Margaret Thatcher

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The Right Honourable The Baroness Thatcher LG OM DStJ PC FRS HonFRSC
Portrait of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (2005)
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 4 May 1979 – 28 November 1990
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Deputy	Sir Geoffrey Howe (1989–90)
Preceded by	James Callaghan
Succeeded by	John Major
Leader of the Opposition
In office 11 February 1975 – 4 May 1979
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson James Callaghan
Preceded by	Edward Heath
Succeeded by	James Callaghan
Leader of the Conservative Party
In office 11 February 1975 – 27 November 1990
Deputy	The Viscount Whitelaw
Preceded by	Edward Heath
Succeeded by	John Major
Ministerial offices Secretary of State for Education and Science In office 20 June 1970 – 4 March 1974 Prime Minister Edward Heath Preceded by Edward Short Succeeded by Reg Prentice Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Pensions In office 9 October 1961 – 16 October 1964 Serving with Richard Sharples and Lynch Maydon Prime Minister Harold Macmillan Sir Alec Douglas-Home Preceded by Patricia Hornsby-Smith Succeeded by Norman Pentland
Shadow Cabinet offices Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment In office 5 March 1974 – 11 February 1975 Leader Edward Heath Shadowing Anthony Crosland Preceded by Anthony Crosland Succeeded by Timothy Raison Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Science In office 10 January 1967 – 20 June 1970 Leader Edward Heath Shadowing Anthony Crosland Patrick Gordon Walker Edward Short Preceded by Richard Crossman Succeeded by Edward Short
Parliamentary offices Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal Life peerage 30 June 1992 – 8 April 2013 Member of Parliament for Finchley In office 8 October 1959 – 16 March 1992 Preceded by Sir John Crowder Succeeded by Hartley Booth
Personal details
Born	Margaret Hilda Roberts (1925-10-13)13 October 1925 Grantham, England
Died	8 April 2013(2013-04-08) (aged 87) London, England
Resting place	Royal Hospital Chelsea 51°29′21″N 0°09′22″W / 51.489057°N 0.156195°W / 51.489057; -0.156195
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Denis Thatcher ​ ​ (m. 1951; died 2003)​
Children	Mark Carol
Parents	Alfred Roberts (father)
Education	Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School
Alma mater	Somerville College, Oxford Inns of Court School of Law
Occupation	Barrister chemist politician
Website	Foundation

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher LG OM DStJ PC FRS HonFRSC (13 October 1925 – 8 April 2013) was a British stateswoman. She served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 until her resignation in 1990,^[1] longer than any other British prime minister in the 20th century. She led the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. Thatcher was the first female British prime minister and was often known by the nickname "The Iron Lady", given to her by a journalist from the Soviet Union.^[2] Her birth name was Margaret Hilda Roberts.

Thatcher studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, and worked briefly as a research chemist, before becoming a barrister. She was elected Member of Parliament for Finchley in 1959. Edward Heath made her a Secretary of State in his government of 1970 to 1974. In 1975, she beat Heath in the Conservative Party leadership election to become Leader of the Opposition and the first woman to lead a major British political party. In 1979, she was elected Prime Minister, and won a landslide re-election in 1983 after victory in the 1982 Falklands War and the recovering economy brought a revival of support.

Thatcher was re-elected for a third term with another landslide in 1987, but her support for the Community Charge ("poll tax") was very unpopular, and her more Eurosceptic views on the European Community were not shared by others in her Cabinet. She resigned as Prime Minister and party leader in November 1990, after a challenge was made by Michael Heseltine to her leadership. After retiring from the House of Commons in 1992, she was given a life peerage as Baroness Thatcher, which gave her the right to sit in the House of Lords. In 2013, she died of a stroke in London, at the age of 87.

Thatcher is a controversial figure in British political culture, but is still viewed positively in most opinion polls of British prime ministers. The debate over her neoliberal policies and legacy continues in the UK into the 21st century.

1. ↑ "Margaret Thatcher". BBC History. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
2. ↑ Frei, Matt (24 October 2007). "Washington diary: Best of friends?". BBC News. Retrieved 5 September 2009.