“It was a move that galvanised a nation, united in a patriotic fervour and single belief that Britain was still a major player”
she won. In 1979, the unheard of happened and she became not just Britain’s first female
Prime Minister, but the first woman to govern a western democracy.
Coming to power with a landslide victory, she had a mandate to make sweeping changes. Representing the newly emboldened right wing of the Conservative Party, Prime Minister Thatcher advocated for people to be less dependent on the state, which took the form of privatising national utilities and cutting social services.
Having inherited a poor, failing economy, her solutions were harsh and difficult to bear for the poor and disadvantaged in society. However, her grit and determination prevailed and her famous “the lady’s not for turning” speech left her critics in no doubt as to her vision and the strength of her resolution.
Not all were to suffer under her time in office. Her focus was to inject momentum and strength into the economy with initiatives such as the ability of tenants to buy their council house (almost 2 million have been sold since the scheme was introduced in 1980). She also allowed the ordinary man in the street to purchase shares in the main utility companies as part of a massive privatisation programme; all pursued with a firm belief in giving ordinary men and women a greater choice over their money and a pride in their future.
It was national pride that was to be at the centre of a pivotal moment in Thatcher’s leadership. Following the invasion of the Falkland Islands by Argentina in 1982, Thatcher took the momentous decision to create and deploy a task force of thousands to retake the British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic.
It was a move that galvanised a nation, united in a patriotic fervour and single belief that Britain was still a major player to be reckoned with on the world stage. After Argentina surrendered a hero’s welcome awaited the returning task force.
Thatcher herself referred to the ‘Falklands spirit’ for many years afterwards.
As a player on the international stage she became something of a force to be reckoned with. Her role in aiding the peace process of Northern Ireland by signing the Anglo-irish Agreement is in direct conflict to her personal attacks on the Republican hunger strikers.
Her relations with US President Ronald Reagan gave her the platform from which she could project the image of Britain as a global influence to be taken seriously and listened to, even if this meant a lack of popularity at home.
The American cruise missiles based at Greenham Common, the use of British RAF bases for US aircraft to bomb Libya; all this played into the hands of those accusing Thatcher of being a puppet of the United States. But Thatcher did not view herself so blinkered in this way, and as part of her global charm offensive was even willing to engage with those at the complete opposite end of the political spectrum; she was the first British Prime Minister to visit the People’s Republic of China, and made an effort to form closer ties with the reformist policies of Mikhail Gorbachev as he guided the Soviet Union out of the Cold War.
But the glittering glamour of foreign policy was to be overshadowed by a grim harsh reality for
many under Thatcher’s domestic agenda. The introduction of the Community Charge, or ‘Poll Tax’ as it became known, became synonymous with Thatcherism at its most brutal, with taxation of property moving to taxation of individuals. It divided the nation into the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’, which for many was the same as class. Protests were country-wide and many of the bigger cities saw violence and riots.
Having seen a previous Tory government brought to its knees by union strike action, Margaret Thatcher was determined it would not happen again. When she clashed with the unions in 1984 over the closure of unprofitable coal pits, it was a confrontation of epic proportions and one she intended to win. Having stockpiled coal reserves, Thatcher stood firm. Without the unions having conducted a ballot, the strike was deemed unlawful. Whole communities suffered as the industrial action dragged on.
Images of violent clashes between strikers and police were beamed around the world. Thatcher was living up to her ‘iron lady’ image, but she was seen as cold and heartless, uncaring for the damage she was causing to hardworking families. But still she held firm and after a year the unions were forced to back down, opening up a new era in industrial relations and leaving the unions a shadow of their former selves.
The era of Thatcher was an era of change. In response to political and social turmoil of the 1970s, the world of the 1980s and beyond became a very different place, but at what cost? For her it was no pain no gain; for others it was a brutal dissection of society. Thatcher enabled huge numbers of people to own their own homes and to benefit from shared ownership, but she stripped entire communities of their livelihood and left many feeling targeted and victimised by unfair taxation. It cannot be denied that she broke the mould when she came to power, only to be criticised by some for not governing more like a woman, and by others for not being more like a man. Her conviction cannot be questioned, nor her ability to ignite passions on all sides.
As a world figure she became a colossus, but by her third term in office the cracks were beginning to show. She perhaps stayed just a little too long, and went out on a whimper rather than a bang.
While her policy of laissez-faire economics and individualism lives on as the right-wing philosophy we now call Thatcherism, her real legacy is how she transformed Britain – even if we’re still debating whether it was for better or worse.