Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher
Born	Margaret Hilda Roberts 13 October 1925 Grantham, England, UK
Died	8 April 2013 London, England
Political orientation	Neoliberalism Imperialism
Political party	Conservative Party

Margaret Hilda Thatcher (13 October 1925 – 8 April 2013) was a Conservative British politician and Prime Minister of the UK from 1979 to 1990. In 1984, she privatised the coal mining industry, resulting in the loss of 20,000 jobs. She supported Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, Boris Yeltsin, and the apartheid system of South Africa. Thatcher allowed the United States to bomb Libya from air bases in England. Under her rule, the number of people living under 60% of the median income rose from 13.4% to 22.2%, and unemployment, crime, and drug trafficking also increased.

Early life

Thatcher's father was a shopkeeper and Mayor of Grantham. She was educated at the local grammar school and studied Chemistry at Oxford University, where she became president of the university Conservative association.

Political Career

Thatcher became Conservative MP for Finchley in 1959. She held junior posts before becoming Shadow Spokesperson for Education, and became Education Secretary in 1970.

She stood against Edward Heath for the party leadership in 1975 and won.

Premiership

In 1979, the Conservative Party won the General Election and Thatcher became Prime Minister, taking over from Labour's James Callaghan. The Conservatives went on to win the 1983 election as well by an overwhelming majority, helped by a divided opposition.

Domestic policy

Thatcher privatised many British industries, including Enterprise Oil (1984), British Telecom (1984), British Gas (1986), and British Steel (1988), destroyed the welfare state, and allowed monopolies to control the economy. Her attacks on unions led to uprisings in Liverpool, London, and Manchester in 1981.

Foreign policy

Thatcher considered freedom fighters like Nelson Mandela and Bobby Sands to be terrorists. She supported NATO's wars against Yugoslavia and Iraq and helped establish the EU in 1992.

Argentina

Thatcher invaded the Falkland Islands in a war against Argentina.

Ireland

Thatcher repressed the Irish population in the six British-occupied counties of Ireland during the Troubles, which began in 1968. Many Irish republicans died in a hunger strike starting in 1981. The Irish Republican Army attempted to kill her in 1984 by detonating bombs at a Conservative party conference, and she banned broadcasting pro-Sinn Féin content in occupied Ireland in 1988.

Resignation

Foreign Secretary, Geoffrey Howe resigned in November 1990 in protest at her attitude to Europe. His resignation speech spurred Michael Heseltine into challenging her for the leadership, which resulted in her resignation, with her giving her support to Chancellor John Major, who consequently became the next Prime Minister.

Post premiership

She left the House of Commons in 1992, and was appointed a life peerage in the House of Lords in the same year, receiving the title of Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven. In 1995 she was appointed as Lady Companion of the Order of the Garter, the highest order of Chivalry in the UK, the irony was lost on the imperialists.

Ideology

She firmly believed in individualism, even reaching the point of complete denial of the existence of a society.

Death

Following Thatcher's death on 8 April 2013, celebrations began in working class neighbourhoods all across Britain. A protest campaign started after Thatcher's death resulting in the song, Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead, shooting to the top of the Scottish charts and getting to 2nd in the UK charts. The BBC attempted to whitewash her reputation after her death, and refused to play the protest song in a charts rundown.