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Margaret Thatcher

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990

"Iron Lady" redirects here. For other uses, see Iron Lady (disambiguation) and Margaret Thatcher (disambiguation).

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher^{[nb 2]} (née Roberts; 13 October 1925 – 8 April 2013), was a British stateswoman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the first woman to hold the position. As prime minister, she implemented policies that came to be known as Thatcherism. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the "Iron Lady", a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style.

Thatcher studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, and worked briefly as a research chemist before becoming a barrister. She was elected Member of Parliament for Finchley in 1959. Edward Heath appointed her secretary of state for education an

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1925-1947: childhood

She was born "Margaret Hilda Roberts" in Grantham, a small town in eastern England, on 13 October 1925. Her parents, Alf and Beatrice Roberts, ran a grocery and she lived over the shop, sometimes helping behind the counter. She had an older sister called Muriel, but no brothers or other close family.

When she was born the town was still recovering from the Great War of 1914-18. There were fewer children than usual because so many men had been away fighting, and some of them were killed. As she grew older people began to be worried there would be another war. Unfortunately they were right. The Second World War broke out in 1939 when she was 14 and lasted till 1945 when she was 20.

Also during her childhood lots of people had no jobs and had very little money. The Roberts family was luckier than most and did baking for people who were unwell or didn't have enough to eat, which people from their church took round. They went to services together twice every Sunday.

So she grew up at a time when terrible things were happening in the world and life was much ha

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Margaret Hilda Roberts was born on 13 October 1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire, the daughter of a grocer. She went to Oxford University and then became a research chemist, retraining to become a barrister in 1954. In 1951, she married Denis Thatcher, a wealthy businessman, with whom she had two children.

Early political career

Thatcher became a Conservative member of parliament for Finchley in North London in 1959, serving as its MP until 1992. Her first parliamentary post was junior minister for pensions in Harold Macmillan's government. From 1964 to 1970, when Labour were in power, she served in a number of positions in Edward Heath's shadow cabinet. Heath became prime minister in 1970 and Thatcher was appointed secretary for education.

Leadership

After the Conservatives were defeated in 1974, Thatcher challenged Heath for the leadership of the party and, to the surprise of many, won. In the 1979 general election, the Conservatives came to power and Thatcher became prime minister.

She was an advocate of privatising state-owned industries and utilities, reforming trade uni