Margaret Thatcher: Terrifyingly Soft "Iron Lady".

Margaret Hilda Thatcher (born 1925), British Prime Minister (1979-1990).

Born October 13, 1925 in the city of Grantem in the family of a grocer. After leaving school, she studied at Oxford University, in 1947-1951. worked as a research chemist.

In 1950, for the first time, she put forward her candidacy for parliamentary elections, but failed.

In 1953, Thatcher received a law degree, after which she practiced law (1954-1957). In 1959 she was elected to parliament.

In 1961-1964 Thatcher served as Junior Minister for Pensions and Social Security from 1970-1974. - Post of Minister of Education and Science.

After the defeat of the Conservative Party in the elections (1974), Thatcher was elected its leader. In the elections in May 1979, the Conservatives won, and Thatcher received the post of Prime Minister.

She linked her program to improve the economy with cutting government spending, ending subsidies for unprofitable enterprises, transferring state corporations to private ownership; regarded inflation as a greater danger than unemployment.

Firmness in defending her views, rigidity in implementing the decisions made secured the title of "Iron Lady" for Thatcher.

In 1982, she sent British troops to the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands, captured by Argentina. In the elections of June 1983, after a landslide victory for the Conservatives, Thatcher retained her post and continued on her intended course.

In 1984-1985. she did not make concessions during the miners' strike, thereby preserving low prices for fuel and electricity. Inflation has fallen and labor productivity has risen. In the elections in June 1987, Thatcher for the first time in the history of modern Britain remained Prime Minister for a third term.

But the resistance to the integration of Great Britain into the European monetary system caused dissatisfaction of the conservatives with their leader.

After leaving the premiership, Thatcher was a member of the House of Commons for Finchley for two years. In 1992, at the age of 66, she decided to leave the British Parliament, which, in her opinion, gave her the opportunity to more openly express her opinion on certain events.

Margaret Thatcher was born on October 13, 1925, north of London, in the small English town of Grantham, known only for being the birthplace of Isaac Newton.

Even before school, Margaret studied music and poetry. From childhood, her father taught her to play sports, developed his daughter's oratory skills. Margaret grew up beyond her age as a serious child, she had practically no friends, except for her father.

Then she entered a school for girls, where she studied well and took part in sports competitions, becoming the captain of her school's team. At the age of nine, Margaret won a poetry competition, showing character. When she won first place, the headmistress of the school told her: "You are very lucky, Margaret," but the girl in response to her objected: "It's not luck, madam. It's a merit!" Since then, the school began to call Margaret Toothpick - perhaps for her sharp mind, and maybe for her sharp tongue.

At the age of 12, she began attending political meetings, and at 13, despite the fact that her father supported the policy of the Conservatives, she made her choice in favor of the Labor Party. Margaret still had enough time to work in her family's grocery store. In the meantime, her father, through hard work and determination, had succeeded in getting him elected Mayor of Grantham.

Four years before graduation, Margaret decided that she would study at Somerville, the best women's college in Oxford. To qualify for a scholarship, it was necessary to learn Latin perfectly. For four years of hard work and cramming, Margaret achieved this.

Margaret devoted all her free time only to her studies. The only activity that could tear her away from textbooks was her participation in political debates that were popular at that time. Participating in them, Margaret honed her oratory skills, learned to defend her convictions among men.

Later, already at Oxford University, Margaret Roberts joined the Conservative Association. In 1947, Margaret Roberts received her bachelor's degree and began working as a research assistant at the Mannington Laboratory. She then moved to London, where she also worked in a chemical laboratory. However, all Margaret's thoughts were occupied by politics. In 1948, she decided to try for a seat in the Dartford branch of the Conservative Party.

Margaret Roberts lost the election, but even during the election campaign she met one of her party comrades, industrialist Denis Thatcher, with whom they married two years later, in 1951. Shortly after their marriage, Margaret entered law school. In 1953, she gave birth to twins, whom she named Carol and Mark, and passed her bar exam just four months later.

Margaret Thatcher often talked about balancing family and professional responsibilities. Her opinion was always unambiguous. The following years, Margaret Thatcher worked as a lawyer, then became an excellent specialist in patent and tax law. Before her, there was practically no place for women in this area of jurisprudence in those years.

In 1959, Margaret Thatcher took part in parliamentary elections for the second time and this time won. She became a member of the House of Commons at the age of 33!

Since then, she has gradually moved up the political ladder and in May 1979 became Prime Minister of Great Britain, gaining almost 44% of the vote.

Baroness Margaret Hilda Thatcher (MargaretHildaThatcher, BaronessThatcher, October 13, 1925 - April 8, 2013) is the first and only female leader of the country and prime minister. Since 1992, she received the title of baroness, and a little later, due to negative and very harsh remarks about the Soviet authorities, she acquired the nickname "Iron Lady", which remained with her and even went down in history.

Childhood

Margaret Roberts (that was her maiden name) was born on October 13 in the town of Grantham. Her father was the owner of several grocery stores, and her mother helped him manage a small business. Like her older sister, Margaret was trained from an early age in everything their father did in the store: serving customers, finding goods in the warehouse, and much more.

Since the family did not have their own housing, they had to rent a room above one of the grocers, where they huddled.

As Margaret herself admitted, practically no one was engaged in their upbringing with their sister, however, for any faults they were seriously punished by their parents. Since both father and mother also belonged to a religious community, they raised their children according to all the canons of the church and did not allow disobedience on their part. That is why both girls grew up as diligent and reserved people who always remembered modesty and did not forget when they were in the company of adults.

Initially, young Margaret was sent to study at a regular high school on Huntingtower Road, but a few months later her parents learned that the girl wrote a refusal on her own and asked to go to the Kesteven and Grantham School for Girls. She was successfully transferred, and already there, after spending several months with a new pupil, the teachers realized what a treasure they had taken under their care. The girl was incredibly talented and longed for a good, in-depth study of disciplines.

Thanks to the excellent strict upbringing that her parents promoted, she strove to learn as much as possible. In particular, in school years Margaret enrolled in courses in field hockey, swimming, race walking, piano, and drawing. And the teachers of absolutely all electives unanimously praised the modest and diligent student, prophesied her a great future in many areas.

Youth and early political career

After graduating from high school, Margaret Roberts enters Somerville College in the Faculty of Natural Sciences. The girl wanted to get a scholarship, so, while still a schoolgirl, she applied for a grant, but, unfortunately, she was refused.

However, fate turned out to be favorable to her: a few months after that, one of the fellows accepted to the college refused to study for health reasons, and Margaret was first on the list of applicants for a vacant place. So, a talented young lady was admitted to the Faculty of Natural Sciences, where she began to study chemistry and X-ray diffraction analysis with pleasure. By the way, she successfully graduated from Somerville College with a bachelor's degree.

After graduating from college and entering the University of Oxford, Roberts became interested in the political life of the educational institution. At that time, school associations were very popular, therefore, having found the Conservative Party at the university, the student gladly joined the team. This was followed by a series of fairly successful speeches and debates, where the main actor It was Thatcher who spoke. According to her college friends, the girl always suggested correct solution and in a short time could find a way out of any situation. In addition, she was an excellent speaker, who was listened to and heard by university students.

In 1948, Margaret, along with members of the Conservative Party, travels to political event in Llandudno, where he speaks to students from another university. Her speech impresses students and teachers so much that they decide to include her in the already approved list of candidates for the elections, which should take place soon. And already in 1951, Thatcher found out that her candidacy was indeed nominated as a contender for a position in the country's parliament.

Election victory and later career

The formation of Margaret Thatcher as a member of parliament did not happen immediately. Initially, the Conservative Party, for which she ran, lost by a negligible number of votes. However, the young woman again and again tries herself in politics, so by 1959 she takes her place in the House of Commons.

Despite her good oratory skills, at first few people listened to the words of Margaret Thatcher. She dealt with issues housing, defending the interests of workers, voted for the restoration of more severe penalties for various types of crimes and was in the shadow sector of the State Treasury, but nowhere was she taken seriously.

The situation changes in 1970, when Edward Hitch becomes the leader of the Conservative Party, and Margaret Thatcher is appointed Minister of Education and Science. As a minister, a woman changes a lot in education. In particular, it reduces the taxation of educational institutions and introduces additional benefits in this area. In addition, she votes for the introduction of bonuses in the form of free milk for schoolchildren, while the issuance of pints of this product to young children is not reduced. This attitude causes indignation among the Labor Party and the media, because the country has never given such a quantity of milk.

By 1979, despite constant conflicts with other parties, the Conservative Party wins the elections with over 80% of the vote. And this means that Margaret Thatcher takes the post of Prime Minister of the country and becomes the first and only woman to achieve such impressive victories. It is worth noting that in her post she achieves no less progressive results. It is rebuilding an economy that has long been plagued by rising inflation and unemployment.

Thatcher strengthens and expands Britain's diplomatic relations with other countries, reduces taxation and tries to do as much as possible for its citizens. That is why the nickname "Iron Lady", given to Margaret in the negative sense of the USSR, is rather positive for the British themselves, because their prime minister is so firm and confident that he is ready for anything for their well-being.

British Prime Minister

Despite her husband's health problems (cancer), Margaret Thatcher continues to build her own career, not devoting time to her family. She appears new idea- to become the head of the Conservative Party, which lost in the 1974 elections. The woman promised that the changes in the party statutes would be radical and successful, and in 1979 she stood on a pedestal, taking the post of Prime Minister of Great Britain.

The "Iron Lady" got control in difficult years for the country: the economic crisis, inflation, strikes, unemployment, military operations in the Falkland Islands. The process of reform was inevitable, and Thatcher had to make super tough decisions in order to achieve the prosperity of the state.

The Prime Minister made a profitable bet by establishing relations with the British colonies in Africa, and strengthened the country's position in the region.

In 1984, an assassination attempt was organized by the Irish Republican Army on a powerful politician. As a result, five innocent people died, and Thatcher and her husband managed to escape.

Resignation

During the election of the chairman of the Conservative Party, held in 1989, Thatcher's rival was a little-known member of the House of Commons, Anthony Mayer. Of the 374 members of parliament who were members of the Conservative Party and had the right to vote, 314 people voted for Thatcher, while 33 people voted for Mayer. Her party supporters considered the result a success and dismissed any claims that there were divisions within the party.

During her premiership, Thatcher had the second lowest average level of support among the population (about 40%) of all post-war Prime Ministers of Great Britain. Opinion polls indicated that her popularity was below that of the Conservative Party. However, the self-confident Thatcher always insisted that she had little interest in various ratings, pointing to record support during the parliamentary elections.

According to public opinion polls conducted in September 1990, Labor's rating was 14% higher than that of the Conservatives, and by November the Conservatives were already 18% behind Labor. The above ratings, as well as Thatcher's militant personality and her disregard for the opinions of her colleagues, have become a cause of controversy within the Conservative Party. As a result, it was the party that was the first to get rid of Margaret Thatcher.

On November 1, 1990, Geoffrey Howe, the last of the first Thatcher Cabinet in 1979, left the post of Deputy Prime Minister after Thatcher refused to agree on a timetable for Britain to join the European single currency.

The next day, Michael Heseltine announced his desire to lead the Conservative Party. According to public opinion polls, it was his personality that could help the Conservatives overtake Labor. Although Thatcher managed to take first place in the first round of voting, Heseltine secured enough votes (152 votes) for a second round. Margaret originally intended to continue the fight to the bitter end in the second round. After an audience with the Queen and her final speech in the House of Commons, Thatcher resigned as prime minister. She considered her removal from office a betrayal.

The post of Prime Minister of Great Britain and chairman of the Conservative Party passed to John Major, at the head of which the Conservative Party managed to win the 1992 parliamentary elections.

Personal life

With her future husband - Denis Thatcher - Margaret meets quite by accident. The man was a good lawyer and one day he was invited to a celebration, where the aspiring politician Margaret was also present. After talking, young people realize how much they have in common. After a couple of months, the general public becomes aware that Margaret changed her last name Roberts to Thatcher and secretly married a lawyer.

For some time, many politicians and celebrities have predicted their imminent separation, because due to the busy schedule, a woman should not have time for her personal life. But accustomed to difficulties and numerous activities, Margaret remains faithful to her husband until the end of her days.

Illness and death

IN last years life, Margaret Thatcher was seriously ill. On December 21, 2012, she underwent surgery to remove a bladder tumor. Thatcher died in the early morning of April 8, 2013, at the age of 88, at the Ritz Hotel in central London, where she had been living after being discharged from the hospital at the end of 2012. The cause of death was a stroke.

The funeral service was held at St. Paul's Cathedral in London with military honors. Back in 2005, Thatcher made detailed plan their funeral, and preparations for them have been carried out since 2007 - all events in which the queen takes part are planned in advance. At her funeral, according to the plan, the "Iron Lady" wished the presence of Queen Elizabeth II, members of the royal family, as well as major political figures of the Thatcher era, including ex-USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev (he could not arrive for health reasons). According to Thatcher's last will, the orchestra performed selected works by the English composer Edward Elgar. After the memorial service, cremation took place, and the ashes, according to the will of the deceased, were buried next to her husband Denis in the cemetery of the military hospital in the London region of Chelsea. The funeral took place on 17 April at a cost of £6 million.

Thatcher's opponents, who are also quite a few, vigorously celebrated and held street parties in honor of the death of the ex-premier. At the same time, the song "Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead" from the movie "The Wizard of Oz", released in 1939, was performed. In the April days of 2013, the song became popular again and took second place in the official UK composite chart.

Heritage

For Thatcher's supporters, she remains a political figure who was able to restore the British economy, deal a significant blow to trade unions and restore Britain's image as a world power. During her premiership, the number of British residents who owned shares increased from 7 to 25%; more than a million families have purchased houses formerly owned by municipal councils, increasing the number of homeowners from 55% to 67%. Overall personal wealth increased by 80%. Victory in the Falklands War and a close alliance with the United States are also considered one of her most important achievements.

At the same time, Thatcher's premiership was marked by high unemployment and regular strikes. In the issue of unemployment, most critics blame her economic policy, which was heavily influenced by the ideas of monetarism. This problem, in turn, has led to the spread of drug addiction and family divorce. Speaking in Scotland in April 2009, on the eve of the thirtieth anniversary of her election as prime minister, Thatcher insisted that she had no regrets about her actions during the premiership, including the issue of imposing a poll tax and refusing to subsidize "an outdated industry whose markets were in decline."

Thatcher's premiership was the longest in the 20th century since Salisbury (1885, 1886-1892 and 1895-1902) and the longest continuous tenure since Lord Liverpool (1812-1827).

In 1992, Margaret Thatcher was honored with the title of baroness, granted to her by Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain.
Margaret's style of government is marked in history as a period of "Thatcherism".
In 2009, the feature film "Margaret" about the life of the famous politician was released, and in 2011 - "The Iron Lady", which won the Oscar.
Margaret was inspired to pursue a political career by the book The Road to Slavery by the writer Friedrich von Hayek.
In 2007, Thatcher installed a monument (bronze sculpture) in the British Parliament.

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20.01.15 11:11

When she passed away, the opponents celebrated wildly, singing the once popular ditty that "the witch is dead." But still, there were more of those who sincerely mourned for Margaret Thatcher. "Iron Lady" - that's what both admirers and detractors called her, because she became the first woman prime minister on the planet.

Biography of Margaret Thatcher

Budding Chemist

She was the daughter of a shopkeeper from a wealthy but not at all wealthy family of Alfred and Beatrice Roberts. Margaret Hilda was born on October 13, 1925, in Lincolnshire ( small city Grantham). The family had two grocery stores, the Roberts' apartment was directly above the trading room. Both Margaret and her sister Muriel had a strict upbringing. Alfred was a Methodist pastor, served on the city council, and for a time even served as mayor of the city.

Margaret was diversified: she studied very well at school, was fond of sports (swimming, field hockey), wrote poetry, played the piano. She went to Oxford and studied chemistry. In 1947, Roberts received a bachelor's degree.

The biography of Margaret Thatcher became a biography of a political figure in 1950, when she first ran for parliament (from the constituency of Dartford). As a student, she researched the latest antibiotics, among which the now very famous gramicidin. And after moving to Dartford to participate in the elections, Margaret got a job in a local chemical company and worked on the creation of emulsifiers for ice cream. In both 1950 and 1951, the girl candidate lost to a man, but they started talking about her, the press wrote enthusiastically about Margaret.

Member of the British Parliament

Tangible support for her daughter was provided by her mother and father, and then Margaret turned out to be another true ally - her husband Denis Thatcher. The wedding took place at the end of 1951. A year and a half later, the ex-chemist took the post of barrister, in the same 1953, the children of Margaret Thatcher, twins Mark and Carol, were born.

She nevertheless became a member of the British Parliament - in 1959. The best qualities of Margaret Thatcher - her perseverance, the art of persuasion (as well as the ability to listen to her interlocutor), oratory - helped her become a skilled politician. In 1970, she received a very high post - Secretary of State for Education and Science. At the Institute for Economics, Thatcher was imbued with the ideas of Seldon and Harris, who denied the concept of a welfare state.

Margaret Thatcher received the nickname "Iron Lady" after a sensational anti-Soviet speech delivered by her in January 1976. She stressed that the USSR wants world domination and escalates aggression. For the first time, the “Iron Lady” was called by the journalists of the “Red Star”, having heard about this, the lady did not mind - she liked it!

Iron Lady becomes Prime Minister

Three years later, Margaret Thatcher won the election as leader of the Conservative Party. She became the first representative of the fair sex, who led such a large party in the UK. In the same 1979, the leader of the opposition took the responsible post of prime minister. The country then was swept by a wave of unemployment. And the first measures taken by the new inhabitant of the residence on Downey Street were aimed precisely at rectifying the situation. The privatization of state corporations, the opening of "flexible" labor markets, the reduction of the role of trade unions, the abolition of state control in financial areas - all this was taken up by the newly minted prime minister.

Initially, Thatcher's radical measures were received with great enthusiasm. But unemployment did not decrease, as did the instability in the stock market. Unrest in Ireland reached a "boiling point" when hunger strikes began there. IRA leaders staged an assassination attempt on the Iron Lady. Margaret Thatcher, however, was unshakable. And the ensuing war in the Falklands strengthened her shaky reputation. And she was again in the lead in the 1983 elections.

End of the Cold War and resignation

It was the British Prime Minister who extended a friendly helping hand to Mikhail Gorbachev, supporting his reforms. She met with the Soviet leader in 1984, and a few years later announced the end of " cold war". There was a year left before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

In 1987, the third term of the "reign" of Margaret Thatcher began. Her biography as a politician at that time began to decline. The strife in the Cabinet of Ministers, the new tax system - all this shook the "throne" of the leader. Margaret Thatcher was forced to leave in the fall of 1990 after her open confrontation with Michael Heseltine.

heavy losses

Baroness Thatcher left the House of Commons in 1992, but acted as a geopolitical consultant, wrote memoirs, criticized the situation in Yugoslavia and even tried to influence the government of Chile (she wanted freedom for the dictator Pinochet).

In 2003, the husband and constant companion of the ex-prime minister, husband Denis, died. It was a heavy loss. Thatcher's health began to fail, although she attended the funeral of the former President of the States, one of her allies, Reagan in 2004, she did not feel very well.

The 80th anniversary of the Iron Lady was magnificent. Next to the mother were the children of Margaret Thatcher, the dearest guests (along with Queen Elizabeth II and the new Prime Minister Tony Blair). The hero of the day was honored, recalled all her merits and listed the qualities of Margaret Thatcher, which allowed her to “be at the helm” for so many years.

The years have taken their toll

But old age took its toll: several micro-strokes, followed by dementia (all this is truthfully shown in the film The Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher in the film was played by the magnificent Meryl Streep, for which she deserved an Oscar). The weakened woman could not appear in public, and on April 8, 2013, she died from another stroke.

The Baroness was buried in the capital's Cathedral of St. Paul was buried with full honors. She pre-scheduled all the funeral ceremonies, "as if by notes", the Iron Lady, even after death, strove to remain herself.

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (née Roberts) Born October 13, 1925 in Grantham - died April 8, 2013 in London. 71st British Prime Minister (Conservative Party) 1979-1990, Baroness since 1992.

The first and so far the only woman to hold this post, as well as the first woman to become the prime minister of a European state. Thatcher's premiership was the longest in the 20th century. Nicknamed "iron lady" for sharp criticism of the Soviet leadership, she implemented a number of conservative measures that became part of the policy of the so-called "Thatcherism".

Educated as a chemist, she became a lawyer, and in 1959 she was elected Member of Parliament for Finchley. In 1970, she was appointed Minister of Education and Science in the Conservative government of Edward Heath. In 1975, she defeated Heath in the election of the new head of the Conservative Party and became the head of the parliamentary opposition, as well as the first woman to lead one of the main parties in Great Britain. After the victory of the Conservative Party in the 1979 general election, Margaret Thatcher became prime minister.

As head of government, she held political and economic reforms to undo what she saw as the decadence of the country. Her political philosophy and economic policy based on the deregulation, in particular, of the financial system, the provision of a flexible labor market, the privatization of state-owned companies and the reduction of the influence of trade unions. Thatcher's high popularity during the first years of her reign was diminished by the recession and high level unemployment, but increased again during Falklands War 1982 and economic growth, which led to her re-election in 1983.

Thatcher was re-elected for a third time in 1987, but the proposed poll tax and views on Britain's role in the European Union were unpopular with members of her government. After Michael Heseltine challenged her leadership of the party, Thatcher was forced to resign as head of the party and prime minister.

Member of Parliament for Finchley from 1959-1992, after leaving the House of Commons she received a life peerage and the title of baroness.

Margaret Roberts was born October 13, 1925. Father - Alfred Roberts is from Northamptonshire, mother - Beatrice Itel (nee Stephenson) is from Lincolnshire. She spent her childhood in the city of Grantham, where her father owned two grocers. Together with her older sister, Muriel was raised in an apartment above one of her father's grocers, located near the railroad. Margaret's father was actively involved in local politics and the life of the religious community, as a member of the municipal council and a Methodist pastor. For this reason, his daughters were brought up by him in strict Methodist traditions. Alfred himself was born into a family of liberal views, however, as was then customary in the authorities local government, was non-partisan. Between 1945 and 1946 he was mayor of Grantham, and in 1952, after the landslide victory of the Labor Party in the municipal elections of 1950, as a result of which the party won a majority in Grantham Council for the first time, he ceased to be an alderman.

Roberts attended primary school on Huntingtower Road, then received a scholarship to study at the Kesteven and Grantham School for Girls. Margaret's academic progress reports testify to the diligence and constant work of the student on self-improvement. She took extracurricular classes in piano, field hockey, swimming and race walking, and poetry classes. In 1942-1943 she was a senior student. In her senior year at university preparatory school, she applied for a scholarship to study chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford University. Although initially refused, after the refusal of another applicant, Margaret still managed to get a scholarship. In 1943 she came to Oxford and in 1947, after four years of studying chemistry, she graduated with a second degree, becoming a bachelor of science. In her last year of study, she worked in the laboratory of Dorothy Hodgkin, where she was engaged in X-ray diffraction analysis of the antibiotic gramicidin C.

In 1946, Roberts became chairman of the Oxford University Conservative Party Association. The greatest influence on her political views while at university was Friedrich von Hayek's The Road to Slavery (1944), which saw government intervention in the country's economy as a forerunner of the authoritarian state.

After graduation, Roberts moved to Colchester in Essex, England, where she worked as a research chemist for BX Plastics. At the same time, she joined the local association of the Conservative Party and took part in the party conference in Llandudno in 1948 as a representative of the Conservative Alumni Association of the University. One of Margaret's Oxford friends was also a friend of the chairman of the Dartford Conservative Party Association in Kent, which was looking for candidates for the election. The chairmen of the association were so impressed with Margaret that they persuaded her to take part in the elections, although she herself was not included in the approved list of candidates from the Conservative Party: Margaret was elected a candidate only in January 1951 and included in the electoral list. At a celebratory dinner organized after her official confirmation as a Conservative Party candidate in Dartford in February 1951, Roberts met the successful and wealthy divorced businessman Denis Thatcher. In preparation for the election, she moved to Dartford, where she took a job as a research chemist with J. Lyons and Co. developing emulsifiers for use in ice cream.

In the general elections of February 1950 and October 1951, Roberts took part in the elections for the Dartford constituency, where Labor traditionally won. As the youngest candidate and the only woman to run, she attracted the attention of the press. Despite losing on both occasions to Norman Dodds, Margaret managed to reduce Labor's support among the electorate, first by 6,000 votes and then by another 1,000 votes. During the election campaign, she was supported by her parents, as well as Denis Thatcher, whom she married in December 1951. Denis also helped his wife become a member of the bar association; in 1953 she became a barrister with a specialization in taxation. In the same year, twins were born in the family - daughter Carol and son Mark.

In the mid-1950s, Thatcher resumed her struggle for a seat in Parliament. In 1955, she failed to become a Conservative Party candidate in the Orpington constituency, but in April 1958 she became a candidate in the Finchley constituency. In the 1959 elections, Thatcher, during a difficult election campaign, nevertheless won, becoming a member of the House of Commons. In her first speech as a parliamentarian, she spoke in support of the Law on government bodies, demanding publicity from local councils for their meetings, and in 1961 refused to support the official position of the Conservative Party, voting for the restoration of the punishment of flogging.

In October 1961, Thatcher was nominated to the position of Parliamentary Deputy Minister of Pensions and State Social Insurance in the cabinet of Harold Macmillan. After the defeat of the Conservative Party in the 1964 parliamentary elections, she became the party's spokesperson for housing construction and land property, defending the right of tenants to buy municipal residential buildings. In 1966, Thatcher became a member of the Treasury's shadow team and, as a delegate, opposed Labor's proposed mandatory price and income controls, arguing that it would backfire and destroy the country's economy.

At the 1966 Conservative Party Conference, she criticized the high tax policy pursued by the Labor government. In her opinion, this was "not just a step towards socialism, but a step towards communism." Thatcher stressed the need to keep taxes low as an incentive to work hard. She was also one of the few members of the House of Commons who supported the decriminalization of homosexuals and voted for the legalization of abortion and the ban on hunting a hare with greyhounds "by sight". In addition, Thatcher supported the preservation death penalty and voted against weakening the divorce law.

In 1967, she was selected by the US Embassy in London to participate in the International Visitors Program, which gave Thatcher the unique opportunity of a six-week professional exchange program to visit US cities, meet various political figures and visit international organizations such as the IMF. A year later, Margaret became a member of the Shadow Cabinet of the official opposition, overseeing issues related to the fuel sector. Shortly before the 1970 general election, she was involved in transportation and then education.

From 1970-1974, Margaret Thatcher was Minister of Education and Science in the cabinet of Edward Heath.

The 1970 parliamentary elections were won by the Conservative Party under the leadership of Edward Heath. In the new government, Thatcher was appointed Minister of Education and Science. In her first months in office, Margaret gained public attention for her attempt to cut costs in this area. She prioritized academic needs in schools and lowered spending on state system education, as a result of which the free distribution of milk to schoolchildren between the ages of seven and eleven was abolished. At the same time, one-third of a pint of milk was given to younger children. Thatcher's policies caused a flurry of criticism from the Labor Party and the media, who called Margaret "Margaret Thatcher, Milk Snatcher" (translated from in English- "Margaret Thatcher, the milk thief"). In her autobiography, Thatcher later wrote: “I learned a valuable lesson. Incurred the maximum political hatred for the minimum political benefit.

The period of Thatcher's tenure as Minister of Education and Science was also marked by proposals for a more active closure of literacy schools by local education authorities and the introduction of a unified secondary education. Overall, despite Margaret's intention to keep the literacy schools, the proportion of students attending integrated secondary schools rose from 32% to 62%.

After a series of difficulties faced by the Heath government during 1973 (oil crisis, union demands for higher wages), the Conservative Party was defeated by Labor in the February 1974 parliamentary elections. In the next general election, held in October 1974, the result of the conservatives was even worse. Against the background of declining support for the party among the population, Thatcher entered the struggle for the post of chairman of the Conservative Party. Promising party reforms, she enlisted the support of the so-called 1922 Committee of the Conservative members of Parliament. In 1975, in the election of party chairman, Thatcher defeated Heath in the first round of voting, who was forced to resign. In the second round, she defeated William Whitelaw, who was considered the most preferred successor to Heath, and already on February 11, 1975, she officially became the chairman of the Conservative Party, appointing Whitelaw as her deputy.

After her election, Thatcher began to regularly attend formal dinners at the Institute for Economic Relations, a think tank founded by tycoon Anthony Fischer, a student of Friedrich von Hayek. Participation in these meetings significantly influenced her views, now formed under the influence of the ideas of Ralph Harris and Arthur Seldon. As a result, Thatcher became the face of an ideological movement opposed to the idea of a welfare state. The institute's pamphlets offered the following recipe for the recovery of the British economy: less government intervention in the economy, lower taxes and more freedom for businesses and consumers.

On January 19, 1976, Thatcher made a sharp criticism of the Soviet Union: “The Russians are set on world domination, and they are rapidly acquiring the means necessary to become the most powerful imperial state the world has ever seen. The men in the Soviet Politburo need not worry about the rapid change in public opinion. They chose guns instead of butter, while for us almost everything else is more important than guns..

In response to this The newspaper of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR "Red Star" called Thatcher "Iron Lady". Soon the translation of this nickname in the English newspaper "The Sunday Times" as "Iron Lady" was firmly entrenched in Margaret.

Despite the recovery of the British economy in the late 1970s, the Labor government was faced with the problem of public anxiety about the future course of the country, as well as a series of strikes in the winter of 1978-1979 (this page in British history became known as the "Winter of Dissent"). The Conservatives, in turn, staged regular attacks on Labor, primarily blaming them for record unemployment. After the government of James Callaghan received a vote of no confidence in early 1979, snap parliamentary elections were announced in the UK.

The Conservatives built their campaign promises around economic issues, arguing for the need for privatization and liberal reforms. They promised to fight inflation and work to weaken the unions, since the strikes they organized caused significant damage to the economy.

According to the results of the elections on May 3, 1979, the Conservatives confidently won, receiving 43.9% of the vote and 339 seats in the House of Commons (Labor received 36.9% of the vote and 269 seats in the House of Commons), and on May 4, Thatcher became the first woman Prime Minister UK. In this position, Thatcher launched a vigorous effort to reform the British economy and society as a whole.

In the parliamentary elections of 1983, the Thatcher-led Conservatives received the support of 42.43% of the voters, while the Labor Party received only 27.57% of the vote. This was also facilitated by the crisis in the Labor Party, which proposed a further increase in public spending, the restoration of the public sector in the previous volume and an increase in taxes for the rich. In addition, a split occurred in the party, and an influential part of the Laborites (“gang of four”) founded the Social Democratic Party, which came out in these elections together with the Liberal Party. Finally, factors such as the aggressiveness of neoliberal ideology, populism of Thatcherism, the radicalization of trade unions, as well as the Falklands War, played against the Laborites.

In the 1987 parliamentary elections, the Conservatives again won, receiving 42.3% of the vote against 30.83% for the Labor Party. This was due to the fact that Thatcher, thanks to her tough and unpopular measures in the economy and the social sphere, managed to achieve stable economic growth. Foreign investments that began to actively flow into the UK contributed to the modernization of production and an increase in the competitiveness of manufactured products. At the same time, the Thatcher government managed to keep inflation at a very low level for a long time. In addition, by the end of the 1980s, thanks to the measures taken, the unemployment rate was significantly reduced.

Particular attention from the media was paid to the relationship between the Prime Minister and the Queen, with whom meetings were held weekly to discuss current political issues. In July 1986, the British newspaper The Sunday Times published an article in which the author claimed that there were disagreements between Buckingham Palace and Downing Street on "a wide range of issues relating to domestic and foreign policy." In response to this article, the Queen's representatives issued an official rebuttal, rejecting any possibility of a constitutional crisis in Britain. After Thatcher's departure from the post of prime minister, the entourage of Elizabeth II continued to call "nonsense" any allegations that the queen and the prime minister were in conflict with each other. Subsequently, the former Prime Minister wrote: "I have always considered the attitude of the Queen to the work of the Government perfectly correct ... stories about the contradictions between" two powerful women "were too good not to invent them."

After the British riots in 1981, the British media openly talked about the need for fundamental changes in the country's economic course. However, at the 1980 Conservative party conference, Thatcher openly declared: “Turn if you want. Lady doesn't turn!".

In December 1980, Thatcher's approval rating dropped to 23%, the lowest ever for a British prime minister. After the worsening of the situation in the economy and the deepening of the recession in the early 1980s, Thatcher, despite the worries of leading economists, raised taxes.

By 1982, there were positive developments in the UK economy, indicating its recovery: the inflation rate fell from 18% to 8.6%. Nevertheless, for the first time since the 1930s, the number of unemployed was over 3 million people. By 1983, economic growth accelerated, and inflation and mortgage lending rates were at their lowest levels since 1970. Despite this, the volume of production compared with 1970 fell by 30%, and the number of unemployed reached its peak in 1984 - 3.3 million people.

By 1987, the country's unemployment rate had fallen, the economy had stabilized, and inflation was relatively low. An important role in supporting the UK economy was played by the revenues from the 90% tax on North Sea oil, which were also actively used to implement reforms during the 1980s.

According to public opinion polls, the Conservative Party enjoyed the greatest support among the population, and the successful results of local council elections for the Conservatives prompted Thatcher to call parliamentary elections for June 11, although the deadline for holding them was only 12 months later. According to the election results, Margaret retained the post of Prime Minister of Great Britain for a third term.

During her third premier term, Thatcher introduced a reform of taxation, the proceeds of which went to the budgets of local governments: instead of a tax based on the nominal rental value of a house, the so-called “communal tax” (poll tax) was introduced, which at the same rate was supposed to pay each adult resident of the house. In 1989 this type of tax was introduced in Scotland, and in 1990 in England and Wales. The reform of the tax system became one of the most unpopular measures during Thatcher's premiership. On March 31, 1990, public discontent resulted in large demonstrations in London, in which about 70,000 people took part. The demonstrations in Trafalgar Square eventually turned into riots in which 113 people were injured and 340 arrested. Extreme popular dissatisfaction with the tax led Thatcher's successor, John Major, to cancel it.

On October 12, 1984, the Irish Republican Army assassinated Thatcher. by detonating a bomb in a hotel in Brighton during a Conservative conference. As a result of the attack, five people were killed, including the wife of one of the members of the Cabinet of Ministers. Thatcher herself was unharmed and opened the party conference the next day. As scheduled, she gave a speech, which drew support from political circles and increased her popularity among the public.

On November 6, 1981, Thatcher and Irish Prime Minister Garrett Fitzgerald established the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Council, within which regular meetings were held between representatives of both governments. On November 15, 1985, Thatcher and Fitzgerald signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement at Hillsborough Castle, according to which the reunification of Ireland was to take place only if this idea was supported by the majority of the population of Northern Ireland. In addition, for the first time in history, the British Government has given the Republic of Ireland an advisory role in the administration of Northern Ireland. An intergovernmental conference of Irish and British officials was ordered to discuss political and other matters relating to Northern Ireland, with the Republic of Ireland representing the interests of Northern Irish Catholics.

In foreign policy Thatcher was guided by the United States and supported the initiatives of Ronald Reagan in relation to the USSR, which both politicians treated with distrust. During her first term as prime minister, she came out in support of NATO's decision to deploy to Western Europe land-based missiles BGM-109G and short-range missiles Pershing-1A, and also allowed the US military, starting on November 14, 1983, to deploy more than 160 cruise missiles at the US air force base Greenham Common, located in the English Berkshire, which caused massive protests from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. In addition, Great Britain under Thatcher bought more than £12 billion (in 1996-1997 prices) of Trident missiles to be installed on its SSBNs, which were supposed to replace the Polaris missiles. As a result, the country's nuclear forces have tripled.

Thus, in matters of defense, the British government relied entirely on the United States. In January 1986, the Westland Affair received significant publicity. Thatcher went out of her way to ensure that Westland, the national helicopter manufacturer, refused a merger offer from the Italian company Agusta in favor of an offer from the American company Sikorsky Aircraft. Subsequently, British Secretary of State for Defense Michael Heseltine, who supported the Agusta deal, resigned.

On April 2, 1982, Argentine troops landed in the British Falkland Islands, provoking the start of the Falklands War. The onset of the crisis, as history has shown, was a key event in the years of premiership. At the suggestion of Harold Macmillan and Robert Armstrong, Thatcher became the founder and chairman of the War Cabinet, which by 5-6 April tasked the British Navy with regaining control of the islands. On June 14, the Argentine military surrendered, and the military operation ended in success for the British side, although 255 British soldiers and three residents of the Falkland Islands were killed during the conflict. The Argentine side lost 649 people (of which 323 people died as a result of the sinking of the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano by the British nuclear submarine). During the conflict, Thatcher was criticized for neglecting the defense of the Falkland Islands, as well as for the decision to sink the General Belgrano. Nevertheless, Thatcher was able to use all military and diplomatic options to restore British sovereignty over the islands. This policy was welcomed by the British, which markedly strengthened the faltering position of the Conservatives and Thatcher's leadership in the party before the 1983 parliamentary elections. Thanks to the "Falklands factor", the economic recovery of early 1982 and the divisions among the Labor Party, the Conservative Party, led by Thatcher, managed to win the election.

Thatcher, unlike many conservatives, was cool about the idea of further deepening European integration. In 1988, in a speech in Bruges, she opposed the initiatives of the EEC to increase the centralization of decision-making and the creation of federal structures. Although in general Thatcher advocated the membership of Great Britain in the integration association, she believed that the role of the organization should be limited to issues of ensuring free trade and effective competition. Despite the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson and Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe, Margaret strongly opposed the country's participation in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, the predecessor of the European Monetary Union, believing that this would impose restrictions on the British economy. However, John Major managed to convince Thatcher, and in October 1990 the UK became a member of the mechanism.

The role of the British Commonwealth has diminished under Thatcher. Thatcher's disappointment in this organization was explained by the increased, from her point of view, interest of the Commonwealth in resolving the situation in southern Africa on terms that did not meet the requirements of the British conservatives. Thatcher saw the Commonwealth only as a useful structure for negotiations of little value.

Thatcher was one of the first among Western politicians to positively assess the reformist mood of the Soviet leader, with whom she first held talks in London in December 1984. Back in November 1988 - a year before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Eastern European socialist regimes - she announced the end of the Cold War openly for the first time: "Now we are not in a cold war," as "new relations are broader than ever." In 1985, Thatcher visited the Soviet Union and met with Mikhail Gorbachev and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Nikolai Ryzhkov. Initially, she opposed the possible unification of Germany. According to her, this "will lead to a change in the post-war borders, and we cannot allow this, since such a development of events will call into question the stability of the entire international situation and may threaten our security." In addition, Thatcher feared that a united Germany would cooperate more with the USSR, relegating NATO to the background. At the same time, the Prime Minister spoke out in support of the independence of Croatia and Slovenia.

During her premiership, Thatcher had the second lowest average level of popular support (around 40%) of all post-war British prime ministers. Opinion polls indicated that her popularity was below that of the Conservative Party. However, the self-confident Thatcher always insisted that she had little interest in various ratings, pointing to record support during the parliamentary elections.

The next day, Michael Heseltine announced his desire to lead the Conservative Party. According to public opinion polls, it was his personality that could help the Conservatives overtake Labor. Although Thatcher managed to take first place in the first round of voting, Heseltine secured enough votes (152 votes) for a second round. Margaret initially intended to continue the fight to a victorious end in the second round, but after consultation with the Cabinet, she decided to withdraw from the election. After an audience with the Queen and her final speech in the House of Commons, Thatcher resigned as prime minister. She considered her removal from office a betrayal.

The post of Prime Minister of Great Britain and chairman of the Conservative Party passed to John Major, at the head of which the Conservative Party managed to win the 1992 parliamentary elections.

After leaving the House of Commons, Thatcher became the first former British Prime Minister to establish a foundation. It was closed in 2005 due to financial difficulties. Thatcher wrote two volumes of memoirs, The Downing Street Years (1993) and The Path to Power (1995).

In July 1992, Margaret was hired by the Philip Morris tobacco company as a "geopolitical consultant" with a $250,000 job salary and a $250,000 annual contribution to her foundation. In addition, for each public performance, she received $50,000.

In August 1992, Thatcher called on NATO to stop the Serb massacres in the Bosnian cities of Gorazde and Sarajevo, putting an end to the ethnic cleansing of the Bosnian War period. She compared the situation in Bosnia to "the worst extremes of the Nazis", saying that the situation in the province could become a new Holocaust. Thatcher also spoke in the House of Lords criticizing the Maastricht Treaty, which, in her words, "she would never have signed."

Against the background of the growing interest of Western oil companies in the energy resources of the Caspian Sea, in September 1992, Thatcher visited Baku, where she took part in the signing of an agreement on the appraisal development of the Chirag and Shah Deniz fields between the Government of Azerbaijan and British British Petroleum and Norwegian Statoil.

In 1998, after the arrest by Spanish authorities of the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who was to stand trial for massive violations of human rights, Thatcher called for his release, citing his support for Britain during the Falklands conflict. In 1999, she visited a former politician who was under house arrest in a suburb of London. Pinochet was released by Home Secretary Jack Straw in March 2000 for medical reasons.

During the 2001 parliamentary elections, Thatcher supported the Conservatives, although she did not approve the candidacy of Ian Duncan Smith for the post of leader of the Conservative Party, as was the case with John Major and William Hague. Nevertheless, immediately after the election, she favored Duncan Smith over Kenneth Clark.

In March 2002, Thatcher published The Art of Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World, which she dedicated to Ronald Reagan (the book was also published in Russian). In it, Margaret expressed her position on a number of international political events and processes. She argued that there would be no peace in the Middle East until Saddam Hussein was overthrown; wrote about the need for Israel to sacrifice territory in exchange for peace, the utopianism of the European Union. In her opinion, Britain needs to reconsider the terms of its membership in the EU or even leave the integration entity by joining NAFTA.

On June 11, 2004, Thatcher attended the funeral. Due to health problems, a video recording of her funeral speech was made in advance. Then Thatcher, along with Reagan's entourage, went to California, where she attended a memorial service and burial ceremony at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

Margaret celebrated her 80th birthday on October 13, 2005 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in London. Among the guests were Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh, Alexandra of Kent and Tony Blair. Geoffrey Howe, who also attended the celebrations, stated that "her real triumph transformed not only one but both parties, so that when Labor returned to power, much of the principles of Thatcherism were taken for granted by them."

In 2006, Thatcher, as a guest of Dick Cheney, attended an official memorial service in Washington to commemorate the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. During the visit, Margaret met with the US Secretary of State.

In February 2007, Thatcher became the first British Prime Minister to have a monument erected in the British Parliament during his lifetime (the official opening took place on February 21, 2007 in the presence of a former politician). Bronze statue with an elongated right hand located opposite the statue of the political idol Thatcher -. Thatcher gave a short speech in the House of Commons, stating that "I would rather have an iron statue, but bronze will do too ... It will not rust."

At the end of November 2009, Thatcher briefly returned to 10 Downing Street to present her official portrait to the public by artist Richard Stone (who also painted portraits of Elizabeth II and her mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon). This event was a manifestation of special respect for the former prime minister, who was still alive.

In 2002, Thatcher experienced several minor strokes, after which the doctor advised her to refuse to participate in public events and move away from public and political activity. After collapsing during a dinner in the House of Commons on 7 March 2008, she was taken to St Thomas' Hospital in central London. In June 2009, she was hospitalized due to a broken arm. Until the end of her life she suffered from dementia (senile dementia).

At the 2010 Conservative Party Conference, the country's new prime minister, David Cameron, announced that he would once again invite Thatcher to 10 Downing Street on the occasion of her 85th birthday, which would be marked by celebrations with the participation of former and current ministers. However, Margaret ruled out any celebrations, citing the flu. April 29, 2011 Thatcher was invited to the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, but did not attend the ceremony due to poor health.

In the last years of her life, Margaret Thatcher was seriously ill. On December 21, 2012, she underwent surgery to remove a bladder tumor. Thatcher died in the early morning of April 8, 2013, at the age of 88, at the Ritz Hotel in central London, where she had been living after being discharged from the hospital at the end of 2012. The cause of death was a stroke.

The funeral service was held at St. Paul's Cathedral in London with military honors. Back in 2005, Thatcher drew up a detailed plan for her funeral, and preparations for them have been carried out since 2007 - all events in which the Queen takes part are planned in advance. At her funeral, according to the plan, the "Iron Lady" wished the presence of Queen Elizabeth II, members of the royal family, as well as major political figures of the Thatcher era, including ex-USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev (he could not arrive for health reasons). According to Thatcher's last will, the orchestra performed selected works by the English composer Edward Elgar. After the memorial service, a cremation took place, and the ashes, according to the will of the deceased, were buried next to her husband Denis in the cemetery of the military hospital in the London district of Chelsea. The funeral took place on April 17 and cost 6 million pounds.