Margaret Thatcher served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 until her resignation in 1990. She also served as the leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 until her retirement.
Thatcherism was coined to describe the set of policies that she put into effect. She served as the leader of the United Kingdom’s government for the longest amount of time out of any British prime minister in the 20th century.
Before pursuing a career in the legal profession, Magret earned a degree in Chemistry from Somerville College, Oxford, and worked for a short time in the field of research chemistry.
After that, in 1959, she won the election to represent Finchley in the House of Commons. During the administration of Edward Heath, which ran from 1970 until 1974, she was given the position of Secretary of State for Education and Science. In the history of the United Kingdom, Magret was the first woman to ever lead a major political party.
After sweeping the elections in 1979, Margaret Thatcher was able to ascend to the position of Prime Minister. She devised a set of economic policies with the goal of reversing high inflation, as well as the ripple effects of the Winter of Discontent and the impending economic downturn.
Reform, the privatization of state-owned companies, and a reduction in the power and impact of trade unions were some of the primary focuses of Margaret’s political philosophy and economic policies.
Who was Margaret Thatcher?
Margaret H. Thatcher was born on October 13, 1925 in Lincolnshire to parents Alfred Roberts and Beatrice Ethel Stephson. Her parents were both prominent politicians.
Magret was raised in Grantham, where her father ran a tobacconist and a grocery store. Magret’s childhood was spent in Grantham.
Margaret Thatcher’s Education
Margaret Thatcher received her primary education at Huntingtower Road School. Between the years 1942 and 1943, she served as the head girl.
She was accepted to study chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, a women’s college, beginning in 1944. She graduated from the institution in 1947 with a second-class degree in chemistry, after having specialized in X-ray crystallography. Her acceptance came about as a result of the withdrawal of another candidate.
She went on to earn a Master of Arts degree from Somerville College in Oxford in the year 1950 as well.
After receiving her degree, she made the move to Colchester, Essex, to begin working for BX Plastics as a research Scientist. After that, in 1948, she submitted her resume to Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) for employment consideration.
What We Know About Margaret Thatcher’s Political Career
Margaret Thatcher ran as a candidate for the Conservatives in both the general election held in 1950 and the general election held in 1951 for the seat of Dartford, which was held by the Labour Party. Margaret Thatcher was chosen as a candidate despite the fact that she was not a dynamic public speaker; rather, she was selected as a candidate because she was fearless in her response. Margaret Thatcher was the candidate who garnered the most attention from the media due to the fact that she was the youngest and the only female candidate.
During the entire campaign, her parents provided her and her future husband, Denis Thatcher—whom she wed in December 1951—with financial and emotional support. After a vicious campaign in 1959, Margaret Thatcher won the election to represent the seat in the House of Commons as a Member of Parliament.
Because of her abilities and her drive, people in her early 20s began to speculate that she would one day become a minister. On the other hand, she was pessimistic and predicted that no woman would ever hold the position of prime minister during her reign.
After that, in October of 1961, Harold Macmillan gave her a promotion to the front bench so that she could serve as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Pensions. She held the record for being the youngest woman to ever be awarded such a title.
Margaret Thatcher voted for David Steel’s bill to legalize abortion and supported Leo Abse’s bill to legalize male homosexuality, one of the few conservative members of Parliament to do so. She cast a vote against amending the laws to make it simpler to divorce.
The efforts that the government was making to reduce spending brought her to the attention of the public during her first few months in office.
Margaret Thatcher was an early supporter of the radical Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. In 1984, she visited the Soviet Union on a state visit, where she met with Gorbachev and the Council of Ministers.
At the 1992 federal election, when she was 66 years old, she announced her retirement from the House of Commons. She was the first former prime minister to establish a foundation after leaving the commons. She relocated to a residence in the Belgravia neighborhood of central London’s Chester Square in 1991.
She started working for a tobacco firm in July 1992.
Other Things You Should Know About Margaret Thatcher
On October 13th, Margaret Thatcher and her family and friends gathered at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hyde Park to celebrate her 80th birthday.
The Downing Street Years (1993) and The Path to Power (1995) are her autobiographies.
After fainting at a House of Lords supper, she was diagnosed with hypotension. She had to go back to the hospital in 2009 after breaking her arm.
A lot of people think she’s the best prime minister in the last 30 years. Her first daughter Carol recalls how difficult it was to tell her mother with dementia that her husband Denis had passed away in 2005. She had trouble remembering simple sentences, let alone finishing them.
Margaret Thatcher’s Death
Margaret Thatcher passed away following a stroke on April 8, 2013, at the age of 87. On her death certificate, “cerebrovascular accident” and “transient ischemic attack” were stated as the leading causes of death. Elizabeth II and Prince Philip both paid their respects during her funeral.
Margaret Thatcher’s Religious Belief
During her childhood, Margaret Thatcher was raised as a Methodist, and later in her life, she was a member of the Church of England. Because of this, we know that she was a Christian.
Margaret Thatcher’s Net Worth
When Margaret Thatcher passed away, she left behind an estimated net worth of approximately $10 million.
16 Facts About Margaret Thatcher
- Margaret Hilda Roberts, later known as Margaret Thatcher, was born on October 13, 1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire. Her birth name was Margaret Hilda Roberts.
- She started her education at Huntingtower Road Primary School, and thanks to a scholarship, continued it at the grammar school for girls Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School.
- Margaret Thatcher was accepted to study chemistry at Somerville Institution, Oxford, a women’s college, on a scholarship in 1944, when she was in her upper-sixth-year. She was accepted to Oxford in October of 1943 after another candidate dropped out.
- She entered Oxford in 1943 and, under Dorothy Hodgkin’s tutelage, specialized in X-ray crystallography, earning a second-class degree in chemistry in 1947. Additionally, in 1950, she earned a Master of Arts degree.
- Margaret Thatcher ran as the Conservative Party candidate in the Labour-held Dartford constituency in the 1950 and 1951 general elections. Both times she ran against Norman Dodds, she lost, although she succeeded in cutting the Labour majority by 6,000 and then by 1,000 votes.
- During the April 1958 Conservative primary, Margaret Thatcher was chosen as the candidate for the safe seat of Finchley. She fought hard for the seat in the 1959 election and was ultimately successful in getting it.
- Margaret Thatcher was elevated to the front bench in October 1961 when Harold Macmillan appointed her Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Pensions. She was the youngest person ever to hold that position and one of the very first members of parliament to be elevated after being elected in 1959.
- Her role as Housing and Land spokesperson allowed her to push for the Conservative Party’s goal of allowing tenants to buy their council homes after they lost the 1964 election.
- On 11 February 1975, Margaret Thatcher was elected leader of the Conservative Party and assumed the role of Leader of the Opposition.
- On May 4, 1979, Margaret Thatcher was sworn in as Prime Minister. During her time in government in the 1980s, she was frequently hailed as the most powerful woman on the planet.
- Margaret Thatcher served as prime minister of the United Kingdom for a total of 11 years and 209 days, the longest such duration since Lord Liverpool’s 14 years and 305 days in office (consecutive). Lord Salisbury served for a total of 13 years and 252 days over the course of three separate terms.
- Thatcherism overturned the post-war consensus on Keynesianism, the welfare state, nationalized industries, strong economic control, and high taxes. She favored the welfare state but proposed reforms.
- After becoming leader of the Conservative Party in 1975, she became the first woman to be granted full honorary membership privileges at the exclusive Carlton Club.
- Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire was the title bestowed upon Margaret Thatcher when she was given a life peerage in 1992. This allowed her to join the House of Lords.
- Margaret Thatcher, 87, died of a stroke on 8 April 2013. She’d been residing at the Ritz Hotel in London since December 2012 because of stairs at her Belgravia property. Cerebrovascular accident and repeated transient ischemic stroke were reported as the chief causes of her death, with bladder cancer and dementia mentioned as contributing factors.
