Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher LG, OM, PC, FRS (born 13 October 1925) served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She is the only woman to have held either post.[2]
Born in Grantham in Lincolnshire, England, she read chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford and later trained as a barrister. She won a seat in the 1959 general election, becoming the MP for Finchley as a Conservative. When Edward Heath formed a government in 1970, he appointed Thatcher Secretary of State for Education and Science. Four years later, she backed Keith Joseph in his bid to become Conservative Party leader but he was forced to drop out of the election. Thatcher entered the contest herself and became leader of the Conservative Party in 1975. She became Britain's first female Prime Minister following the 1979 general election.
In her foreword to the 1979 Conservative Manifesto Thatcher had written of "a feeling of helplessness, that a once great nation has somehow fallen behind."[3] She entered 10 Downing Street determined to reverse what she perceived as a precipitate national decline. Her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised reduced state intervention, free markets, entrepreneurialism and the selling off of state owned companies. Amid a recession and high unemployment, Thatcher's popularity decreased, though economic recovery and the 1982 Falklands War brought a resurgence of support and she was re-elected in 1983. She took a hard line against trade unions, survived an assassination attempt, and opposed the Soviet Union (her tough-talking rhetoric gained her the nickname the "Iron Lady"); she was re-elected for an unprecedented third term in 1987. The following years would prove difficult, as her Poll tax plan was largely unpopular, and her views regarding the European Community were not shared by others in her Cabinet. She resigned as Prime Minister in November 1990 after Michael Heseltine's challenge to her leadership of the Conservative Party.
Thatcher's tenure as Prime Minister was the longest since that of Lord Salisbury and the longest continuous period in office since Lord Liverpool in the early 19th century.[2] She was the first woman to lead a major political party in the UK, and the first of only three women to hold any of the four great offices of state. She holds a life peerage as Baroness Thatcher, of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire, which entitles her to sit in the House of Lords.
|
TheStranger.com
It was a smart, stylized comedy with a character named The Personification of the Midnight Desires of Margaret Thatcher and this joke: "Love is like the ...
300px x 450px | 32.50kB
[source page]
Stix1972
Mon, 17 Aug 2009 01:07:07 GM
Ronald Reagan and . Margaret Thatcher. also should be given much credit, but Lech Waleas and John Paul II should be honored as the main people to bring down the Wall . As time goes by we tend to forget people that transformed an era and ...
Q. of the USA or still needs improvement in to order be it.
Asked by jessicaabruno - Thu Sep 4 14:34:10 2008 - - 6 Answers - 0 Comments
A. If she were campaigning to be the president, she would get my vote today. She definitely has what it takes. Look at her 86% approval rating in her home state of Alaska. She has to be doing something right. Hell, I would settle for a president or Congress with even a 50% approval rating. That would mean that they were able to satisfy at least half the people in this country. As it stands now, our President and Congress are not even getting a 20% rating. How did things get this screwed up???
Answered by Patriot - Thu Sep 4 15:03:21 2008
