Name: Margaret Thatcher

Nickname: The Iron Lady

Occupation: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Date of Birth: October 13, 1925 in Grantham, England

Date of Death: April 8, 2013 in London, England

Famous for: First woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Introduction

Margaret Thatcher was the first Prime Minister of UK from the year 1979 to 1990 for about 11 years. She was the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and was the first woman to hold the highest Political office in the country. She belonged to the conservative ideology while she was the Prime Minister of the country. Apart from having had held such an important position she had also played a significant role in the Cold war that took place between Soviet Union and Communism.

Childhood and Early Life

She was born on 13th of October in Grantham, England and was born as Margaret Roberts. Margaret's father, Alfred owned a store as a part of his business and they would live on top of her father's business store. She also had an elder sister named Muriel. Margaret had the opportunity to gather information on Politics from her very early age as her father worked as a Mayor of Grantham.

She completed her graduation in chemistry from the Oxford University and while studying at the University her interest in Politics grew more. She gradually became a firm believer of the conservative ideology in which the Government's intervention in business is quite negligible. She also held the chair of President of the Conservative Association of the Oxford University. After she completed her graduation in the year 1947, she started working as a Chemist.

Political Journey of Margaret Thatcher

She tried her hands at the office and fought for the Parliamentary seat twice in Dartford but both times she lost. Though, belonging to the Conservative ideology, it was tough for her to win, but in all it was a very good experience for her. After that, she went back to the law school to earn a degree.

Her Tenure in Parliament

In the year 1959 she won a seat in the Parliament representing Finchley on the House of Commons. She served there for almost 30 years in all. She got appointed as the Education Secretary in the year 1970 and in next few years her position in the conservative party grew to a greater extent. In the year 1975 when the Conservative party lost on the majority position, and then she became the leader of the party to become the first female leader of the Opposition.

Her Tenure as the Prime Minister

In the year 1979 May, Margaret became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and that she remained on the thrown for almost 10 years. During her tenure as the Prime Minister of the country she made many achievements and many accomplishments, some of which are here.

Falkland War

Falkland War was one of the most significant works undertaken during the tenure of Margaret Thatcher. In the year 1982, April 2nd, the Falkland Island of Britain got invaded by the Argentine and quite immediately Margaret sent the British troops to reinvade the Falkland Island. Though it was a very tough war, but the within a few months the British forces were able to re-win the Falkland Island. On 14th June 1982, it came back in the control of British forces.

Cold War

She played one of the significant roles in letting the Cold War end by aligning herself with Ronald Reagan, the US President. She was against the Soviet Union's Communist States but she also worked towards easing the relationship with Mikhail Gorbachev.

Union Reform

Among her list of agendas to be taken care of, reducing the power o trade Union was one of an important one. She kept this a priority all through her tenure. And, this led to eventually reducing strikes by the trade Union workers and the lost working days by workers was also reduced significantly.

Privatization

She worked on privatisation thinking it as one of the key aspects of economic growth of the country. She moved many of the Government run industries into the private hands and that generally helped in reducing the prices.

Economy

In the beginning of her she brought about a number of transformations like Union reform, privatization, and increased in interest rates. Though, in the beginning, these reforms did not work that well but gradually they have significant effect on the economy of the country.

An Attempt to Assassinate Margaret Thatcher

While she was staying at the Brighton Hotel, in October 12 1984, a bomb was thrown with an aim to assassinate her. Although, it could not cause any damage to Margaret, but the hotel room was damaged to a greater extent. This assassination attempt was made by the Army of Irish Republican.

In 1990, 28th of November Margaret Thatcher put her resignation facing so much of pressure from the conservative party as they were of the opinion that her taxing policy is going to effect the party adversely in the upcoming elections.

Life after Leaving the office of Prime Minister

Before retiring in 1992, she kept on being the member of the Parliament. For the next 10 years she kept on being an active member of politics, wrote a number of books and gave speeches at a number of occasions. Her husband died in 2003, and she thereafter suffered a number of strokes and later in April 2013 she died in London.

Some Noteworthy facts about Margaret Thatcher

• In the year 1951, she got married to Denis Thatcher and they together had twin children named Carol and Mark.
• She had started a program which started free education in schools while she was working as the secretary of Education. She was called as "Thatcher, the milk snatcher".
• Because of her strong opposition to the Communism she was given the name of "The Iron Lady" by Soviet Captain Yuri Gavrilov.
• She also got Presidential Medal of Freedom.