How long did margaret thatcher rule

She was elected leader of the Conservative Party in , beating out Heath for the position. With this victory, Thatcher became the first woman to serve as the opposition leader in the House of Commons. England was in a time of economic and political turmoil, with the government nearly bankrupt, unemployment on the rise and conflicts with labor unions.

This instability helped return Conservatives to power in As party leader, Thatcher made history in May , when she was appointed Britain's first female prime minister. As prime minister, Thatcher battled the country's recession by initially raising interest rates to control inflation.

She was best known for her destruction of Britain's traditional industries through her attacks on labor organizations such as the miner's union, and for the massive privatization of social housing and public transport.

One of her staunchest allies was U. President Ronald Reagan , a fellow conservative. The two shared similar right-wing, pro-corporate political philosophies. Thatcher faced a military challenge during her first term. In April , Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands. This British territory had long been a source of conflict between the two nations, as the islands are located off the coast of Argentina. Taking swift action, Thatcher sent British troops to the territory to retake the islands in what became known as the Falklands War.

Argentina surrendered in June In her second term, from to , Thatcher handled a number of conflicts and crises, the most jarring of which may have been the assassination attempt against her in In a plot by the Irish Republic Army, she was meant to be killed by a bomb planted at the Conservative Conference in Brighton in October.

Undaunted and unharmed, Thatcher insisted that the conference continue, and gave a speech the following day. As for foreign policy, Thatcher met with Mikhail Gorbachev , the Soviet leader, in That same year, she signed an agreement with the Chinese government regarding the future of Hong Kong.

Publicly, Thatcher voiced her support for Reagan's air raids on Libya in and allowed U. Returning for a third term in , Thatcher sought to implement a standard educational curriculum across the nation and make changes to the country's socialized medical system. However, she lost a lot of support due to her efforts to implement a fixed rate local tax—labeled a poll tax by many since she sought to disenfranchise those who did not pay it.

She was so upset by the negative response that she almost left politics. But she persisted, and as Heath's government struggled through the s, Thatcher began to emerge as a political leader. In , she was elected as the Conservative Party leader and Leader of the Opposition, making her the first woman to lead a major political party in Britain, according to the Margaret Thatcher Foundation. The nickname followed her throughout the rest of her career and long after.

In , Thatcher became not only Britain's first woman prime minister, but the first woman to govern a western democracy. Advocating for people to be less dependent on the state and more able to make their own choices, her policies were bold and controversial in equal measure; increasing indirect taxes and reducing contributions from government.

Having inherited a poor, failing economy, her solutions were harsh and difficult to bear for the poor and disadvantaged in society. However, her grit and determination prevailed and her famous " the lady's not for turning " speech at the Conservative Party Conference in left her critics in no doubt as to her vision and strength of her will.

Not everyone suffered under Thatcher's government. Her focus was to inject momentum and strength into the economy with initiatives such as the ability of tenants to buy their council house Britain's version of communal public housing , and for anyone to be allowed to purchase shares in the main utility companies as part of a massive privatization program; all pursued with a firm belief in giving all men and women greater choices in where to put their money and a pride in their future.

Related: Who inherits the British throne? National pride was at the center of a pivotal moment in Thatcher's leadership. Following the invasion of the Falkland Islands by Argentina in , and with diplomatic channels exhausted, the prime minister took the momentous decision to create and deploy a task force of thousands to sail down to the South Atlantic to retake the British Overseas Territory.

It was a move that galvanised a nation, united in a patriotic fervor and single belief that Britain was still a major player to be reckoned with on the world stage.

With the Argentinian army forced to surrender, a hero's welcome awaited the returning task force and Thatcher referred to the "Falklands spirit" for many years afterwards, The Guardian reported. But it came at a price: over British dead that were mourned by a nation. There was criticism from some quarters, but the majority voice was one of support, and for a while she was able to ride the crest of the wave.

Though she stopped appearing in public after suffering a series of small strokes in the early s, her influence remained strong. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Born Margaret Hilda Roberts, the future prime minister was the daughter of a grocer and local alderman who later became mayor of Grantham, England.

Businesses were failing, and inflation and unemployment were rising. Thatcher immediately set out to turn the economic situation around, Britain's first female prime minister was facing sharp criticism from both her cabinet and the public in response to her Cultural anthropologist and writer Margaret Meade was born in Philadelphia and graduated from Barnard College in Appointed assistant curator of ethnology at the American Museum of Natural History in , she embarked on two dozen trips to the South Pacific to Margaret Taylor was an American first lady and the wife of Zachary Taylor, an American military hero and the 12th president of the United States.

Margaret supported her husband throughout his long military career, repeatedly uprooting her family to follow Queen Elizabeth II has since served as reigning monarch of the United Kingdom England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and numerous other realms and territories, as well as head of the Commonwealth, the group of 53 sovereign nations that includes many former British The Wars of the Roses were a series of bloody civil wars for the throne of England between two competing royal families: the House of York and the House of Lancaster, both members of the age-old royal Plantagenet family.

Waged between and , the Wars of the Roses earned Victoria was queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland — and empress of India — Thatcher sent 8, soldiers to fight, and Britain's victory in the Falkland's War boosted her public popularity.

The issue of Northern Ireland also characterised her premiership, which came to a head when an assassination attempt was made against the Prime Minister in the Brighton hotel bombing. Thatcher died on April 8, , at the age of 87, while staying at the Ritz Hotel. GOT a story? Jump directly to the content.

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