Margaret Thatcher

United Kingdom state institutions Conservatism and Christian democracy 1925.10.13.–2013.4.8. ○ Natural death

The "Iron Lady" who turned Britain towards neoliberalism through monetarist austerity, privatisation and confrontation with the unions

Born in Grantham, where her father owned a grocery, Thatcher studied chemistry at Oxford and became a barrister. Elected MP for Finchley in 1959, she was Education Secretary under Heath and in 1975 became Conservative leader. Prime Minister from 1979, she pressed through monetarist austerity, the sale of council houses and of state-owned companies, and curbs on trade union power; after victory in the Falklands War in 1982 she was re-elected in a landslide and in 1984–85 defeated the National Union of Mineworkers. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the "Iron Lady". She resigned in 1990 amid opposition to the poll tax and cabinet disagreement over Europe. She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the first woman in the office.

Also known as: Margaret Hilda Thatcher · Margaret Roberts · Baroness Thatcher