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Margaret Thatcher
Historical figureUnited Kingdom1925-2013

Margaret Thatcher

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1979-1990) · Leader of the Conservative Party (1975-1990)

Britain's first woman prime minister, a Conservative who led from 1979 to 1990 and pushed privatisation, deregulation and curbs on trade unions.

Compare yourself See the 12 scores
Profile on 12 axesAll 12 documented
ECONOMYSTATESOCIETYWORLDOwnershipMarketsWelfareAuthoritySecurityStructureMoralityReligionTechnologyCultureTradeForeign
Where they stood

Margaret Thatcher, axis by axis

  1. 01Ownership+65
    PublicPrivate
  2. 02Markets+70
    PlannedFree
  3. 03Welfare+50
    SharedSelf-reliant
  4. 04Authority-10
    DemocraticStrong leader

    She ruled through Parliament and won three elections, although critics found her overbearing in cabinet. Her score sits near the democratic mainstream.

  5. 05Security+60
    LibertyOrder
  6. 06Structure+60
    LocalCentral

    She scrapped the Greater London Council and the metropolitan counties, limited what local councils could charge and opposed devolution, but resisted centralising power in Europe. For domestic policy she scores toward central.

  7. 07Morality+35
    ProgressiveTraditional

    As an MP she voted for 1960s laws easing rules on homosexuality and abortion. Her government later brought in Section 28, in 1988, and she often praised traditional family values. She scores moderately traditional.

  8. 08Religion+20
    SecularReligious
  9. 09Technology-10
    EmbraceCaution

    She trained as a chemist, backed nuclear energy and warned about climate change in 1989. That leaves her near the middle.

  10. 10Culture+50
    MulticulturalNational identity
  11. 11Trade-55
    GlobalProtected

    She was a keen champion of free trade and of the European single market, but she was against a shared currency and closer political union. She scores toward global trade.

  12. 12Foreign policy+50
    CooperationStrength

Who was Margaret Thatcher?

Margaret Thatcher grew up in Grantham, where her father kept a shop and was a local mayor. At Oxford she read chemistry, and later she qualified as a barrister, and in 1959 she became MP for Finchley. She served as Education Secretary in Edward Heath's cabinet, and in 1975 she defeated him to lead the Conservatives. As prime minister from 1979 she won again in 1983 and 1987, and she took the country through the 1982 Falklands War. Unemployment was very high in her first years, and a miners' strike ran from 1984 to 1985. A challenge from her own party ended her time in office in November 1990. She was later given a seat in the Lords and died in London in 2013.

Political views

  • Her government sold off state industries, cut taxes, loosened rules on business and reformed trade union law. The aim was to shrink the role of the state.Source: gov.uk
  • Under the Housing Act 1980, council tenants gained the right to buy their homes.Source: gov.uk
  • She brought market ideas into health care and schools.Source: gov.uk
  • She sent a task force to the Falkland Islands in 1982 after Argentina took them.Source: gov.uk
  • She built a warm working bond with US president Ronald Reagan in the Cold War years.Source: gov.uk
  • She refused to hand extra authority to the European Parliament and Commission, and she would not accept a shared currency.Source: api.parliament.uk

Legacy

Supporters say Thatcher turned around a declining economy, tamed inflation, broke union power, spread home and share ownership and helped bring the Cold War to a close. Critics blame her policies for heavy unemployment in the early 1980s and for the decline of heavy industry across much of the north, Scotland and Wales. They also point to growing inequality and the hated community charge. The set of ideas called Thatcherism still divides opinion. Rows with colleagues over Europe helped bring her down in 1990. Later governments, Labour ones included, kept much of her economic settlement, such as privatised utilities and union laws. Supporters see that as proof of a lasting change.

In their own words

“he wanted the European Parliament to be the democratic body of the Community, he wanted the Commission to be the Executive and he wanted the Council of Ministers to be the Senate. No. No. No.”
Statement to the House of Commons on the European Council in Rome, referring to Jacques Delors, 30 October 1990

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Margaret Thatcher: questions

Was Margaret Thatcher left or right?

She was on the right. A Conservative, she backed free markets, lower taxes, privatisation and tougher law and order. On the 12 axes she scores clearly toward private ownership and free markets.

What did Margaret Thatcher believe about Europe?

She liked the single market and free trade across Europe. She was against a shared currency and political union, and she resisted giving the European Parliament and Commission more power.

What is Thatcherism?

The word covers what her governments did: selling state firms, cutting red tape and income taxes, fighting inflation, changing union law and keeping a strong military. People still argue fiercely over whether it worked.

Sources