Margaret Thatcher

It's a fact
Margaret Thatcher graduated with a chemistry degree from University of Oxford in 1947.She later joined a research team that developed the first soft frozen ice cream.

Margaret Thatcher
``````(1925 -
~~~The iron Lady of British Politics


Born: 13 October 1925 Grantham, Lincotnshire, England 
Nationality: British 
Political party: Conservative 
Spouse: Sir Denis Thatcher, Bt. (1951-2003) 
Children: The Hon. Carol Thatcher, Sir Mark Thatcher, 2nd Bt. 

A politician in 1975 said at a political conference that it would be years and years before , when a woman would become the leader of the conservative party in Britain. This remark was said by a politician, who in 1975 proved this wrong by becoming the leader of her party and four years later became the first woman prime minister in Britain as well as Europe. She is Margaret Thatcher. 

Thatcher was the Prime Minister of Britain consecutively for 11 years-longer than anyone in 20th century. She won 3 successive elections in 1979, 1983, and 1987. She was nicknamed "Iron lady" by the Soviet media, because of her opposition to communism. 

Thatcher was the Education Secretary under Edward Heath's government from 1970-1974 and later challenged him for the party leadership. She became the prime minister when she won the 1979 general election. During her time as prime minister, Thatcher formed a close alliance with then US president Ronald Reagan.

One of Thatcher's biggest achievements was the defeat of Argentina in the Falklands War in 1982. These islands named Las Malvinas by Argentina were also claimed by both Britain and Argentina. Thatcher dispatched the Royal Navy task force to retake the islands from Argentinian control.

Despite her great achievements, Thatcher's economic policies resulted in large scale unemployment in some parts of Britain. But after mid 80's the British economy grew and one of the reasons was the policies of Thatcher-Thatcherism. This involved reduced public spending, lower direct taxation, deregulation and an ambitious program of privatization of the government owned industries, which she thought made a more entrepreneurial culture in UK. Even before her election as the PM, she was sure about what to do in order to make the British economy prosperous. In 1975, she said, "Let me give you my vision, a man's right to work as he will, to spend what he earns, to own property, to have the state as servant and not as master these are the British inheritances. They are the essence of a free country": By carrying out such policies, she made the British working class into "inspirational voters". Thatcher's economic policies closely resembled that of Reagan's economic policies as well. 

After the Falklands War, Thatcher's popularity soared and she used her fame to reform the trade unions in UK. 

Margaret Thatcher's maiden name was Roberts. In 1951 she married Denis Thatcher. Their two children were Carol and Mark. In 2004, Mark Thatcher was arrested at his home in South Africa on a charge of financing an attempted coup in Equitorial Guinea. He later pleaded guilty to a charge of negligence, saying that he thought the money he financed was used to start an air ambulance service in that country. 

Thatcher's popularity finally started to fall when she replaced the local government rates with the even less popular community charge, more commonly known as Poll Tax. She was later forced to resign because of various problems in the Tory Party as well as her divisive approach to Britain's role in Europe. 

Thatcher later entered the House of Lords in 1992 as Baroness Thatcher of Kestevan and is the elder stateswoman of the Conservative(Tory) Party. 

Posted in: Greatest Leaders