Premiership of Margaret Thatcher

	Thatcher in 1983
	Premiership of Margaret Thatcher; 4 May 1979 – 28 November 1990
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Cabinet	First Thatcher ministry; Second Thatcher ministry; Third Thatcher ministry;
Party	Conservative
Election	1979; 1983; 1987;
Seat	10 Downing Street
	← James Callaghan John Major →
	; Coat of arms of HM Government
	Library website

Margaret Thatcher's term as the prime Minister of the United Kingdom began on 4 May 1979 when she accepted an invitation of Queen Elizabeth II to form a government, and ended on 28 November 1990 upon her resignation. She was elected to the position in 1979, having led the Conservative Party since 1975, and won landslide re-elections for the Conservatives in 1983 and 1987. She gained intense media attention as Britain's first female prime minister, and was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century.^[1] Her premiership ended when she withdrew from the 1990 Conservative leadership election. While serving as prime minister, Thatcher also served as the First Lord of the Treasury, the Minister for the Civil Service and the Leader of the Conservative Party.

In domestic policy, Thatcher implemented sweeping reforms concerning the affairs of the economy, eventually including the privatisation of most nationalised industries,^[2] and the weakening of trade unions.^[3] She emphasised reducing the government's role and letting the marketplace decide in terms of the neoliberal ideas pioneered by Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek, promoted by her mentor Keith Joseph, and promulgated by the media as Thatcherism.^[4] In foreign policy, Thatcher decisively defeated Argentina in the Falklands War in 1982. In longer-range terms she worked with Ronald Reagan to wage a war against communism during the Cold War. However, she also promoted collaboration with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in ending the Cold War.^[5]

In her first years she had a deeply divided cabinet. As the leader of the "dry" faction she purged most of the One Nation "wet" Conservatives and took full control.^[6]^: 34 By the late 1980s, however, she had alienated several senior members of her Cabinet with her opposition to greater economic integration into the European Economic Community, which she argued would lead to a federalist Europe and surrender Britain's ability to self govern. She also alienated many Conservative voters and parliamentarians with the imposition of a local poll tax. As her support ebbed away, she was challenged for her leadership and persuaded by Cabinet to withdraw from the second round of voting – ending her eleven-year premiership. She was succeeded by John Major, her Chancellor of the Exchequer.

On becoming prime minister after her party the 1979 general election, Thatcher introduced a series of economic policies intended to reverse high inflation and Britain's struggles in the wake of the Winter of Discontent and an oncoming recession.^[a] Her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised greater individual liberty, the privatisation of state-owned companies, and reducing the power and influence of trade unions. Her popularity in her first years in office waned amid recession and rising unemployment. Victory in the 1982 Falklands War and the recovering economy brought a resurgence of support, resulting in her party's landslide re-election in 1983. She survived an assassination attempt by the Provisional IRA in the 1984 Brighton hotel bombing and achieved a political victory against the National Union of Mineworkers in the 1984–85 miners' strike. In 1986, Thatcher oversaw the deregulation of UK financial markets, leading to an economic boom, in what came to be known as the Big Bang.

Thatcher was re-elected for a third term with another landslide for her party in 1987, but her subsequent support for the Community Charge (also known as the "poll tax") was widely unpopular, and her increasingly Eurosceptic views on the European Community were not shared by others in her cabinet. She resigned as prime minister and party leader in 1990, after a challenge was launched to her leadership, and was succeeded by John Major, her chancellor of the Exchequer.^[b]

A polarising figure in British politics, Thatcher is nonetheless viewed favourably in historical rankings and public opinion of British prime ministers. Her tenure constituted a realignment towards neoliberal policies in Britain; the complex legacy attributed to this shift continues to be debated into the 21st century. In the US, Thatcher received the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award from the Reagan Presidential Foundation in 1998.^[9]

^ Campbell, Beatrix (2015), "Margaret Thatcher: To be or not to be a woman", British Politics, 10 (1): 41–51, doi:10.1057/bp.2014.27, S2CID 143944033
^ Marsh, David (1991), "Privatization under Mrs. Thatcher: a review of the literature", Public Administration, 69 (4): 459–480, doi:10.1111/j.1467-9299.1991.tb00915.x
^ Dorey, Peter (2016), "Weakening the Trade Unions, One Step at a Time: The Thatcher Governments' Strategy for the Reform of Trade-Union Law, 1979–1984" (PDF), Historical Studies in Industrial Relations, 37: 169–200, doi:10.3828/hsir.2016.37.6^{[dead link]}
^ Evans, Eric J. (2018), Thatcher and Thatcherism (fourth ed.), Taylor & Francis, ISBN 978-0-429-89275-2
^ Brown, Archie (2020), The Human Factor: Gorbachev, Reagan, and Thatcher, and the End of the Cold War, OUP Oxford, ISBN 978-0-19-106561-3
^ Evans, Eric J. (2004), Thatcher and Thatcherism (reprint, revised ed.), Psychology Press, ISBN 978-0-415-27013-7
^ "1979 Conservative Party General Election Manifesto". PoliticalStuff.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 October 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2009.
^ Heffer, Simon (29 October 2019). "The rats and cowards who brought down a Titan". The Critic Magazine. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
^ "The Ronald Reagan Freedom Award". Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. Archived from the original on 4 January 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2017.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

[auto-1] Campbell, Beatrix (2015), "Margaret Thatcher: To be or not to be a woman", British Politics, 10 (1): 41–51, doi:10.1057/bp.2014.27, S2CID 143944033

[2] Marsh, David (1991), "Privatization under Mrs. Thatcher: a review of the literature", Public Administration, 69 (4): 459–480, doi:10.1111/j.1467-9299.1991.tb00915.x

[3] Dorey, Peter (2016), "Weakening the Trade Unions, One Step at a Time: The Thatcher Governments' Strategy for the Reform of Trade-Union Law, 1979–1984" (PDF), Historical Studies in Industrial Relations, 37: 169–200, doi:10.3828/hsir.2016.37.6^{[dead link]}

[Evans2018-4] Evans, Eric J. (2018), Thatcher and Thatcherism (fourth ed.), Taylor & Francis, ISBN 978-0-429-89275-2

[Brown2020-5] Brown, Archie (2020), The Human Factor: Gorbachev, Reagan, and Thatcher, and the End of the Cold War, OUP Oxford, ISBN 978-0-19-106561-3

[Evans2004-6] Evans, Eric J. (2004), Thatcher and Thatcherism (reprint, revised ed.), Psychology Press, ISBN 978-0-415-27013-7

[PoliticalStuff.co.uk-7] "1979 Conservative Party General Election Manifesto". PoliticalStuff.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 October 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2009.

[Heffer-9] Heffer, Simon (29 October 2019). "The rats and cowards who brought down a Titan". The Critic Magazine. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2020.

[:0-11] "The Ronald Reagan Freedom Award". Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. Archived from the original on 4 January 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2017.

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Thatcher in 1983

Premiership of Margaret Thatcher 4 May 1979 – 28 November 1990
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Cabinet	First Thatcher ministry Second Thatcher ministry Third Thatcher ministry
Party	Conservative
Election	1979 1983 1987
Seat	10 Downing Street
← James Callaghan John Major →
Coat of arms of HM Government
Library website