1925–2013, British political leader. Great Britain's first woman prime minister, nicknamed the "Iron Lady" for her uncompromising political stance, Thatcher served longer than any other British prime minister in the 20th cent. and was one of the most influential political figures of her era. In office she initiated what became known as the "Thatcher Revolution," a series of social and economic changes that dismantled many aspects of Britain's postwar welfare state, establishing in their place free-market economic policies and deregulated markets and industries.
1916–2005, British statesman. Educated at Oxford, he served in the Royal Artillery during World War II, rising to the rank of colonel.
..... Click the link for more information. elected her its first woman leader in 1975.
, Span. Islas Malvinas, group of islands (2015 est. pop. 3,000), 4,618 sq mi (11,961 sq km), S Atlantic, c.300 mi (480 km) E of the Strait of Magellan. The islands are a British overseas territory; the capital is Stanley.
..... Click the link for more information. , a British dependency in the South Atlantic, Britain's successful prosecution of the subsequent war contributed to Thatcher's soaring popularity and to the Conservative win at the polls in 1983.
..... Click the link for more information. and shared his antipathy to Communism. She allowed the United States to station (1980) nuclear cruise missiles in Britain and to use its air bases to bomb Libya in 1986. In 1985 she forged a historic accord with the Republic of Ireland, giving it a consulting role in governing Northern Ireland.
Thatcher led the Conservatives to a third consecutive electoral victory in 1987, although with a reduced majority. She proposed free-market changes to the national health and education systems and introduced a controversial per capita flat-rate "poll tax" to pay for local government, which fueled criticisms that she had no compassion for the poor. Her refusal to support a common European currency and integrated economic policies led to the resignation of her treasury minister in 1989 and her deputy prime minister in 1990.
..... Click the link for more information. emerged as her successor. In 1992 Thatcher retired from the House of Commons and was created Baroness Thatcher. In the mid-1990s Thatcher was publicly critical of Major's more moderate policies, and she continued to speak out against Conservative and Labour positions with which she disagreed.
See her memoirs, The Downing Street Years (1993) and The Path to Power (1995), her collected speeches in The Revival of Britain, compiled by A. Cooke (1989), and her Statecraft (2002); biographies by H. Young (1989), J. Blundell (2008), J. Campbell (2011), C. Moore (2 vol., 2013–16), and D. Cannadine (2017); studies by R. Lewis (1984), P. Jenkins (1987), and N. Wapshott (2007).