The women who ruled in our life time : Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher

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former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

"Iron Lady" redirects here. For the 2011 film, see The Iron Lady (film). For other uses, see Iron Lady (disambiguation) and Margaret Thatcher (disambiguation).

The Right Honourable The Baroness Thatcher LG OM DStJ PC FRS HonFRSC
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 4 May 1979 – 28 November 1990
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Deputy	Sir Geoffrey Howe (1989–90)
Preceded by	James Callaghan
Succeeded by	John Major
Leader of the Opposition
In office 11 February 1975 – 4 May 1979
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson James Callaghan
Preceded by	Edward Heath
Succeeded by	James Callaghan
Leader of the Conservative Party
In office 11 February 1975 – 28 November 1990
Deputy	The Viscount Whitelaw
Preceded by	Edward Heath
Succeeded by	John Major
Secretary of State for Education and Science
In office 20 June 1970 – 4 March 1974
Prime Minister	Edward Heath
Preceded by	Edward Short
Succeeded by	Reg Prentice
show Other ministerial offices Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment In office 5 March 1974 – 11 February 1975 Leader Edward Heath Shadowing Anthony Crosland Preceded by Anthony Crosland Succeeded by Timothy Raison Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Science In office 10 January 1967 – 20 June 1970 Leader Edward Heath Shadowing Anthony Crosland Patrick Gordon Walker Edward Short Preceded by Richard Crossman Succeeded by Edward Short Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Pensions In office 9 October 1961 – 16 October 1964 Serving with Richard Sharples and Lynch Maydon Prime Minister Harold Macmillan Sir Alec Douglas-Home Preceded by Patricia Hornsby-Smith Succeeded by Norman Pentland
Member of Parliament for Finchley
In office 8 October 1959 – 9 April 1992
Preceded by	Sir John Crowder
Succeeded by	Hartley Booth
Majority	7,878 (1979)
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Life peerage 30 June 1992 – 8 April 2013
Personal details
Born	Margaret Hilda Roberts (1925-10-13)13 October 1925 Grantham, Lincolnshire, England
Died	8 April 2013(2013-04-08) (aged 87) Westminster, London, England
Resting place	Royal Hospital Chelsea 51°29′15″N 0°09′30″W / 51.4874°N 0.1582°W / 51.4874; -0.1582
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Denis Thatcher (m. 1951; d. 2003)
Children	Mark Carol
Parents	Alfred Roberts Beatrice Stephenson
Education	Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School
Alma mater	Somerville College, Oxford Inns of Court School of Law
Profession	Barrister chemist politician
Signature

This article is part of a series aboutMargaret Thatcher
Thatcherism Electoral history MP for Finchley Cultural depictions Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act Secretary of State for Education and Science Circular 10/70 Withdrawal of school milk 1975 leadership election Shadow Cabinet Prime Minister of the United Kingdom First Ministry and Term Premiership ministry election "TINA" Iranian Embassy siege "The lady's not for turning" 1981 England riots 1981 budget Irish hunger strike Falklands War show Ministers and policies Ministers "wets" and "dries" Economic policy Privatisations Domestic policy Right to Buy Community Charge Political reforms Local Government Act 1985 Broadcasting restrictions Second Ministry and Term Ministry 1983 re-election Miners' strike Brighton bombing Joint Declaration UK rebate Rate-capping rebellion Anglo-Irish Agreement Westland affair Wapping dispute Big Bang Third Ministry and Term Ministry 1987 re-election SotM 1989 leadership challenge Poll tax riots 1990 leadership challenge and resignation Post-Premiership Legacy Later life Ceremonial funeral show Books authored The Downing Street Years The Path to Power Statecraft
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Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, DStJ, PC, FRS, HonFRSC (née Roberts; 13 October 1925 – 8 April 2013) was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the first woman to hold that office. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the Iron Lady, a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. As Prime Minister, she implemented policies known as Thatcherism.
A research chemist at Somerville College, Oxford, before becoming a barrister, Thatcher was elected Member of Parliament for Finchley in 1959. Edward Heath appointed her Secretary of State for Education and Science in his Conservative government. In 1975, Thatcher defeated Heath in the Conservative Party leadership election to become Leader of the Opposition, the first woman to lead a major political party in the United Kingdom. She became Prime Minister after winning the 1979 general election.
Thatcher introduced a series of economic policies intended to reverse high unemployment and Britain's struggles in the wake of the Winter of Discontent and an ongoing recession.^{[nb 1]} Her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised deregulation (particularly of the financial sector), flexible labour markets, the privatisation of state-owned companies, and reducing the power and influence of trade unions. Thatcher's popularity in her first years in office waned amid recession and increasing unemployment, until victory in the 1982 Falklands War and the recovering economy brought a resurgence of support, resulting in her decisive re-election in 1983. She survived an assassination attempt in the Brighton hotel bombing in 1984.
Thatcher was re-elected for a third term in 1987, but her subsequent support for the Community Charge ("poll tax") was widely unpopular, and her views on the European Community were not shared by others in her Cabinet. She resigned as Prime Minister and party leader in November 1990, after Michael Heseltine launched a challenge to her leadership. After retiring from the Commons in 1992, she was given a life peerage as Baroness Thatcher (of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire) which entitled her to sit in the House of Lords. In 2013, she died of a stroke in London at the age of 87.
Always a controversial figure, she is nonetheless viewed favorably in historical rankings of British prime ministers, and her tenure constituted a realignment towards neoliberal policies in the United Kingdom; despite the passage of time, debate over the complicated legacy of Thatcherism persists.