In her second term, from to , Thatcher handled a number of conflicts and crises, the most jarring of which may have been the assassination attempt against her in In a plot by the Irish Republic Army, she was meant to be killed by a bomb planted at the Conservative Conference in Brighton in October. Undaunted and unharmed, Thatcher insisted that the conference continue, and gave a speech the following day. As for foreign policy, Thatcher met with Mikhail Gorbachev , the Soviet leader, in That same year, she signed an agreement with the Chinese government regarding the future of Hong Kong.
Publicly, Thatcher voiced her support for Reagan's air raids on Libya in and allowed U. Returning for a third term in , Thatcher sought to implement a standard educational curriculum across the nation and make changes to the country's socialized medical system. However, she lost a lot of support due to her efforts to implement a fixed rate local tax—labeled a poll tax by many since she sought to disenfranchise those who did not pay it.
Hugely unpopular, this policy led to public protests and caused dissension within her party. Thatcher initially pressed on for party leadership in , but eventually yielded to pressure from party members and announced her intentions to resign on November 22, In a statement, she said, "Having consulted widely among colleagues, I have concluded that the unity of the Party and the prospects of victory in a General Election would be better served if I stood down to enable Cabinet colleagues to enter the ballot for the leadership.
I should like to thank all those in Cabinet and outside who have given me such dedicated support. Not long after leaving office, Thatcher was appointed to the House of Lords, as Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven, in She wrote about her experiences as a world leader and a pioneering woman in the field of politics in two books: The Downing Street Years and The Path to Power In , she published the book Statecraft , in which she offered her views on international politics. Around this time, Thatcher suffered a series of small strokes.
She then suffered a great personal loss in , when her husband of more than 50 years, Denis, died. The following year, Thatcher had to say goodbye to an old friend and ally, Ronald Reagan.
In fragile health, Thatcher gave a eulogy at his funeral via video link, praising Reagan as a man who "sought to mend America's wounded spirit, to restore the strength of the free world, and to free the slaves of communism. In , Thatcher celebrated her 80th birthday. A huge event was held in her honor and was attended by Queen Elizabeth II , Tony Blair and nearly other friends, family members and former colleagues.
Two years later, a sculpture of the strong conservative leader was unveiled in the House of Commons. Thatcher's health made headlines in , when she missed a celebration at 10 Downing Street, held in honor of her 85th birthday by David Cameron. On November 14, , former Defense Minister Michael Heseltine challenged her for leadership of the party, partly due to differences of opinion on the European Union.
Thatcher won the first ballot but by too small of a margin for outright victory. That night, her cabinet members visited her one by one and urged her to resign. She officially stepped down on November 28 after helping to assure that John Major and not Heseltine would replace her. Thatcher remained in parliament until , at which time she entered the largely ceremonial House of Lords and began to write her memoirs.
Though she stopped appearing in public after suffering a series of small strokes in the early s, her influence remained strong. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Born Margaret Hilda Roberts, the future prime minister was the daughter of a grocer and local alderman who later became mayor of Grantham, England.
Businesses were failing, and inflation and unemployment were rising. Thatcher immediately set out to turn the economic situation around, Britain's first female prime minister was facing sharp criticism from both her cabinet and the public in response to her Cultural anthropologist and writer Margaret Meade was born in Philadelphia and graduated from Barnard College in Appointed assistant curator of ethnology at the American Museum of Natural History in , she embarked on two dozen trips to the South Pacific to Margaret Taylor was an American first lady and the wife of Zachary Taylor, an American military hero and the 12th president of the United States.
In , an upswing in the economy led to her election to a third term, but Thatcher soon alienated some members of her own party because of her poll-tax policies and opposition to further British integration into the European Community. She withdrew her nomination, and John Major, the chancellor of the Exchequer since , was chosen as Conservative leader.
On November 22, she announced her resignation and six days later was succeeded by Major. In , she was made a baroness and took a seat in the House of Lords. Margaret Thatcher died on April 8, , at the age of 87, following a stroke. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!
Angela Merkel is sworn in as Chancellor of Germany on November 22, The first woman to hold the position, Merkel emerged as one of the strongest forces in European politics over the subsequent decade. She has frequently been called the most powerful woman in the world and The aircraft, which was developed in great secrecy for nearly a decade, was designed with stealth During her time in office she oversaw the expansion of comprehensive schools, which are secondary schools that welcome all students rather than selecting students based on academics or wealth, as grammar schools do.
There were supporters and detractors of comprehensive schools, but at the heart of the criticism was the belief that it underpinned class-based society and stifled aspiration, especially in the poorer disadvantaged areas. Thatcher's popularity in her Cabinet role continued to decline when she abolished free milk for school children over seven years old as part of the government's broader effort to cut spending. Many people began to see her as an enemy of the health and wellbeing of the nation's future, and the phrase "Mrs.
Thatcher, milk snatcher" was born. However, government papers revealed later that Thatcher opposed the decision to stop the program, but was forced to go through with it by the Treasury, according to The Independent. She was so upset by the negative response that she almost left politics. But she persisted, and as Heath's government struggled through the s, Thatcher began to emerge as a political leader. In , she was elected as the Conservative Party leader and Leader of the Opposition, making her the first woman to lead a major political party in Britain, according to the Margaret Thatcher Foundation.
The nickname followed her throughout the rest of her career and long after. In , Thatcher became not only Britain's first woman prime minister, but the first woman to govern a western democracy.
Advocating for people to be less dependent on the state and more able to make their own choices, her policies were bold and controversial in equal measure; increasing indirect taxes and reducing contributions from government. 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 at the Conservative Party Conference in left her critics in no doubt as to her vision and strength of her will.
Not everyone suffered under Thatcher's government. Her focus was to inject momentum and strength into the economy with initiatives such as the ability of tenants to buy their council house Britain's version of communal public housing , and for anyone to be allowed to purchase shares in the main utility companies as part of a massive privatization program; all pursued with a firm belief in giving all men and women greater choices in where to put their money and a pride in their future.
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