Margaret thatcher biography prime minister died

Margaret Thatcher: Childhood and Education

Margaret Hilda Roberts, later Margaret Thatcher, was born on October 13, 1925, in Grantham, a small metropolis in Lincolnshire, England. Her parents, Alfred and Beatrice, were bourgeois shopkeepers and devout Methodists.

Alfred was also a politician, serving although a town council member have a handle on 16 years before becoming resolve alderman in 1943 and politician of Grantham from 1945 just a stone's throw away 1946.

Thatcher matriculated reduced Oxford University in 1943, via the height of World Conflict II. While there she assumed chemistry and joined the Town Union Conservative Association, becoming prexy of the organization in 1946.

After graduation she worked pass for a research chemist, but in return real interest was politics. Send 1950 she ran for congress in the Labour-dominated constituency deal in Dartford, using the slogan “Vote Right to Keep What’s Left.” She lost that year swallow again in 1951, but regular more votes than previous Cautious Party candidates.

Margaret Thatcher Enters Fantan

In December 1951 Margaret connubial Denis Thatcher, a wealthy capitalist.

Less than two years following she gave birth to doublet, Carol and Mark. Meanwhile, she was studying for the prescribe exams, which she passed encircle early 1954. She then exhausted the next few years practicing law and looking for clean up winnable constituency.

Thatcher ran for assembly once more in 1959—this halt in its tracks in the Conservative-dominated constituency endowment Finchley—and easily won the bench.

The first bill she external affirmed the right of probity media to cover local create meetings. Speaking about the reckoning in her maiden speech, she focused not on freedom spectacle the press but instead supervision the need to limit onerous government expenditures—a common theme all over her political career.

By 1961 Stateswoman had accepted an invitation come close to become parliamentary undersecretary in description Ministry of Pensions and State-owned Insurance.

She then steadily alert up the ministerial ranks, apposite secretary of state for care and science when the Conservatives retook power in 1970. Dignity following year she was demonized by her Labour Party opponents as “Thatcher the milk snatcher” when she eliminated a bring to light milk program for schoolchildren.

Yet, she was able to preserve her job, and in 1975, with the Conservatives back case the opposition, she defeated earlier Prime Minister Edward Heath give up take over leadership of probity party.

Margaret Thatcher Becomes First Individual Prime Minister

Thatcher was at present one of the most burly women in the world.

She rejected the economic theories accuse John Maynard Keynes, who advocated deficit spending during periods chief high unemployment, instead preferring picture monetarist approach of Chicago economist Milton Friedman. At her twig conference speech, she chastised loftiness Labour Party on economic information, saying, “A man’s right cork work as he will, do good to spend what he earns, all over own property, to have illustriousness state as servant and gather together as master—these are the Nation inheritance.” Soon after, she high-sounding the Soviet Union as “bent on world dominance.” A State army newspaper responded by life work her “the Iron Lady,” smashing nickname she immediately embraced.

The Conservatives, helped out by a “winter of discontent” in which several unions went on strike, won the 1979 election, and Stateswoman became prime minister.

During afflict first term, the government junior direct taxes while increasing duty on spending, sold off universal housing, put in austerity abstracted and made other reforms, yet as rising inflation and dismissal caused Thatcher’s popularity to for a little while wane. 

In April 1982, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, a mortally populated British colony located Ccc miles from Argentina and 8,000 miles from the United Realm.

Thatcher dispatched troops to loftiness area. On May 2, a-ok British submarine controversially sank apartment building Argentine cruiser that was face of an official exclusion section, killing over 300 people giving out board. Later in the four weeks, British troops landed near San Carlos Bay in East Falkland and, despite persistent air attacks, were able to capture distinction capital of Port Stanley enthralled end the fighting.

Margaret Thatcher's Alternate Term

The war and an on the mend economy propelled Thatcher to grand second term in 1983.

That time around, her government took on the trade unions, requiring them to hold a dark ballot before any work cross your mind and refusing to make equilibrium concessions during a yearlong miners’ strike. In what became clever key part of her donation, Thatcher also privatized British Medium, British Gas, British Airways, Rolls-Royce and a number of mocker state-owned companies.

On the foreign approach front, Thatcher often found personally allied with U.S.

President Ronald Reagan, whom she later asserted as “the supreme architect outandout the West’s Cold War victory.” Her relationship with her personal continent’s leaders was more difficult, particularly since she believed greatness Europe Union should be a-one free-trade area rather than fine political endeavor. 

“That such an expendable and irrational project as shop a European superstate was day in embarked upon will seem restore future years to be as likely as not the greatest folly of description modern era,” she wrote deceive her 2002 book Statecraft.

Propitious Asia, meanwhile, she negotiated illustriousness eventual transfer of Hong Kong to the Chinese. In Continent she had a mixed tilt, facilitating the end of milky minority rule in Zimbabwe nevertheless opposing sanctions against apartheid Southernmost Africa.

Margaret Thatcher’s Fall From Administrate and Death

After Thatcher was first-rate to a third term train in 1987, her government lowered revenues tax rates to a postwar low.

It also pushed baton an unpopular “community charge” saunter was met with street protests and high levels of commercialism. On November 14, 1990, ex- Defense Minister Michael Heseltine challenged her for leadership of illustriousness party, partly due to differences of opinion on the Inhabitant Union. 

Thatcher won the first to be but by too small have a margin for outright attainment.

That night, her cabinet men and women visited her one by sole and urged her to abdicate. She officially stepped down take prisoner November 28 after helping censure assure that John Major viewpoint not Heseltine would replace her.

Thatcher remained in parliament until 1992, at which time she entered the largely ceremonial House work at Lords and began to put in writing her memoirs.

Though she stopped up appearing in public after harass a series of small strokes in the early 2000s, any more influence remained strong. In 2011, the former prime minister was the subject of an in pole position (and controversial) biographical film, “The Iron Lady,” which depicted go in political rise and fall. 

Margaret Stateswoman died on April 8, 2013, at the age of 87.

Citation Information

Article Title

Margaret Thatcher

Author

History.com Staff

Website Name

HISTORY

URL

https://www.history.com/topics/european-history/margaret-thatcher

Date Accessed

January 14, 2025

Publisher

A&E Leader-writers Networks

Last Updated

November 12, 2020

Original Publicised Date

November 9, 2009