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.

Post-political career

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In 1992, she was given the title Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven (in the County of Lincolnshire), and she entered the House of Lords, although she did not become an active member of the House. She had already been honoured by the Queen in 1990, shortly after her resignation as Prime Minister, when she was awarded the Order of Merit, one of the UK's highest distinctions. In addition, her husband, Denis Thatcher, had been given a baronetcy in 1991 (ensuring that their son Mark would inherit a title). This was the first creation of a baronetcy since 1965. In 1995 Thatcher would also join the majority of former Prime Ministers as a member of the Order of the Garter, the United Kingdom's highest order of chivalry.

Related Topics:
House of Lords - Order of Merit - Baronet - 1965 - 1995 - Order of the Garter - Chivalry

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In July 1992, she was hired by tobacco giant Philip Morris Companies, now the Altria Group, as a "geopolitical consultant" for US$250,000 per year and an annual contribution of US$250,000 to her Foundation. In practice, she helped them break into markets in central Europe, the former Soviet Union, China, and Vietnam, as well as fight against a proposed EC ban on tobacco advertising.

Related Topics:
Philip Morris Companies - Altria Group - Central Europe - Vietnam

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From approximately 1994 to 2000, she served as Chancellor of the College of William and Mary, one of the oldest universities in North America which was established by royal charter in 1693.

Related Topics:
College of William and Mary - 1693

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She wrote her memoirs in two volumes. Although she remained supportive in public, in private she made her displeasure with many of John Major's policies plain, and her views were conveyed to the press and widely reported. Major later said he found her behaviour in retrospect to have been intolerable. She publicly endorsed William Hague for the Conservative leadership in 1997.

Related Topics:
Memoir - William Hague

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In 1998, she made a highly publicised and controversial visit to the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet during the time he was under house arrest in Surrey facing charges of torture, conspiracy to torture and conspiracy to murder. She expressed her support and friendship for him.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/304516.stm. (Pinochet had been a key ally in the Falklands war.)

Related Topics:
1998 - Augusto Pinochet - Torture - Murder - Falklands war

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During the same year, she made a £2 million donation to Cambridge University for the endowment of a Margaret Thatcher Chair in Entrepreneurial Studies. She also donated the archive of her personal papers to Churchill College, Cambridge.

Related Topics:
Cambridge University - Churchill College, Cambridge

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She made many speaking engagements around the world, and she actively supported the Conservative election campaign in 2001. However, on March 22, 2002, she was told by her doctors to make no more public speeches on health grounds, having suffered several small strokes, which left her in a very frail state. In 2003 she visited Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City and compared his offices to those of Sir Winston Churchill's War Room. Although she was able to attend the funeral of former US President Ronald Reagan in June 2004, her eulogy for him was pre-taped to prevent undue stress.

Related Topics:
2001 - March 22 - 2002 - Stroke - 2003 - Mayor - Michael Bloomberg - New York City - Winston Churchill - Funeral of former US President Ronald Reagan - June 2004

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She remains involved with various Thatcherite groups, including being president of the Conservative Way Forward group, which held a dinner at the Savoy Hotel in honour of the 25th Anniversary of her election. She is honorary president of the Bruges Group, which takes its name from her 1988 speech at Bruges, where she was first openly hostile to developments in the European Union. She is also patron of the Eurosceptic European Foundation founded by the Conservative MP Bill Cash. She was widowed on June 26, 2003.

Related Topics:
Conservative Way Forward - Savoy Hotel - Bruges Group - European Union - European Foundation - Bill Cash - June 26 - 2003

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She will celebrate her 80th birthday on October 13, 2005.

Related Topics:
October 13 - 2005

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