1925 - British Conservative politician, prime
minister 1979-1990. She was education
minister 1970-74 and Conservative party
leader from 1975. In 1982 she sent British
troops to recapture the Falkland Islands from
Argentina. She confronted trade-union power
during the miners' strike 1984-85, sold off
majority stakes in many public utilities to
the private sector, and reduced the influence
of local government through such measures as
the abolition of metropolitan councils, the
control of expenditure through
`rate-capping', and the introduction of the
community charge or poll tax from 1989. In
1990 splits in the cabinet over the issues of
Europe and consensus government forced her
resignation. An astute Parliamentary
tactician, she tolerated little disagreement,
either from the opposition or from within her
own party. Born in Grantham, Margaret
Thatcher was the daughter of a grocer, and
studied chemistry at Oxford before becoming a
barrister. As minister for education 1970-74
she faced criticism for abolishing free milk
for schoolchildren over eight. She was
nevertheless an unexpected victor in the 1975
leadership election when she defeated Edward
Heath. As prime minister she sharply reduced
public spending to bring down inflation, but
at the cost of generating a recession:
manufacturing output fell by a fifth, and
unemployment rose to over 3 million. Her
popularity revived after sending a naval
force to recapture the Falkland Islands in
1982. Her second term of office was marked by
the miners' strike 1984-85, which ended in
defeat for the miners and indicated a shifted
balance of power away from the unions. In
1984 she narrowly avoided an IRA bomb that
exploded during the Conservative Party
conference in Oct. Her election victory in
1987 made her the first prime minister in 160
years to be elected for a third term, but she
became increasingly isolated by her
autocratic, aloof stance, which allowed
little time for cabinet debate. In 1986
defence minister Michael Heseltine resigned
after supporting a European-led plan for the
rescue of the Westland helicopter company. In
1989 Nigel Lawson resigned as chancellor when
she publicly supported her financial adviser
Alan Walters against him. The introduction of
the poll tax from 1989 was widely unpopular.
Finally, Geoffrey Howe resigned as home
secretary in Nov 1990 over her public denial
of an earlier cabinet consensus over the
single European currency. Mrs Thatcher was
the most influential peacetime Conservative
prime minister of the 20th century. She
claimed to have `rolled back the frontiers of
the state' by reducing income-tax rates,
selling off council houses, and allowing for
greater individual choice in areas such as
education. However, such initiatives often
resulted paradoxically in greater central
government control. She left the opposition
Labour Party in disarray, and forced it to a
fundamental review of its policies. Her
vindictiveness against the left was revealed
in her crusade against local councils, which
she pursued at the cost of a concern for
social equity. In 1991, after three months of
relative quiescence on the back benches, she
made it evident that she intended to remain
an active voice in domestic and international
politics.