smith Alan Fersht William Alexander Gambling Ian Graham Gass Ian Gibbons George Gray Ray Guillery Richard Henderson Peter Higgs Christopher Hooley Anthony James Peter Lawrence John Lawson George Lusztig C David Marsden Donald Metcalf Keith O'Nions Ted Paige Michael Pepper Michael J. D. Powell Philip Randle Ivan Roitt Alan Sargeson Dennis Sciama Ian Sneddon Edwin Southern Brian Spalding Nigel Unwin Ian Ward Felix Weinberg Charles Weissmann John Westcott Dudley Williams Statute 12 David Attenborough Margaret Thatcher Foreign  Anatole Abragam  G. Evelyn Hutchinson  Jean Leray  Henry Stommel  Frank Westheimer v t e Cold War United States Soviet Union NATO Warsaw Pact ANZUS METO SEATO NEATO Rio Pact Non-Aligned Movement 1940s Morgenthau Plan Hukbalahap rebellion Jamaican political conflict Dekemvriana Guerrilla war in the Baltic states Operation Priboi Operation Jungle Occupation of the Baltic states Cursed soldiers Operation Unthinkable Gouzenko Affair Division of Korea Indonesian National Revolution Operation Masterdom Operation Beleaguer Operation Blacklist Forty Iran crisis of 1946 Greek Civil War Baruch Plan Corfu Channel incident Turkish Straits crisis Restatement of Policy on Germany First Indochina War 1947 Polish parliamentary election Truman Doctrine Asian Relations Conference May 1947 crises Partition of India Indo-Pakistani war of 1947–1948 1947–1949 Palestine war 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine 1948 Arab–Israeli War 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight Marshall Plan Comecon 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état Incapacitation of the Allied Control Council Al-Wathbah uprising Tito–Stalin split Berlin Blockade Annexation of Hyderabad Madiun Affair Western betrayal Iron Curtain Eastern Bloc Western Bloc Chinese Civil War Chinese Communist Revolution Malayan Emergency March 1949 Syrian coup d'état Operation Valuable 1950s Bamboo curtain McCarthyism Korean War Arab Cold War (1952–1979) 1952 Egyptian revolution Iraqi Intifada (1952) Mau Mau rebellion East German uprising of 1953 1953 Iranian coup d'état Pact of Madrid Bricker Amendment 1954 Syrian coup d'état Petrov Affair Domino theory 1954 Geneva Conference 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état Capture of the Tuapse First Taiwan Strait Crisis Jebel Akhdar War Algerian War Kashmir Princess Bandung Conference Geneva Summit (1955) Vietnam War Cyprus Emergency "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences" 1956 Poznań protests Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Polish October Suez Crisis "We will bury you" Operation Gladio Syrian Crisis of 1957 Sputnik crisis Ifni War Iraqi 14 July Revolution 1958 Lebanon crisis Second Taiwan Strait Crisis 1959 Mosul uprising 1959 Tibetan uprising Laotian Civil War Kitchen Debate Cuban Revolution Consolidation of the Cuban Revolution Sino-Soviet split 1960s Congo Crisis Simba rebellion 1960 U-2 incident Bay of Pigs Invasion 1960 Turkish coup d'état Albanian–Soviet split Expulsion of Soviets from Albania Iraqi–Kurdish conflict First Iraqi–Kurdish War Berlin Crisis of 1961 Berlin Wall Annexation of Goa Papua conflict Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation Sand War Portuguese Colonial War Angolan War of Independence Guinea-Bissau War of Independence Mozambican War of Independence Cuban Missile Crisis El Porteñazo Sino-Indian War Communist insurgency in Sarawak Ramadan Revolution Eritrean War of Independence North Yemen Civil War 1963 Syrian coup d'état Assassination of John F. Kennedy Aden Emergency Cyprus crisis of 1963–1964 Shifta War Mexican Dirty War Tlatelolco massacre Guatemalan Civil War Colombian conflict 1964 Brazilian coup d'état Dominican Civil War Rhodesian Bush War Indonesian mass killings of 1965–1966 Transition to the New Order (Indonesia) ASEAN Declaration 1966 Syrian coup d'état Cultural Revolution Argentine Revolution South African Border War Korean DMZ Conflict 12-3 incident Greek junta 1967 Hong Kong riots Years of Lead (Italy) Six-Day War War of Attrition Dhofar War Al-Wadiah War Nigerian Civil War Protests of 1968 May 68 Prague Spring USS Pueblo incident 1968 Polish political crisis 1968–1971 East Pakistan communist insurgency Communist insurgency in Malaysia Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia 17 July Revolution 1968 Peruvian coup d'état Revolutionary Government 1969 Sudanese coup d'état 1969 Libyan revolution Goulash Communism Sino-Soviet border conflict New People's Army rebellion 1970s Détente Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Black September Alcora Exercise Corrective Movement (Syria) Western Sahara conflict Cambodian Civil War Communist insurgency in Thailand 1970 Polish protests Koza riot Realpolitik Ping-pong diplomacy 1971 JVP insurrection Corrective revolution (Egypt) 1971 Turkish military memorandum 1971 Sudanese coup d'état 1971 Bolivian coup d'état Four Power Agreement on Berlin Bangladesh Liberation War 1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China North Yemen-South Yemen Border conflict of 1972 First Yemenite War Munich massacre 1972–1975 Bangladesh insurgency Eritrean Civil Wars 1973 Uruguayan coup d'état 1973 Afghan coup d'état 1973 Chilean coup d'état Yom Kippur War 1973 oil crisis Carnation Revolution Spanish transition to democracy Metapolitefsi Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Second Iraqi–Kurdish War Turkish invasion of Cyprus 15 August 1975 Bangladeshi coup d'état Siege of Dhaka (1975) Sipahi-Janata revolution Angolan Civil War Cambodian genocide June 1976 protests Mozambican Civil War Oromo conflict Ogaden War 1978 Somali coup attempt Western Sahara War Ethiopian Civil War Lebanese Civil War Sino-Albanian split Third Indochina War Cambodian–Vietnamese War Cambodian conflict Operation Condor Dirty War (Argentina) 1976 Argentine coup d'état Egyptian–Libyan War German Autumn Korean Air Lines Flight 902 Nicaraguan Revolution Uganda–Tanzania War NDF Rebellion Chadian–Libyan War Second Yemenite War Grand Mosque seizure Iranian revolution Saur Revolution Sino-Vietnamese War New Jewel Movement 1979 Herat uprising Seven Days to the River Rhine Struggle against political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union 1980s Salvadoran Civil War Soviet–Afghan War 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics boycotts Gera Demands Peruvian Revolution Gdańsk Agreement Solidarity Eritrean Civil Wars 1980 Turkish coup d'état Ugandan Bush War Gulf of Sidra incident Martial law in Poland Casamance conflict Falklands War 1982 Ethiopian–Somali Border War Ndogboyosoi War United States invasion of Grenada Able Archer 83 Star Wars 1985 Geneva Summit Iran–Iraq War Somali Rebellion Reykjavík Summit 1986 Black Sea incident South Yemen civil war Toyota War 1987 Lieyu massacre Operation Denver 1987–1989 JVP insurrection Lord's Resistance Army insurgency 1988 Black Sea bumping incident 8888 Uprising Solidarity (Soviet reaction) Contras Central American crisis Operation RYAN Korean Air Lines Flight 007 People Power Revolution Glasnost Perestroika Bougainville conflict First Nagorno-Karabakh War Afghan Civil War United States invasion of Panama 1988 Polish strikes Polish Round Table Agreement 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre Revolutions of 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall Fall of the inner German border Velvet Revolution Romanian Revolution Peaceful Revolution 1990s Mongolian Revolution of 1990 Min Ping Yu No. 5540 incident Gulf War Min Ping Yu No. 5202 German reunification Yemeni unification Fall of communism in Albania Breakup of Yugoslavia Dissolution of the Soviet Union 1991 August Coup Dissolution of Czechoslovakia Frozen conflicts Abkhazia China-Taiwan Korea Kosovo South Ossetia Transnistria Sino-Indian border dispute North Borneo dispute Foreign policy Truman Doctrine Containment Eisenhower Doctrine Domino theory Hallstein Doctrine Kennedy Doctrine Peaceful coexistence Ostpolitik Johnson Doctrine Brezhnev Doctrine Nixon Doctrine Ulbricht Doctrine Carter Doctrine Reagan Doctrine Rollback Kinmen Agreement Ideologies Capitalism Liberalism Chicago school Conservatism American conservatism Keynesianism Libertarianism Monetarism Neoclassical economics Reaganomics Supply-side economics Democratic capitalism Socialism Communism Marxism–Leninism Castroism Eurocommunism Guevarism Hoxhaism Juche Ho Chi Minh Thought Maoism Trotskyism Stalinism Titoism Other Imperialism Anti-imperialism Nationalism Ultranationalism Chauvinism Ethnic nationalism Racism Zionism Anti-Zionism Fascism Neo-Nazism Islamism Totalitarianism Authoritarianism Autocracy Liberal democracy Illiberal 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Bailey Michael Beschloss Archie Brown Warren H. Carroll Adrian Cioroianu John Costello Michael Cox Nicholas J. Cull Norman Davies Willem Drees Robert D. English Herbert Feis Robert Hugh Ferrell André Fontaine Anneli Ute Gabanyi John Lewis Gaddis Lloyd Gardner Timothy Garton Ash Gabriel Gorodetsky Fred Halliday Jussi Hanhimäki John Earl Haynes Patrick J. Hearden Tvrtko Jakovina Tony Judt Harvey Klehr Gabriel Kolko Walter LaFeber Walter Laqueur Melvyn P. Leffler Geir Lundestad Vojtech Mastny Jack F. Matlock Jr. Thomas J. McCormick Timothy Naftali Marius Oprea David S. Painter William B. Pickett Ronald E. Powaski Yakov M. Rabkin M. E. Sarotte Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Ellen Schrecker Giles Scott-Smith Shen Zhihua Timothy Snyder Athan Theoharis Andrew Thorpe Vladimir Tismăneanu Patrick Vaughan Alex von Tunzelmann Odd Arne Westad William Appleman Williams Jonathan Reed Winkler Rudolph Winnacker Ken Young Espionage and intelligence List of Eastern Bloc agents in the United States Soviet espionage in the United States Russian espionage in the United States American espionage in the Soviet Union and Russian Federation CIA and the Cultural Cold War CIA MI5 MI6 United States involvement in regime change Soviet involvement in regime change MVD KGB Stasi See also Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War Soviet Union–United States relations Soviet Union–United States summits Russia–NATO relations War on terror Brinkmanship Second Cold War Russian Revolution Category List of conflicts Timeline v t e Chancellors of the College of William & Mary Henry Compton (1693–1700) Thomas Tenison (1700–1707) Henry Compton (1707–1713) John Robinson (1714–1721) William Wake (1721–1729) Edmund Gibson (1729–1736) William Wake (1736–1737) Edmund Gibson (1737–1748) Thomas Sherlock (1749–1761) Thomas Hayter (1762) Charles Wyndham (1762–1763) Philip Yorke (1764) Richard Terrick (1764–1776) George Washington (1788–1799) Vacant (1800–1858) John Tyler (1859–1862) Vacant (1863–1870) Hugh Blair Grigsby (1871–1881) Vacant (1882–1941) John Stewart Bryan (1942–1944) Vacant (1945) Colgate Darden (1946–1947) Vacant (1948–1961) Alvin Duke Chandler (1962–1974) Vacant (1975–1985) Warren E. Burger (1986–1993) Margaret Thatcher (1993–2000) Henry Kissinger (2000–2005) Sandra Day O'Connor (2005–2012) Robert Gates (2012–) v t e Time 100: The Most Important People of the 20th Century Leaders & revolutionaries David Ben-Gurion Winston Churchill Mahatma Gandhi Mikhail Gorbachev Adolf Hitler Ho Chi Minh Pope John Paul II Ruhollah Khomeini Martin Luther King Jr. Vladimir Lenin Nelson Mandela Mao Zedong Ronald Reagan Eleanor Roosevelt Franklin D. Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Margaret Sanger Margaret Thatcher Unknown Tiananmen Square rebel Lech Wałęsa Artists & entertainers Louis Armstrong Lucille Ball The Beatles Marlon Brando Coco Chanel Charlie Chaplin Le Corbusier Bob Dylan T. S. 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