Margaret Thatcher was undoubtedly one of the most important politicians of the last century. Many had relatively great achievements, but not everyone managed to leave behind a whole trend in politics - Thatcherism. What is it like and who was its founder?

Margaret Thatcher - short biography

The future head of the British government was born in 1925 in the family of a grocer, she lived in Grantham. After graduating from school, she entered Oxford University and at first tried to associate herself with chemical research.

At the age of twenty-five, Thatcher first tries to participate in politics - he is nominated for parliamentary elections, but fails. Three years later, she became a certified lawyer and practiced as a lawyer until 1957. But even then they appear character traits iron lady: she does not deviate from the once taken course and in 1959 she nevertheless becomes a parliamentarian. From that moment on, Thatcher's life was inextricably linked with politics.

Her career was steadily rising: in 1961, she was appointed Junior Minister of Pensions and Social Security. In 1970, Margaret Thatcher became Minister of Education. When the Conservatives lose the parliamentary elections in 1974, she leaves the government and leads them.

pinnacle of career

May 1979 The Tories win, and Thatcher gets the post of prime minister. It begins to implement a neo-conservative economic program, the core of which was the reduction of public spending and the privatization of state property. Having suppressed the resistance of the miners, the Thatcher government in the mid-1980s kept the prices of minerals and electricity consistently low. Inflation was brought under control at the cost of rising unemployment.

In 1990, the majority of the Conservatives disagreed with their leader in their views on the integration of England into the common European economy. For two years, Thatcher was a representative of the House of Commons, and then left the political arena completely.

While still in charge of education and science, she showed her Political Views trying to minimize government spending on education. As prime minister, Thatcher acted much more widely: she reduced spending on education and utilities, to help regions with a backward economic structure.

In the short term, the country's economy cheered up. However, today it is already clear that the strategic consequences of Thatcherism are extremely bad. Instead of the manufacturing sector of the economy, its financial component received an unreasonably large weight.

Children of Margaret Thatcher and their fate

When children appeared in the life of the future tough politician, she immediately got rid of the duties of raising them. As evidenced by Thatcher's daughter's book Behind the Parapet, the atmosphere in the house was more like an industrial refrigerator running at full capacity than a family corner. A typical feature of Margaret was a craving for beautiful clothes. Carol carefully and comprehensively distanced herself from her family, and made an excellent journalistic career. Mark seemed to be in a better position ... however, in 1984, participating in a car race in Paris, he disappeared without a trace and appeared only three days later. In general, he became a real slob.

Margaret Hilda Thatcher (born 1925), British Prime Minister (1979-1990).

Born October 13, 1925 in the city of Grantem in the family of a grocer. After leaving school, she studied at Oxford University, in 1947-1951. worked as a research chemist.

In 1950, for the first time, she put forward her candidacy for parliamentary elections, but failed.

In 1953, Thatcher received a law degree, after which she practiced law (1954-1957). In 1959 she was elected to parliament.

In 1961-1964 Thatcher served as Junior Minister for Pensions and Social Security from 1970-1974. - Post of Minister of Education and Science.

After the defeat of the Conservative Party in the elections (1974), Thatcher was elected its leader. In the elections in May 1979, the Conservatives won, and Thatcher received the post of Prime Minister.

She associated her program to improve the economy with a reduction in government spending, the cessation of subsidies for unprofitable enterprises, the transfer of state corporations to private ownership; regarded inflation as a greater danger than unemployment.

Firmness in defending one's views, rigidity in carrying out decisions taken secured the title of "Iron Lady" for Thatcher.

In 1982, she sent British troops to the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands, captured by Argentina. In the elections of June 1983, after a landslide victory for the Conservatives, Thatcher retained her post and continued on her intended course.

In 1984-1985. she did not make concessions during the miners' strike, thus keeping fuel and electricity prices low. Inflation has fallen and labor productivity has risen. In the elections in June 1987, Thatcher for the first time in the history of modern Britain remained Prime Minister for a third term.

But the resistance to the integration of Great Britain into the European monetary system caused dissatisfaction of the conservatives with their leader.

After leaving the premiership, Thatcher was a member of the House of Commons for Finchley for two years. In 1992, at the age of 66, she decided to leave the British Parliament, which, in her opinion, gave her the opportunity to more openly express her opinion on certain events.

In February 2007, Thatcher became the first British Prime Minister to have a monument erected in the British Parliament during her lifetime (the official opening took place on February 21, 2007 in the presence of a former politician).

Celebrity biographies

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20.01.15 11:11

When she passed away, the opponents celebrated wildly, singing the once popular ditty that "the witch is dead." But still, there were more of those who sincerely mourned for Margaret Thatcher. "Iron Lady" - that's what both admirers and detractors called her, because she became the first woman prime minister on the planet.

Biography of Margaret Thatcher

Budding Chemist

She was the daughter of a shopkeeper from a wealthy but not at all wealthy family of Alfred and Beatrice Roberts. Margaret Hilda was born in 1925, on October 13, in Lincolnshire (the small town of Grantham). The family had two grocery stores, the Roberts' apartment was directly above the trading room. Both Margaret and her sister Muriel had a strict upbringing. Alfred was a Methodist pastor, served on the city council, and for a time even served as mayor of the city.

Margaret was diversified: she studied very well at school, was fond of sports (swimming, field hockey), wrote poetry, played the piano. She went to Oxford and studied chemistry. In 1947, Roberts received a bachelor's degree.

The biography of Margaret Thatcher became a biography of a political figure in 1950, when she first ran for parliament (from the constituency of Dartford). As a student, she researched the latest antibiotics, among which the now very famous gramicidin. And after moving to Dartford to participate in the elections, Margaret got a job in a local chemical company and worked on the creation of emulsifiers for ice cream. In both 1950 and 1951, the girl candidate lost to a man, but they started talking about her, the press wrote enthusiastically about Margaret.

Member of the British Parliament

Tangible support for her daughter was provided by her mother and father, and then Margaret turned out to be another true ally - her husband Denis Thatcher. The wedding took place at the end of 1951. A year and a half later, the ex-chemist took the post of barrister, in the same 1953, the children of Margaret Thatcher, twins Mark and Carol, were born.

She nevertheless became a member of the British Parliament - in 1959. The best qualities of Margaret Thatcher - her perseverance, the art of persuasion (as well as the ability to listen to her interlocutor), oratory - helped her become a skilled politician. In 1970, she received a very high post - Secretary of State for Education and Science. At the Institute for Economics, Thatcher was imbued with the ideas of Seldon and Harris, who denied the concept of a welfare state.

Margaret Thatcher received the nickname "Iron Lady" after a sensational anti-Soviet speech delivered by her in January 1976. She stressed that the USSR wants world domination and escalates aggression. For the first time, the “Iron Lady” was called by the journalists of the “Red Star”, having heard about this, the lady did not mind - she liked it!

Iron Lady becomes Prime Minister

Three years later, Margaret Thatcher won the election as leader of the Conservative Party. She became the first representative of the fair sex, who led such a large party in the UK. In the same 1979, the leader of the opposition took the responsible post of prime minister. The country then was swept by a wave of unemployment. And the first measures taken by the new inhabitant of the residence on Downey Street were aimed precisely at rectifying the situation. The privatization of state corporations, the opening of "flexible" labor markets, the reduction of the role of trade unions, the abolition of state control in financial areas - all this was taken up by the newly minted prime minister.

Initially, Thatcher's radical measures were received with great enthusiasm. But unemployment did not decrease, as did the instability in the stock market. Unrest in Ireland reached a "boiling point" when hunger strikes began there. IRA leaders staged an assassination attempt on the Iron Lady. Margaret Thatcher, however, was unshakable. And the ensuing war in the Falklands strengthened her shaky reputation. And she was again in the lead in the 1983 elections.

End of the Cold War and resignation

It was the British Prime Minister who extended a friendly helping hand to Mikhail Gorbachev, supporting his reforms. She met the Soviet leader in 1984 and a few years later announced the end of the Cold War. Before the fall Berlin Wall one year left.

In 1987, the third term of the "reign" of Margaret Thatcher began. Her biography as a politician at that time began to decline. The strife in the Cabinet of Ministers, the new tax system - all this shook the "throne" of the leader. Margaret Thatcher was forced to leave in the fall of 1990 after her open confrontation with Michael Heseltine.

heavy losses

Baroness Thatcher left the House of Commons in 1992, but acted as a geopolitical consultant, wrote memoirs, criticized the situation in Yugoslavia and even tried to influence the government of Chile (she wanted freedom for the dictator Pinochet).

In 2003, the husband and constant companion of the ex-prime minister, husband Denis, died. It was a heavy loss. Thatcher's health began to fail, although she attended the funeral of the former President of the States, one of her allies, Reagan in 2004, she did not feel very well.

The 80th anniversary of the Iron Lady was magnificent. Next to the mother were the children of Margaret Thatcher, the dearest guests (along with Queen Elizabeth II and the new Prime Minister Tony Blair). The hero of the day was honored, recalled all her merits and listed the qualities of Margaret Thatcher, which allowed her to “be at the helm” for so many years.

The years have taken their toll

But old age took its toll: several micro-strokes, followed by dementia (all this is truthfully shown in the film The Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher in the film was played by the magnificent Meryl Streep, for which she deserved an Oscar). The weakened woman could not appear in public, and on April 8, 2013, she died from another stroke.

The Baroness was buried in the capital's Cathedral of St. Paul was buried with full honors. She pre-scheduled all the funeral ceremonies, "as if by notes", the Iron Lady, even after death, strove to remain herself.

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Thatcher
71st British Prime Minister
May 4, 1979 - November 28, 1990
Monarch: Elizabeth II
Forerunner: James Callaghan
Successor: John Major
Religion: Methodist Protestant
Birth: 13 October 1925 Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, British Empire
Death: April 8, 2013 London, England, UK
Party: UK Conservative Party
Education: Oxford University

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher(Eng. Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher; nee Roberts; October 13, 1925, Grantham - April 8, 2013, London) - the 71st Prime Minister of Great Britain (the Conservative Party of Great Britain) in 1979-1990, Baroness since 1992. The first and so far the only woman to hold this post, as well as the first woman to become the prime minister of a European state. Thatcher's premiership was the longest in the 20th century. Nicknamed the "iron lady" for her sharp criticism of the Soviet leadership, she implemented a series of conservative measures that became part of the policy of the so-called "Thatcherism".

Educated as a chemist, she became a lawyer, and in 1959 she was elected Member of Parliament for Finchley. In 1970, she was appointed Minister of Education and Science in the Conservative government of Edward Heath. In 1975, Thatcher defeated Heath in the election of the new head of the Conservative Party and became the head of the parliamentary opposition, as well as the first woman to lead a major party in Britain. After the victory of the Conservative Party in the 1979 general election, Margaret Thatcher became prime minister.

As head of government, Thatcher introduced political and economic reforms to reverse what she saw as the country's decline. Its political philosophy and economic policy were based on the deregulation of the financial system in particular, the provision of a flexible labor market, the privatization of state-owned companies and the reduction of the influence of trade unions. Thatcher's high popularity during the early years of her reign waned due to recession and high unemployment, but increased again during the 1982 Falklands War and economic growth, which led to her re-election in 1983.

Thatcher was re-elected for a third time in 1987, but the proposed poll tax and views on Britain's role in the European Union were unpopular with members of her government. After Michael Heseltine challenged her leadership of the party, Thatcher was forced to resign as head of the party and prime minister.

Thatcher was a life member of the House of Lords.

Early life and education
House in Grantham, where M. Thatcher was born
Commemorative plaque on the house where M. Thatcher was born

Margaret Roberts was born October 13, 1925. Father - Alfred Roberts is from Northamptonshire, mother - Beatrice Itel (nee Stephenson) is from Lincolnshire. She spent her childhood in the city of Grantham, where her father owned two grocers. Together with her older sister, Muriel was raised in an apartment above one of her father's grocers, located near the railroad. Margaret's father was actively involved in local politics and the life of the religious community, being a member of the municipal council and a Methodist pastor. For this reason, his daughters were brought up by him in strict Methodist traditions. Alfred himself was born into a family of liberal views, however, as was then customary in local governments, he was non-partisan. Between 1945 and 1946 he was mayor of Grantham, and in 1952, after the landslide victory of the Labor Party in the municipal elections of 1950, as a result of which the party won a majority in Grantham Council for the first time, he ceased to be an alderman.

Roberts attended Huntingtower Road Primary School, then received a scholarship to study at the Kesteven and Grantham School for Girls. Margaret's academic progress reports testify to the diligence and constant work of the student on self-improvement. She took extracurricular classes in piano, field hockey, swimming and race walking, courses of poetic skill. In 1942-1943 she was a senior student. AT Last year University Preparation School applied for a scholarship to study chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford University. Although initially refused, after the refusal of another applicant, Margaret still managed to get a scholarship. In 1943 she came to Oxford and in 1947, after four years of studying chemistry, she graduated with a second degree, becoming a bachelor of science. In her senior year, she worked in X-ray diffraction analysis under Dorothy Crowfoot-Hodgkin.
In 1946, Roberts became chairman of the Oxford University Conservative Party Association. The greatest influence on her political views while at university was Friedrich von Hayek's The Road to Slavery (1944), which saw government intervention in the country's economy as a forerunner of the authoritarian state.

After graduation, Roberts moved to Colchester in Essex, England, where she worked as a research chemist for BX Plastics. At the same time, she joined the local association of the Conservative Party and took part in the party conference in Llandudno in 1948 as a representative of the Conservative Association of University Alumni. One of Margaret's Oxford friends was also a friend of the chairman of the Dartford Conservative Party Association in Kent, which was looking for candidates for the election. The chairmen of the association were so impressed with Margaret that they persuaded her to take part in the elections, although she herself was not included in the approved list of candidates from the Conservative Party: Margaret was elected a candidate only in January 1951 and included in the electoral list. At a celebratory dinner organized after her official confirmation as a Conservative Party candidate in Dartford in February 1951, Roberts met the successful and wealthy divorced businessman Denis Thatcher. In preparation for the election, she moved to Dartford, where she took a job as a research chemist with J. Lyons and Co. developing emulsifiers for use in ice cream.

The beginning of a political career
In the general elections of February 1950 and October 1951, Roberts took part in the elections for the Dartford constituency, where Labor traditionally won. As the youngest candidate and the only woman to run, she attracted the attention of the press. Despite losing on both occasions to Norman Dodds, Margaret managed to reduce Labor's support among the electorate, first by 6,000 votes and then by another 1,000 votes. During the election campaign, she was supported by her parents, as well as Denis Thatcher, whom she married in December 1951. Denis also helped his wife become a member of the bar association; in 1953 she became a barrister with a specialization in taxation. In the same year, twins were born in the family - daughter Carol and son Mark.

Member of parliament
In the mid-1950s, Thatcher resumed her struggle for a seat in Parliament. In 1955, she failed to become a Conservative Party candidate in the Orpington constituency, but in April 1958 she became a candidate in the Finchley constituency. In the 1959 elections, Thatcher, during a difficult election campaign, nevertheless won, becoming a member of the House of Commons. In her first speech as a parliamentarian, she spoke in support of the Law on government bodies, demanding publicity from local councils for their meetings, and in 1961 refused to support the official position of the Conservative Party, voting for the restoration of the punishment of flogging.

In October 1961, Thatcher was nominated to the position of Parliamentary Deputy Minister of Pensions and State Social Insurance in the cabinet of Harold Macmillan. After the defeat of the Conservative Party in the 1964 parliamentary elections, she became the party's spokesperson for housing and land ownership, defending the right of tenants to buy council housing. In 1966, Thatcher became a member of the Treasury's shadow team and, as a delegate, opposed Labor's proposed mandatory price and income controls, arguing that it would backfire and destroy the country's economy.

At the 1966 Conservative Party Conference, she criticized the high tax policy pursued by the Labor government. In her opinion, this was "not just a step towards socialism, but a step towards communism." Thatcher stressed the need to keep taxes low as an incentive to work hard. She was also one of the few members of the House of Commons who supported the decriminalization of homosexuals and voted for the legalization of abortion and the ban on hunting a hare with greyhounds "by sight". In addition, Thatcher supported the retention of the death penalty and voted against the weakening of the law on the procedure for dissolution of marriage.

In 1967, she was selected by the US Embassy in London to participate in the International Visitors Program, which gave Thatcher the unique opportunity of a six-week professional exchange program to visit US cities, meet various political figures and visit international organizations such as the IMF. A year later, Margaret became a member of the Shadow Cabinet of the official opposition, overseeing issues related to the fuel sector. Shortly before the 1970 general election, she was involved in transportation and then education.

Minister of Education and Science (1970-1974)

From 1970-1974, Margaret Thatcher was Minister of Education and Science in the cabinet of Edward Heath.

The 1970 parliamentary elections were won by the Conservative Party under the leadership of Edward Heath. In the new government, Thatcher was appointed Minister of Education and Science. In her first months in office, Margaret gained public attention for her attempt to cut costs in this area. It prioritized academic needs in schools and lowered spending on the public education system, resulting in the abolition of free milk distribution to schoolchildren between the ages of seven and eleven. At the same time, one-third of a pint of milk was given to younger children. Thatcher's policy caused a flurry of criticism from the Labor Party and the media, who called Margaret "Margaret Thatcher, Milk Snatcher" (translated from English - "Margaret Thatcher, the milk thief"). In her autobiography, Thatcher later wrote: “I learned a valuable lesson. Incurred the maximum political hatred for the minimum political benefit.

The period of Thatcher's tenure as Minister of Education and Science was also marked by proposals for a more active closure of literacy schools by local education authorities and the introduction of a unified secondary education. Overall, despite Margaret's intention to keep the literacy schools, the proportion of students attending integrated secondary schools rose from 32 percent to 62 percent.

Leader of the Opposition (1975-1979)
Margaret Thatcher (1975)

After a series of difficulties faced by the Heath government during 1973 (oil crisis, union demands for higher wages), the Conservative Party was defeated by Labor in the February 1974 parliamentary elections. In the next general election, held in October 1974, the result of the conservatives was even worse. Against the background of declining support for the party among the population, Thatcher entered the struggle for the post of chairman of the Conservative Party. Promising party reforms, she enlisted the support of the so-called 1922 Committee of the Conservative members of Parliament. In 1975, in the election of party chairman, Thatcher defeated Heath in the first round of voting, who was forced to resign. In the second round, she defeated William Whitelaw, who was considered the most preferred successor to Heath, and already on February 11, 1975, she officially became the chairman of the Conservative Party, appointing Whitelaw as her deputy.

After her election, Thatcher began to regularly attend formal dinners at the Institute for Economic Relations, a think tank founded by tycoon Anthony Fischer, a student of Friedrich von Hayek. Participation in these meetings significantly influenced her views, now formed under the influence of the ideas of Ralph Harris and Arthur Seldon. As a result, Thatcher became the face of an ideological movement opposed to the idea of ​​a welfare state. The institute's pamphlets offered the following recipe for the recovery of the British economy: less government intervention in the economy, lower taxes and more freedom for businesses and consumers.

On January 19, 1976, Thatcher made a sharp criticism of the Soviet Union:
“The Russians are set on world domination, and they are rapidly acquiring the means necessary to become the most powerful imperial state the world has ever seen. The men in the Soviet Politburo need not worry about the rapid change in public opinion. They chose guns over butter, while for us almost everything else is more important than guns.”

In response, the newspaper of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR, Krasnaya Zvezda, called Thatcher an "iron lady". Soon the translation of this nickname in the English newspaper "The Sunday Times" as "Iron Lady" was firmly entrenched in Margaret.

Despite the recovery of the British economy in the late 1970s, the Labor government was faced with the problem of public anxiety about the future course of the country, as well as a series of strikes in the winter of 1978-1979 (this page in British history became known as the "Winter of Dissent"). The Conservatives, in turn, staged regular attacks on Labor, primarily blaming them for record unemployment. After the government of James Callaghan received a vote of no confidence in early 1979, snap parliamentary elections were announced in the UK.

The Conservatives built their campaign promises around economic issues, arguing for the need for privatization and liberal reforms. They promised to fight inflation and work to weaken the unions, as the strikes they organized caused significant damage to the economy.

Premiership
Domestic politics

According to the results of the elections on May 3, 1979, the Conservatives confidently won, receiving 43.9% of the vote and 339 seats in the House of Commons (Labor received 36.9% of the vote and 269 seats in the House of Commons), and on May 4, Thatcher became the first woman Prime Minister Great Britain. In this position, Thatcher launched a vigorous effort to reform the British economy and society as a whole.

In the parliamentary elections of 1983, the Thatcher-led Conservatives received the support of 42.43% of the voters, while the Labor Party received only 27.57% of the vote. This was also facilitated by the crisis in the Labor Party, which proposed a further increase in public spending, the restoration of the public sector in the previous volume and an increase in taxes for the rich. In addition, a split occurred in the party, and an influential part of the Laborites (“gang of four”) founded the Social Democratic Party, which came out in these elections together with the Liberal Party. Finally, factors such as the aggressiveness of neoliberal ideology, populism of Thatcherism, the radicalization of trade unions, as well as the Falklands War, played against the Laborites.

In the 1987 parliamentary elections, the Conservatives again won, receiving 42.3% of the vote against 30.83% for the Labor Party. This was due to the fact that Thatcher, thanks to her tough and unpopular measures in the economy and the social sphere, managed to achieve stable economic growth. Foreign investments that began to actively flow into the UK contributed to the modernization of production and an increase in the competitiveness of manufactured products. At the same time, the Thatcher government managed to keep inflation at a very low level for a long time. In addition, by the end of the 1980s, thanks to the measures taken, the unemployment rate was significantly reduced.

Particular attention from the media was paid to the relationship between the Prime Minister and the Queen, with whom meetings were held weekly to discuss current political issues. In July 1986, the British newspaper The Sunday Times published an article in which the author claimed that there were disagreements between Buckingham Palace and Downing Street on "a wide range of issues relating to domestic and foreign policy." In response to this article, the Queen's representatives issued an official rebuttal, rejecting any possibility of a constitutional crisis in Britain. After Thatcher's departure from the post of prime minister, the entourage of Elizabeth II continued to call "nonsense" any allegations that the queen and the prime minister were in conflict with each other. Subsequently, the former Prime Minister wrote: "I have always considered the attitude of the Queen to the work of the Government perfectly correct ... stories about the contradictions between" two powerful women "were too good not to invent them."

Economics and taxation

Thatcher's economic policy was significantly influenced by the ideas of monetarism and the work of economists such as Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek. Together with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeffrey Howe, Thatcher pursued a policy aimed at reducing direct taxes on income and increasing indirect taxes, including value added tax . In order to reduce inflation and money supply, the discount rate was increased. In turn, extremely unpopular measures were taken to combat the budget deficit: subsidies to the remaining state-owned enterprises were cut, assistance to depressed regions was cut, and spending on the social sphere (education and housing and communal services) was reduced. Cutting spending on higher education led to Thatcher becoming the first post-war Prime Minister of Great Britain who graduated from Oxford University, who did not receive the status of an honorary doctorate from the university (not only students opposed this, but the governing council voted). The urban technology colleges she created were not very successful. To control education spending by opening and closing schools, the Consolidated Schools Agency was established, which, according to the Social Market Foundation, enjoyed "unusually dictatorial powers."
GDP and government spending
by functional classification % change in real terms
from 1979/80 to 1989/90
GDP +23.3
Government spending total +12.9
Law and order +53.3
Employment of the population and training of specialists +33.3
Healthcare +31.8
Social protection +31.8
Transport −5.8
Trade and industry −38.2
Housing and communal services −67.0
Defense −3.3[

Some members of the Conservative Party from the supporters of Edward Heath, who were members of the Cabinet, did not share Thatcher's policy. After the British riots in 1981, the British media openly talked about the need for fundamental changes in the country's economic course. However, at the 1980 Conservative party conference, Thatcher openly declared: “Turn if you want. Lady doesn't turn!"

In December 1980, Thatcher's approval rating dropped to 23%, the lowest ever for a British prime minister. After the worsening of the situation in the economy and the deepening of the recession in the early 1980s, Thatcher, despite the worries of leading economists, raised taxes.

By 1982, there were positive changes in the UK economy, indicating its recovery, the inflation rate fell from 18% to 8.6%. Nevertheless, for the first time since the 1930s, the number of unemployed was over 3 million people. By 1983, economic growth accelerated, and inflation and mortgage lending rates were at their lowest levels since 1970. Despite this, the volume of production compared with 1970 fell by 30%, and the number of unemployed reached its peak in 1984 - 3.3 million people.
By 1987, the country's unemployment rate had fallen, the economy had stabilized, and inflation was relatively low. An important role in supporting the UK economy was played by the revenues from the 90% tax on North Sea oil, which were also actively used to implement reforms during the 1980s.
According to public opinion polls, the Conservative Party enjoyed the greatest support among the population, and the successful results of local council elections for the Conservatives prompted Thatcher to call parliamentary elections for June 11, although the deadline for holding them was only 12 months later. According to the election results, Margaret retained the post of Prime Minister of Great Britain for a third term.

During her third premier term, Thatcher introduced a reform of taxation, the proceeds of which went to the budgets of local governments: instead of a tax based on the nominal rental value of a house, the so-called “communal tax” (poll tax) was introduced, which at the same rate was supposed to pay each adult resident of the house. In 1989 this type of tax was introduced in Scotland, and in 1990 in England and Wales. The reform of the tax system became one of the most unpopular measures during Thatcher's premiership. On March 31, 1990, public discontent resulted in large demonstrations in London, in which about 70,000 people took part. The demonstrations in Trafalgar Square eventually turned into riots, during which 113 people were injured and 340 arrested. Extreme popular dissatisfaction with the tax led Thatcher's successor, John Major, to cancel it.
Privatization

The policy of privatization has become an integral part of the so-called "Thatcherism". After the 1983 elections, sales of state-owned enterprises in the utility market accelerated. In total, the government raised more than £29 billion from the sale of state-owned industrial enterprises, and another £18 billion from the sale of council houses.

The process of privatization, especially of unprofitable state industrial enterprises, contributed to the improvement of a number of indicators of these enterprises, especially labor productivity. A number of enterprises were privatized in the field of natural gas production, water supply and electricity supply, which, however, remained natural monopolies, so their privatization could not lead to competition in the market. Despite the fact that Thatcher had always opposed the privatization of the railway, believing that it would be for the British government what Waterloo was for Napoleon I, shortly before her resignation, she agreed to the privatization of British Rail, which was already implemented by her successor in 1994. A number of privatized industries showed improvements under state control. British Steel, for example, increased its productivity significantly while remaining a state-owned enterprise controlled by a government-appointed chairman, Ian McGregor, who over the years faced strong union opposition to plant closures and job cuts by half. To compensate for the loss of direct state control over the privatized enterprises, the UK Government significantly expanded the regulation of this industry: regulators such as the Gas Control Authority, the Ministry of Telecommunications and the National Rivers Authority were created.

Overall, the results of privatization have been mixed, although consumers have benefited from lower prices and better productivity. In addition, thanks to mass privatization, many Britons became shareholders, which formed the basis of "people's capitalism".

The privatization of state assets was accompanied by financial deregulation to support economic growth. Geoffrey Howe deregulated foreign exchange in 1979, allowing more capital investment in foreign markets. And the so-called "Great Shock" of 1986 led to the removal of most of the restrictions on the London Stock Exchange. The Thatcher government supported growth in the financial and service sectors as compensation for the depressing trends in industry. According to political economist Susan Strange, this policy led to the formation of "casino capitalism" (Eng. casino capitalism), as a result of which speculation and financial trading began to play a more important role in the country's economy than industrial production.
Labor Relations

During her premiership, Thatcher actively fought against the influence of trade unions, which, in her opinion, had a negative impact on parliamentary democracy and economic results due to regular strikes. Margaret's first premier term was marked by a series of strikes organized by some of the trade unions in response to new legislation that limited their powers. In 1981, there were serious riots in Brixton, which were associated with rising unemployment, but the Thatcher government did not soften its economic policy, which was the cause of the increase in unemployment. Ultimately, the confrontation between the trade unions and the government ended in vain. Only 39% of union members voted for the Labor Party in the 1983 parliamentary elections. According to the BBC, Thatcher "succeeded in depriving the unions of power for almost a generation."

During her second premier term, Thatcher, without making any indulgence in her policy, continued to pursue the previous economic course, and also began a more active struggle against the influence of trade unions: laws were passed banning forced entry into a trade union, banning "solidarity strikes", mandatory prior warning to employers about the start of a strike and mandatory secret ballot to decide on the start of a strike. In addition, the rule of the "closed shop" on the preferential employment of members of the trade union leading at the given enterprise, the agreement with trade unions on the minimum guaranteed salary, was canceled. Representatives of trade unions were also excluded from advisory government commissions on economic and social policy.

Although Thatcher's efforts were aimed at preventing the mass strikes that had become frequent in the UK, she urged the British that these measures would help increase the democratic nature of trade unions. However, together with significant layoffs in privatized unprofitable enterprises and a rapid increase in unemployment, this policy resulted in large strikes.

The miners' strike of 1984-1985 was the biggest confrontation between unions and the British government. In March 1984, the National Coal Industry Administration made a proposal to close 20 of the 174 state-owned mines and cut 20,000 jobs (a total of 187,000 people worked in the industry). Two-thirds of the country's miners, under the leadership of the National Union of Miners, went on a nationwide strike, and in the summer transport and metallurgy workers joined the miners. The strike swept the whole country and affected many sectors of the economy. Thatcher refused to accept the terms of the strikers and compared the claims of the miners with the Falklands conflict that happened two years before these events: “We had to fight the enemy outside the country, in the Falkland Islands. We must always be aware of the enemy within the country, which is more difficult to fight and which poses a greater danger to freedom.” A year after the strike began, in March 1985, the National Union of Miners was forced to retreat. The damage to the country's economy from these events was estimated at least £1.5 billion. In addition, the strikes caused a strong depreciation of the pound sterling against the US dollar. The UK government closed 25 unprofitable mines in 1985, and by 1992 their number was 97. The remaining mines were privatized. The subsequent closure of another 150 coal mines, some of which were not unprofitable, led to the fact that tens of thousands of people lost their jobs.

As you know, the miners contributed to the resignation of Prime Minister Heath, so Thatcher was determined to succeed where he failed. To minimize the effects of the strike, the British government boosted North Sea oil production and increased oil imports, as well as ensuring the work of those who, for fear of losing their jobs, did not join the strikers, and turned public opinion against the strikers and trade unions. The strategy of creating national stocks of combustible fuel, the appointment of Ian MacGregor, who led the fight against trade unions, as head of the national coal industry, as well as preparations for possible strikes and riots by the British police, made a significant contribution to Thatcher's victory over the unions. The result of government action was the end of the strike in 1985.

In 1979, the number of strikes in the UK reached its peak (4583 strikes, the number of lost working days - more than 29 million). In 1984, the year of the miners' strikes, there were 1221 strikes in the country. In subsequent years of Thatcher's premiership, the number of strikes steadily fell: in 1990 there were already 630 of them. The number of trade union members also fell: from 13.5 million in 1979 to 10 million people in 1990 (the year of Thatcher's resignation).

To combat rising unemployment, the Thatcher government also revised the system of assistance to the unemployed: social assistance was cut, the regulation of rent by the state was removed, part-time work was stimulated, earlier retirement, professional retraining for more demanded specialties, moving to less prosperous regions of the country. In addition, the development of small businesses was stimulated. Despite significant unemployment in the early and mid-1980s, thanks to the shift away from the traditional post-war policy of full employment, many industrial enterprises managed to significantly improve their competitiveness by reducing costs. In turn, this contributed to economic growth.
Social sphere

Thatcher's neoliberal policy touched not only the sphere of economy, finance and labor relations, but also the social sphere, to which the country's government sought to extend the same principles and use an identical strategy - cost reduction, privatization and deregulation. Such a policy made it possible, on the one hand, to spread elements of the market in this area, on the other hand, to strengthen control over it by the central government.
Education

In the early years of Thatcher's premiership, the education sector was not a top priority for the country's government, which was more busy fighting inflation and trade unions, but already in 1981, after the appointment of Joseph Keith as Minister of Education, there was a turn in politics, which was a reflection of Thatcher's desire to take under control activity educational institutions and at the same time apply to them market laws according to which the strongest survive, that is, the schools that are most popular.

Among important achievements Thatcher in this area was the introduction of the so-called district subsidy schemes, according to which the education of students could be partially or fully paid for by public funds. This allowed talented children from poor families to attend private schools, where education was paid. In addition, the parents of students were given the right to independently determine the place of education of their children, and not send them to the schools to which they were assigned, and also to be members of the governing boards of schools.

The Education Reform Act 1988 introduced national curricula in the UK, which were based on the idea that students receive a similar education, regardless of the type of school and its location. The "main subjects" were identified, to which they were assigned English language, mathematics and science, as well as "fundamental subjects" - history, geography, technology, music, art and physics. Compulsory study of a foreign language was introduced in secondary schools.

Serious measures were taken by Thatcher to reduce the role and independence of local public education authorities, which were engaged in the financial management of schools. Instead, finances were placed under the control of managers, among whom were many parents of students.

The 1988 law also introduced new type institutions of secondary education - urban technology colleges, which received financial support from the state (while also being funded by private sponsors and charitable contributions). Education in these colleges was free.
healthcare

During Thatcher's premiership, the emergence of the AIDS epidemic occurred, but initially the Government of the country remained indifferent to this issue. The topic of HIV was raised only in 1984, when the question arose of the need to ensure the safety of donated blood. As a result, between 1984 and 1985, the problem of AIDS developed primarily in the context of blood transfusion and the fight against drug addiction.

The unpopularity of this topic within the framework of the activities of the British government was due to several reasons. First, there was a perception that the new virus was spread primarily among homosexuals and, to a lesser extent, among other marginalized groups, so it did little to threaten ordinary citizens of the country. Secondly, the Conservative Party sought to oppose the Labor Party, which supported the rights of sexual minorities. To a large extent, this was due to the adherence of conservatives to more conservative views on family relations and family values. On this basis, in 1986 the Ministry of Education launched a campaign in schools against the creation of a positive image of homosexuality, and in 1988 a well-known amendment to the Law on Local Government was passed, which ordered local governments “not to allow assistance in the dissemination of homosexuality or materials with the purpose of its encouragement”, as well as “to prevent materials about the acceptability of homosexuality from being taught in schools”.

At the same time, the new AIDS policy adopted in 1986, which consisted in the dissemination of sexual education among the population as the only effective way to combat the epidemic, assumed the cooperation and participation in its implementation of the most at-risk groups, primarily the homosexual community. Thus, the government by this time rather adhered to a strategy preventive measures(a call to use condoms, disposable syringes), and not a policy of punishment or exclusion of the main risk groups, although it supported the image of homosexuality as an abnormal phenomenon. To a large extent, this change in policy was caused by the fear of the AIDS epidemic among heterosexual couples, as well as scientific publications by American specialists.

However, already in 1989, as public anxiety about the AIDS epidemic disappeared, another change in policy on this issue took place. Thatcher, convinced of the exaggeration of the problem, dissolved the special department for AIDS in the Ministry of Health, and also refused to fund academic research in the field of sexual behavior. As a result, the media again began to write about this problem as a problem for the sodomy community, and not for traditional sexual couples.
Northern Ireland issue

In 1981, representatives of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and the Irish National Liberation Army, who were serving prison terms in Northern Ireland's Maze prison, went on a hunger strike, demanding that they be returned to the status of political prisoners, which they had been deprived of by the previous Labor government. The hunger strike was started by Bobby Sands, who declared that he was ready to starve to death if the government did not improve the conditions of his cellmates. However, Thatcher refused to make concessions. According to her, “crimes are crimes, and the political aspect in this case No". Nevertheless, the British government was in secret negotiations with republican leaders in an attempt to end the hunger strike. After the death of Sands and nine other prisoners who had been on a hunger strike for 46 to 73 days, Irish Nationalist prisoners were given equal rights with other militias, but Thatcher categorically refused to grant them political status. The hunger strike escalated violence in Northern Ireland, and in 1982 Sinn Féin politician Danny Morrison called Thatcher "the biggest bastard we have ever known".

On October 12, 1984, the Irish Republican Army assassinated Thatcher by bombing a hotel in Brighton during a Conservative conference. As a result of the attack, five people were killed, including the wife of one of the members of the Cabinet of Ministers. Thatcher herself was unharmed and opened the party conference the next day. As scheduled, she gave a speech, which drew support from political circles and increased her popularity among the public.

On November 6, 1981, Thatcher and Irish Prime Minister Garrett Fitzgerald established the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Council, within which regular meetings were held between representatives of both governments. On November 15, 1985, Thatcher and Fitzgerald signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement at Hillsborough Castle, according to which the reunification of Ireland was to take place only if this idea was supported by the majority of the population of Northern Ireland. In addition, for the first time in history, the British Government has given the Republic of Ireland an advisory role in the administration of Northern Ireland. An intergovernmental conference of Irish and British officials was ordered to discuss political and other matters relating to Northern Ireland, with the Republic of Ireland representing the interests of Northern Irish Catholics.

The signed agreement provoked sharp criticism from the Unionists, who represented mainly the interests of the Protestant population and advocated the preservation of Ulster as part of the UK and against Irish interference in the affairs of Northern Ireland. Democratic Unionist deputy head Peter Robinson even called it "an act of political prostitution." More than 100 thousand people joined the protest campaign under the slogan "Ulster says no" led by the Unionists.

Conservative Party member Ian Gow resigned as Minister of State at the Treasury, and all 15 Unionist members of the House of Commons left their seats; only one of them returned as a result of the parliamentary by-elections that followed on January 23, 1983.
Foreign policy
Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. Camp David, 1986

In foreign policy Thatcher was guided by the United States and supported the initiatives of Ronald Reagan in relation to the USSR, which both politicians treated with distrust. During her first term as prime minister, she supported NATO's decision to deploy BGM-109G ground-launched missiles and Pershing-1A short-range missiles in Western Europe, and also allowed the US military, starting November 14, 1983, to deploy more than 160 cruise missiles on US Air Force Base Greenham Common, located in Berkshire, England, which caused massive protests from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. In addition, Great Britain under Thatcher bought more than £12 billion (in 1996-1997 prices) of Trident missiles to be installed on its SSBNs, which were supposed to replace the Polaris missiles. As a result, the country's nuclear forces have tripled.

Thus, in matters of defense, the British government relied entirely on the United States. In January 1986, the Westland Affair received significant publicity. Thatcher went out of her way to ensure that Westland, the national helicopter manufacturer, refused a merger offer from the Italian company Agusta in favor of an offer from the American company Sikorsky Aircraft. Subsequently, British Secretary of State for Defense Michael Heseltine, who supported the Agusta deal, resigned.

On April 2, 1982, Argentine troops, on the orders of the ruling military junta, landed on the British Falkland Islands, provoking the start of the Falklands War. The onset of the crisis, as history has shown, was a key event in the years of premiership. At the suggestion of Harold Macmillan and Robert Armstrong, Thatcher became the founder and chairman of the War Cabinet, which by 5-6 April tasked the British Navy with regaining control of the islands. On June 14, the Argentine military surrendered, and the military operation ended in success for the British side, although 255 British soldiers and 3 residents of the Falkland Islands were killed during the conflict. The Argentine side lost 649 people (of which 323 people died as a result of the sinking of the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano by the British nuclear submarine). During the conflict, Thatcher was criticized for neglecting the defense of the Falkland Islands, as well as for the decision to sink the General Belgrano. Nevertheless, Thatcher was able to use all military and diplomatic options to restore British sovereignty over the islands. This policy was welcomed by the British, which markedly strengthened the faltering position of the Conservatives and Thatcher's leadership in the party before the 1983 parliamentary elections. Thanks to the "Falklands factor", the economic recovery of early 1982 and the divisions among the Labor Party, the Conservative Party, led by Thatcher, managed to win the election.

Thatcher, unlike many conservatives, was cool about the idea of ​​further deepening European integration. In 1988, in a speech in Bruges, she opposed the initiatives of the EEC to increase the centralization of decision-making and the creation of federal structures. Although in general Thatcher advocated the membership of Great Britain in the integration association, she believed that the role of the organization should be limited to issues of ensuring free trade and effective competition. Despite the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson and Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe, Margaret strongly opposed the country's participation in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, the predecessor of the European Monetary Union, believing that this would impose restrictions on the British economy. However, John Major managed to convince Thatcher, and in October 1990 the UK became a member of the mechanism.

The role of the British Commonwealth has diminished under Thatcher. Thatcher's disappointment in this organization was explained by the increased, from her point of view, interest of the Commonwealth in resolving the situation in southern Africa on terms that did not meet the requirements of the British conservatives. Thatcher saw the Commonwealth only as a useful structure for negotiations of little value.

Thatcher was one of the first Western politicians to positively assess the reformist sentiments of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Back in November 1988 - a year before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Eastern European socialist regimes - she announced the end of the Cold War openly for the first time: "Now we are not in a cold war," as "new relations are broader than ever." In 1985, Thatcher visited the Soviet Union and met with Mikhail Gorbachev and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Nikolai Ryzhkov. Initially, she opposed the possible unification of Germany. According to her, this "will lead to a change in the post-war borders, and we cannot allow this, since such a development of events will call into question the stability of the entire international situation and may threaten our security." In addition, Thatcher feared that a united Germany would cooperate more with the USSR, relegating NATO to the background. At the same time, the Prime Minister spoke out in support of the independence of Croatia and Slovenia.
Resignation
photographer
Thatcher in 1990

During the election of the chairman of the Conservative Party, held in 1989, Thatcher's rival was a little-known member of the House of Commons, Anthony Mayer. Of the 374 members of parliament who were members of the Conservative Party and had the right to vote, 314 people voted for Thatcher, while 33 people voted for Mayer. Her party supporters considered the result a success and dismissed any claims that there were divisions within the party.

During her premiership, Thatcher had the second lowest average level of popular support (about 40%) of all post-war British prime ministers. Opinion polls indicated that her popularity was below that of the Conservative Party. However, the self-confident Thatcher always insisted that she had little interest in various ratings, pointing to record support during the parliamentary elections.

According to public opinion polls conducted in September 1990, Labor's rating was 14% higher than that of the Conservatives, and by November the Conservatives were already 18% behind Labor. The above ratings, as well as Thatcher's militant personality and her disregard for the opinions of her colleagues, have become a cause of controversy within the Conservative Party. As a result, it was the party that was the first to get rid of Margaret Thatcher.

On November 1, 1990, Geoffrey Howe, the last of the first Thatcher Cabinet in 1979, left the post of Deputy Prime Minister after Thatcher refused to agree on a timetable for Britain to join the European single currency.

The next day, Michael Heseltine announced his desire to lead the Conservative Party. According to public opinion polls, it was his personality that could help the Conservatives overtake Labor. Although Thatcher managed to take first place in the first round of voting, Heseltine secured enough votes (152 votes) for a second round. Margaret originally intended to continue the fight to a victorious end in the second round, but after consultation with the Cabinet, she decided to withdraw from the election. After an audience with the Queen and her final speech in the House of Commons, Thatcher resigned as prime minister. She considered her removal from office a betrayal.

The post of Prime Minister of Great Britain and chairman of the Conservative Party passed to John Major, at the head of which the Conservative Party managed to win the 1992 parliamentary elections.
After resignation

After leaving the premiership, Thatcher was a member of the House of Commons for Finchley for two years. In 1992, at the age of 66, she decided to leave the British Parliament, which, in her opinion, gave her the opportunity to more openly express her opinion on certain events.
After leaving the House of Commons

After leaving the House of Commons, Thatcher became the first former British Prime Minister to establish a foundation. It was closed in 2005 due to financial difficulties. Thatcher wrote two volumes of memoirs, The Downing Street Years (1993) and The Path to Power (1995).

In July 1992, Margaret was hired by the Philip Morris tobacco company as a "geopolitical consultant" with a $250,000 job salary and a $250,000 annual contribution to her foundation. In addition, for each public performance, she received $50,000.

In August 1992, Thatcher called on NATO to stop the Serb massacres in the Bosnian cities of Gorazde and Sarajevo, putting an end to the ethnic cleansing of the Bosnian War period. She compared the situation in Bosnia to "the worst extremes of the Nazis", saying that the situation in the province could become a new Holocaust. Thatcher also spoke in the House of Lords criticizing the Maastricht Treaty, which, in her words, "she would never have signed."

Against the background of the growing interest of Western oil companies in the energy resources of the Caspian Sea, in September 1992, Thatcher visited Baku, where she took part in the signing of an agreement on the appraisal development of the Chirag and Shah Deniz fields between the Government of Azerbaijan and the British British Petroleum and Norwegian Statoil.
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Thatcher with Gorbachev (left) and Mulroney (center) at Reagan's funeral

In the period from 1993 to 2000, Thatcher was the honorary rector of the College of William and Mary in the US state of Virginia, and from 1992 to 1999 - the honorary rector of the University of Buckingham (the first private university in the UK, established by her in 1975).

After Tony Blair was elected Labor Party chairman in 1994, Thatcher called him "the most dangerous Labor leader since Hugh Gaitskell".

In 1998, after the arrest by Spanish authorities of the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who was to stand trial for massive violations of human rights, Thatcher called for his release, citing his support for Britain during the Falklands conflict. In 1999, she visited a former politician who was under house arrest in a suburb of London. Pinochet was released by Home Secretary Jack Straw in March 2000 for medical reasons.

During the 2001 parliamentary elections, Thatcher supported the Conservatives, although she did not approve the candidacy of Ian Duncan Smith for the post of leader of the Conservative Party, as was the case with John Major and William Hague. Nevertheless, immediately after the election, she favored Duncan Smith over Kenneth Clark.

In March 2002, Thatcher published The Art of Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World, which she dedicated to Ronald Reagan (the book was also published in Russian). In it, Margaret expressed her position on a number of international political events and processes. She argued that there would be no peace in the Middle East until Saddam Hussein was overthrown; wrote about the need for Israel to sacrifice territory in exchange for peace, the utopianism of the European Union. In her opinion, Britain needs to reconsider the terms of its membership in the EU or even leave the integration entity by joining NAFTA.
After 2002

On June 11, 2004, Thatcher attended the funeral of Ronald Reagan. Due to health problems, a video recording of her funeral speech was made in advance. Then Thatcher, along with Reagan's entourage, went to California, where she attended a memorial service and burial ceremony at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
Thatcher at a memorial service in honor of the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Right - Dick Cheney and his wife

Margaret celebrated her 80th birthday on October 13, 2005 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in London. Among the guests were Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh, Alexandra of Kent and Tony Blair. Geoffrey Howe, who also attended the celebrations, stated that "her real triumph transformed not only one but both parties, so that when Labor returned to power, much of the principles of Thatcherism were taken for granted by them."

In 2006, Thatcher, as a guest of Dick Cheney, attended an official memorial service in Washington to commemorate the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. During the visit, Margaret met with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

In February 2007, Thatcher became the first British Prime Minister to have a monument erected in the British Parliament during her lifetime (the official opening took place on February 21, 2007 in the presence of a former politician). Bronze statue with an elongated right hand located opposite the statue of political idol Thatcher - Winston Churchill. Thatcher gave a short speech in the House of Commons, stating that "I would rather have an iron statue, but bronze will do too ... It will not rust."

At the end of November 2009, Thatcher briefly returned to 10 Downing Street to present her official portrait to the public by artist Richard Stone (who also painted portraits of Elizabeth II and her mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon). This event was a manifestation of special respect for the former prime minister, who was still alive.

In 2002, Thatcher experienced several minor strokes, after which the doctor advised her to refuse to participate in public events and move away from public and political activity. After collapsing during a dinner in the House of Commons on 7 March 2008, she was taken to St Thomas' Hospital in central London. In June 2009, she was hospitalized due to a broken arm. Until the end of her life she suffered from dementia (senile dementia).

At the 2010 Conservative Party Conference, the country's new prime minister, David Cameron, announced that he would once again invite Thatcher to 10 Downing Street on the occasion of her 85th birthday, which would be marked by celebrations with the participation of former and current ministers. However, Margaret ruled out any celebrations, citing the flu. April 29, 2011 Thatcher was invited to the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, but did not attend the ceremony due to poor health.
Illness and death
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Margaret Thatcher(nee Roberts) was born October 13, 1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire. Her father Alfred Roberts owned grocers and took an active part in local politics and the life of the religious community - he was a member of the municipal council and a Methodist pastor, for some time he was even the mayor of Grantham. Margaret and her sister Muriel were brought up in strict traditions. Margaret Roberts studied diligently at school and attended many extracurricular activities.

Chemistry and life

Initially, Margaret Thatcher was trained as a chemist. It was chemistry that she studied at Oxford University for four years and received a bachelor's degree in natural sciences. Then she worked as a research chemist for a few years and worked on the development of emulsifiers for the production of ice cream.

Political career

While still a student, Margaret Roberts became chairman of the Oxford University Conservative Party Association. From the beginning of the 1950s, she began to fight for a seat in Parliament and in 1959 she nevertheless achieved her goal by becoming a member of the House of Commons.

She was nominated to the position of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Pensions and State Social Insurance, then dealt with issues of building and land ownership, in the House of Commons she supported the retention of the death penalty and at the same time voted for the exemption from criminal liability of homosexuals.

In the late 1960s, she participated in the International Visitors Program, where she was able to meet with politicians from the United States, and subsequently became a member of the Shadow Cabinet of the official opposition. In 1970, after the Conservatives came to power, Margaret Thatcher was appointed Minister of Education and Science, a post she held until 1974. After the defeat of the Conservatives, Thatcher was the leader of the opposition.

First woman prime minister

In 1979, Margaret Thatcher became the first and so far the only woman to serve as British Prime Minister. She served in this post for three terms - the longest of all prime ministers since 1827. She was also the first female prime minister of a European state.

In fact, it was Margaret Thatcher who, from 1979 to 1990, was entrusted with the decision of the most important issues concerning the political course of Great Britain, since the head of government in Britain, although appointed by the monarch, performs many functions that nominally belong to the monarch.

"The Iron Lady"

Margaret Thatcher received such a nickname for her conservative policy and tough, unbending character. In response to sharp criticism of the USSR, she was called the first "iron lady" by a Soviet military journalist. Yuri Gavrilov in his article in the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper dated January 24, 1979. However, at that time she had not yet entered the post of prime minister.

In the translation of British journalists, the "iron lady" became the "iron lady", and this nickname was subsequently firmly entrenched in Thatcher.

Politics of Margaret Thatcher

As prime minister, Margaret Thatcher carried out many major reforms in a variety of areas. She sought to change what she saw as the cause of Britain's decline.

Margaret Thatcher advocated reducing state intervention in the economy (deregulation), reducing the influence of trade unions, and reducing spending on the social sphere. She also carried out privatization - the sale of many state-owned enterprises, raised taxes. This caused the decline of the mining and manufacturing industries, but became a stage towards the transition to the production of services, not goods.

At the same time, Thatcher's economic policies were responsible for rising unemployment, although the short and victorious Falklands War contributed to her popularity. After resigning due to a split in the Conservative Party, Margaret Thatcher was a member of the House of Commons for two more years.

Margaret Thatcher always sharply criticized the Soviet Union, communism was unacceptable to her. However, she believed that communist and capitalist countries could coexist through mutual compromises. In foreign policy, she was guided by the United States and always spoke harshly about Soviet political leaders. Only Mikhail Gorbachev she called "a man I could do business with."

Thatcherism

The economic and social policies pursued by Margaret Thatcher became known as Thatcherism. To this policy, as well as to the figure of Thatcher herself, many cannot be indifferent. Thatcher's opponents believe that her policy did everything to weaken Britain. For supporters of the Iron Lady, on the contrary, she is an iconic figure.

assassination attempt

In 1984, the Irish Republican Army attempted to assassinate Margaret Thatcher. Separatists planted a bomb in a hotel in Brighton during a conference of the Conservative Party. Five people were killed, but Thatcher herself was not injured.

Personal life

Your spouse, a businessman Denis Thatcher, Margaret Roberts met back in 1949. They met at a dinner in honor of the official confirmation of Margaret as a candidate for the Conservative Party in Dartford. In 1951 they got married, and in 1953 the twins Carol and Mark were born in this marriage.

Denis Thatcher was 10 years older than Margaret, and for him it was the second marriage. Coincidentally, Denis Thatcher's first wife was also named Margaret.

Margaret and Denis Thatcher have been married for many years. In her autobiography, Margaret wrote that without the support of her husband, she would never have become Prime Minister. After her resignation, Denis Thatcher received the title of baronet, and Margaret Thatcher, respectively, became a baroness.

Denis Thatcher died in 2003, his famous wife outlived him by 10 years.

Disease

In recent years, Margaret Thatcher rarely appeared in public due to health problems. She suffered several heart attacks and suffered from dementia (senile dementia). In 2012, she underwent surgery to remove a bladder tumor.

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