Margaret Thatcher

The Right Honourable The Baroness Thatcher LG OM DStJ PC FRS HonFRSC
Studio portrait, c. 1995–96
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 4 May 1979 – 28 November 1990
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Deputy	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
Deputy	William Whitelaw
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
Chairman	See list The Lord Thorneycroft Cecil Parkinson John Gummer Norman Tebbit Peter Brooke Kenneth Baker
Preceded by	Edward Heath
Succeeded by	John Major
Ministerial portfolios 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 Parliamentary Secretary 1961–1964 Ministry for Pensions
Shadow portfolios Shadow Secretary of State 1967–1970 Education and Science 1974–1975 Environment Shadow Minister 1967–1968 Fuel and Power 1968–1969 Transport
Parliamentary offices Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal Life peerage 30 June 1992 – 8 April 2013[nb 1] Member of Parliament for Finchley In office 8 October 1959 – 16 March 1992 Preceded by John Crowder Succeeded by Hartley Booth
Personal details
Born	Margaret Hilda Roberts (1925-10-13)13 October 1925 Grantham, Lincolnshire, England
Died	8 April 2013(2013-04-08) (aged 87) London, England
Resting place	Royal Hospital Chelsea 51°29′21″N 0°09′22″W / 51.489057°N 0.156195°W / 51.489057; -0.156195
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Denis Thatcher ​ ​ (m. 1951; died 2003)​
Children	Mark Carol
Parent	Alfred Roberts (father)
Alma mater	Somerville College, Oxford (MA)
Occupation	Barrister chemist politician
Awards	Full list
Signature
Website	Foundation
Nickname	"Iron Lady"
Margaret Thatcher's voice Joint Statement for the 10th G7 summit Recorded 9 June 1984

This article is part of a series about Margaret Thatcher
Bibliography Electoral history Honours MP for Finchley Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act Secretary of State for Education and Science Circular 10/70 Withdrawal of school milk Leader of the Opposition Shadow Cabinet 1975 leadership election 1979 VoNC in Callaghan ministry Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Premiership Policies Thatcherism domestic economic other Appointments Ministers wets and dries Articles by ministry and term: 1979–1983 First ministry 1979 election "The lady's not for turning" "TINA" 1979 budget 1980 budget 1981 budget 1982 budget 1983 budget Falklands War Right to Buy 1983–1987 Second ministry 1983 re-election 1984 budget 1985 budget 1986 budget 1987 budget Anglo-Irish Agreement Big Bang Brighton bombing Joint Declaration Miners' strike UK rebate Westland affair 1987–1990 Third ministry 1987 re-election 1988 budget 1989 budget 1989 leadership election 1990 budget 1990 leadership election and resignation Bruges speech Poll tax Sermon on the Mound Post-premiership Ceremonial funeral Legacy Publications The Downing Street Years (1993) The Path to Power (1995) Statecraft (2003)
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Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher^{[nb 2]} (née Roberts; 13 October 1925 – 8 April 2013), was a British stateswoman and Conservative politician 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 the position. As prime minister, she implemented economic policies known as Thatcherism. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the "Iron Lady", a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style.

Thatcher studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, and worked briefly as a research chemist before becoming a barrister. She was elected Member of Parliament for Finchley in 1959. Edward Heath appointed her secretary of state for education and science in his 1970–1974 government. In 1975, she 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 UK.

On becoming prime minister after winning the 1979 general election, Thatcher introduced a series of economic policies intended to reverse high inflation and Britain's struggles in the wake of the Winter of Discontent and an oncoming recession.^{[nb 3]} Her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised greater individual liberty, the privatisation of state-owned companies, and reducing the power and influence of trade unions. Her popularity in her first years in office waned amid recession and rising unemployment. Victory in the 1982 Falklands War and the recovering economy brought a resurgence of support, resulting in her landslide re-election in 1983. She survived an assassination attempt by the Provisional IRA in the 1984 Brighton hotel bombing and achieved a political victory against the National Union of Mineworkers in the 1984–85 miners' strike. In 1986, Thatcher oversaw the deregulation of UK financial markets, leading to an economic boom, in what came to be known as the Big Bang.

Thatcher was re-elected for a third term with another landslide in 1987, but her subsequent support for the Community Charge (also known as the "poll tax") was widely unpopular, and her increasingly Eurosceptic views on the European Community were not shared by others in her cabinet. She resigned as prime minister and party leader in 1990, after a challenge was launched to her leadership, and was succeeded by John Major, her chancellor of the Exchequer.^{[nb 4]} 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 at the Ritz Hotel, London, at the age of 87.

A polarising figure in British politics, Thatcher is nonetheless viewed favourably in historical rankings and public opinion of British prime ministers. Her tenure constituted a realignment towards neoliberal policies in Britain; the complex legacy attributed to this shift continues to be debated into the 21st century.

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