Thatcher becomes Britain’s first female party leader
The Grantham MP takes the helm of the Conservative party… to mixed reactions
Tuesday11 February 1975 was a big day in the Thatcher household. Carol was due to take one of her Law Society exams that afternoon, but her mother seemed to have other things on her mind. “You can’t be as nervous as I am,” Margaret Thatcher told her daughter at breakfast, ostentatiously crossing the fingers on both hands.
She need not have worried. A week earlier, the former Grantham grammar- school girl had toppled the incumbent, Edward Heath, and now the momentum was with her. At 4pm, the news broke that she had won 146 votes, far ahead of her nearest rival, Willie Whitelaw.
When Mrs Thatcher met the press just before 6pm, she seemed the picture of serene self-confidence. Had her gender been an issue? No, she said: “I would like to think it was merit.”
Only on the BBC news that evening did the first woman to lead a British political party betray the emotions surging through her veins. “My predecessors, Edward Heath, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Harold Macmillan, Anthony Eden, then of course the great Winston,” Mrs Thatcher said breathily. “It is like a dream… I almost wept when they told me” – and then, biting her lip, her eyes welling up – “I did weep.”
Mrs Thatcher’s admirers were, of course, beside themselves with joy. “The Lady is a Champ!” roared the next day’s Daily Mail, exulting that the Tories had “chosen a woman of ambition, nerve and brilliance to lead them”. But among the old guard, all was consternation. “My God!” exclaimed one party vice-chairman when the result came through. “The bitch has won!”