Margaret Thatcher was a British politician best known as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. Her tenure as Prime Minister was marked by active politics at both national and international level. and social problems later known as “Thatcherism”. Thatcherism’s internal politics included deregulation, cuts in taxes and spending, and often opposition to unions. On geopolitics, Thatcher brought the United Kingdom even closer to the United States by increasing support for NATO and restored the United Kingdom as a military force by defeating Argentina in the 1982 Falklands War. Margaret Thatcher was one of the most important policies in British history and a major figure in the Cold War. She was born Margaret Hilda Roberts on October 13, 1925 in Grantham, England, to Alfred and Beatrice Roberts. She was a good elementary school student, received an Oxford scholarship, and graduated in biology in 1947. Margaret’s real passion, however, was politics. That’s how she met her husband, David Thatcher. 1951 and would have a son and a daughter.
She was born in an apartment above her father’s grocery store.
Thatcher studied law in the early 1950s and became a barrister in 1953.
Before entering politics, Thatcher worked as a food scientist developing soft-serve ice cream.
Her son and daughter are twins.
Margaret Thatcher lost her first two parliamentary elections.
She first entered parliament after winning a seat in the general election of 1959.
Margaret Thatcher was known as “Thatcher, the Milk Snatcher.”
Thatcher rose quickly to a leadership role in the Conservative Party, but never believed that she would be prime minister. She is quoted as saying, “There will not be a woman prime minister in my lifetime – the male population is too prejudiced.
Margaret Thatcher didn’t believe she would live to see a woman become British prime minister.
Thatcher became the leader of the opposition in 1975 until the Conservative Party came to power in 1979.
Margaret Thatcher was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century.
One of the factors that helped the Conservatives come to power in 1979 was the weakness of the global economy. The United Kingdom was suffering from a recession as bad as the one in the United States. Unemployment was extremely high in the country, as was inflation.
Margaret Thatcher narrowly escaped an IRA assassination attempt.
Thatcher’s tough stance against communism in general and the Soviet Union in particular earned her the nickname “The Iron Lady.” The nickname was first coined by a Soviet journalist in 1976 as an insult.
Instead of being offended by the nickname, Thatcher made in part of her public image.
Margaret Thatcher Day is celebrated annually in the Falkland Islands.
Along with her tough stance against communism, Thatcher took a hardline against the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and its various republican splinter groups. The hardline led the IRA to attempt an assassination on her in 1984.
After World War II, the UK had amassed a vast portfolio of government-owned companies in the energy, manufacturing, telecommunications, and transportation sectors. During Thatcher’s tenure, British Aerospace, British Cable & Wireless, British Telecom, Britoil, British Gas, British Steel, British Petroleum, and British Airways were all sold off.
After leaving the government, Thatcher supported several nonprofit groups and charities around the world.
Margaret Thatcher topped a 2019 YouGov poll of the general public; 21 percent of respondents selected her as the UK’s greatest leader since 1945.
Thatcher died on April 8, 2013 due to complications from a stroke at the age of eighty-seven. She was interred on the ground of the Royal Hospital Chelsea.
