Introduction
Margaret Thatcher was the first U.K woman prime minister and the longest-serving PM (three consecutive terms) in the 20th century she was in office for 11 years, from 1979 to 1990. Due to her tough character, she was given a number of nicknames including; The Iron Lady, The milk snatcher, Attila the hen, Maggie among others (Wide 1).
Personal History
Margaret Roberts Thatcher was born on the 13th of October 1925 in Grant ham, Lincolnshire, England, U.K. Her father Alfred Roberts was a town leader then later mayor and a green Grocer. He taught her to do things she believed were right and not because other people are doing them. She schooled at a local grammar school then to Grantham Girls High school and later studied chemistry at Somerville College of Oxford University and graduated in 1947. While in University, she was the president of the Conservative association. She then worked at Colchester and Dartford as a research chemist. She later trained as a lawyer in the 1950s. She got married in 1951 to Dennis Thatcher and two years later she had twin children, Mark, and Carol Thatcher. The first time she made a bid for public office was only two years after her graduation. She was defeated the first time she ran for a parliamentary seat in Dartford as a conservative candidate, the following year she tried but was unsuccessful again. Two months later she got married (Wide 2).
Political life
Representing Finchley, she won a house of common’s seat in 1959 which she held until 1992 when she retired. In the conservative party, she rose within the ranks until 1967 when she joined the shadow cabinet. She was education minister in 1970 where she advocated for more comprehensive schools to be created and the increase of government’s expenditure on education. She become prominent when she canceled free milk provision for primary school children then she was nicknamed ‘Thatcher the milk snatcher (Anon 1). In 1974, Heath the party leader had lost two general elections; she challenged him for the position and won with 130 to his 119 votes. In the 1979 elections, she was party leader in opposition and won. On the 4th of May in 1974, she was pronounced the Prime Minister of Britain. When in office, she and her chancellor adopted a monetarism theory for Britain’s economy which was in a poor state then. This theory favored privatization rather than government expansion, many small businesses failed then increasing unemployment, inflation, and increased taxes, she was tough on crime and reformed the education sector. The Falklands war was her major triumph where Argentina had invaded Britain’s Falkland Islands, Thatcher took a stern no-nonsense stand and sent a task force that recaptured the islands, and then she was nicknamed the iron lady. This victory at the Falklands war led to the popularity of her conservative party, the main political opposition Labor party on the other hand was facing deep divisions that led to the second victory for the Conservatives party in the the1983 general elections.
During her second term, 1983 to 1987, she handled many conflicts and crises the major one being 1984 where her life was targeted, where there was a plot by the Irish republic army who meant to kill her with a bomb they planted in Brighton at a conservatives party conference, she, however, continued with the conference and even gave a speech. Thatcher signed an agreement in 1984 with the Chinese government on Hong Kong’s future, that same year she met the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev.
She openly supported Ronald Reagan on his air raids in Libya and allowed U.S forces to use British bases to facilitate their attack she was widely criticized for this act, however. She returned for her third term in 1987 when she made reforms in the medical and educational curriculum across Britain. Thatcher however lost a lot of support in her efforts to introduce fixed rates for local tax. This policy caused public protests and dissensions in her party. She kept fighting for her party’s leadership but eventually yielded to pressure from party members in 1990 then she announced her intentions to resign on the 22nd of November 1990. She left office on November 28th of the same year leaving the prime minister’s official residence at Downing Street and was replaced by John Major. She however remained a formidable figure in her conservative party (Anon 2).
Her life after politics
In 1992, she left the House of Commons for the House of Lords and became Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven. She got her book, statecraft published in 2002 in which she gave her views about international politics. She remained active in worldwide speaking engagements; she voiced her support for the murder of general Pinochet, a former dictator that the labor administration had moved to Spain after he was accused of torturing political opponents (Simkin 3)
Her recent life
Due to her health situation, she was asked by her doctors not to make public speeches anymore from March 2002. She however attended Ronald Reagan’s funeral in 2004. Her husband Denis died in 2003 after they had been married for 50 years; this affected her health so badly that she then suffered a series of strokes that limited her political work only to a member of the House of the lords; she was also head of her foundation (Thatcher foundation). In 2004, Thatcher’s son Mark was arrested in South Africa on charges of financing a coup in Equatorial Guinea. In 2005, she celebrated her 80th birthday which was attended by, Tony Blair, Queen Elizabeth, and more than six hundred other friends. In 2008 August, her daughter Carol revealed that Thatcher had dementia symptoms since 2001. In 2009, Thatcher underwent surgery after she fell and broke her right arm in her London home. In 2007, at the House of Commons Thatcher’s sculpture was unveiled (Anon 3).
Conclusion
She was born in 1925 at Grantham and schooled locally till college when she joined Oxford University. She then married Denis Thatcher and later became minister of education and science. Her impression of world politics in general and Britain, in particular, is impeccable; Thatcher the ‘iron lady’ was in office as Britain’s prime minister for eleven years two hundred and nine days. She was the first female prime minister and the longest-serving since 1927. She was the only British prime minister in the 20th century to win three consecutive office terms as prime minister. Margaret Thatcher was also a leader of the conservative party between 1974 and 1990.
Works Cited
Anon. “Biography for Margaret Thatcher.” IMDb.com, Inc. 2010. Web.
Simkin, John. “Margaret Thatcher 2003.” Spartacus Educational, 2010. Web.
Wide, Robert. “Margaret Thatcher.” About.com Guide, 2010. Web.