Margaret Thatcher

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Lore & Background

Thatcher studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, under X-ray crystallographer Dorothy Hodgkin, who considered her a "good" student. She graduated in 1947 with a second-class honours degree in chemistry. After graduating, she worked briefly as a research chemist for British Xylonite (BX Plastics) in Colchester, researching methods of attaching PVC to metals. She later became 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 and the first woman to lead a major British political party. 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. Her popularity in her first years in office waned amid the recession and rising unemployment. Victory in the 1982 Falklands War and the recovering economy brought a resurgence of support, resulting in the Conservative Party being returned to government in a landslide victory 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. After retiring from the House of Commons in 1992, Thatcher was given a life peerage, 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.

Reader's Guide

Margaret Thatcher's tenure as prime minister constituted a realignment towards neoliberal policies in Britain, a complex legacy that continues to be debated into the 21st century. Her economic policies emphasised greater individual liberty, the privatisation of state-owned companies, and reducing the power and influence of trade unions. The Falklands War victory and the Big Bang deregulation of financial markets in 1986 were key turning points that boosted her popularity and the economy. However, her support for the Community Charge (poll tax) was widely unpopular, and her Eurosceptic views on the European Community created conflict within her cabinet, leading to her resignation in 1990. As the first woman to hold the office of Prime Minister and to lead a major British political party, she broke significant barriers. A polarising figure in British politics, she is nonetheless viewed favourably in historical rankings and public opinion of British prime ministers.

Did You Know?

• Thatcher studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, under Nobel Prize-winning X-ray crystallographer Dorothy Hodgkin.
• She worked as a research chemist for British Xylonite (BX Plastics) after graduating, researching methods of attaching PVC to metals.
• As a child, she saved pocket money with her sister to help pay for the journey of a teenage Jewish girl who had escaped Nazi Germany and was given sanctuary by her family.
• She was reportedly prouder of becoming the first prime minister with a science degree than becoming the first female prime minister.
• While at Oxford, she was influenced by Friedrich Hayek's book 'The Road to Serfdom' (1944), which condemned economic intervention by government.