Margaret Thatcher

The Right Honourable Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (born 13 October, 1925), is a British stateswoman and was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, also Leader of the Opposition from 1975, and the only woman to date to hold the former position. She is also the only woman to be in the latter position officially, though another has been the Acting Leader. She won 3 successive general elections and was the last person to do this until Tony Blair in 2005. However, although she had strong support from most voters for most of her reign she was eventually elected out of leadership by her own party and replaced by John Major in 1990 who went on to be re-elected himself in 1992. She is an elder stateswoman of the Conservative Party and the figurehead of a political philosophy that became known as Thatcherism, which involves reduced public spending, lower direct taxation, de-regulation, a monetarist policy, and a programme of privatisation of government-owned industries. Even before coming to power she was nicknamed the Iron Lady in Soviet media (because of her vocal opposition to communism), an appellation that stuck.

Early life and education

Thatcher was born Margaret Hilda Roberts in the town of Grantham in Lincolnshire in eastern England. Her father was Alfred Roberts, who ran a grocer's shop in the town and was active in local politics, serving as an Alderman. While officially described as 'Liberal Independent', in practice he supported the local Conservatives. The Labour Party won control of Grantham Council in 1946 and used their political clout to oust Roberts as an Alderman in 1952, a result that affected his daughter deeply. Her mother was Beatrice Roberts, and she has a sister, Muriel.

Related Topics:
Grantham - Lincolnshire - England - Alderman - Liberal - Labour Party - 1946 - 1952

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She did well at school, going to a girls' grammar school and then to Somerville College, Oxford from 1944, where she studied chemistry. She became Chairman of the Oxford University Conservative Association in 1946, the third woman to hold the post. She obtained a second-class degree and worked as a research chemist for British Xylonite and then J. Lyons and Co., where she helped develop methods for preserving ice cream. She was a member of the team that developed the first soft frozen ice cream.

Related Topics:
Grammar school - Somerville College - Oxford - 1944 - Chemistry - Oxford University Conservative Association - 1946 - J. Lyons and Co. - Ice cream

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