Margaret Thatcher: The Rise Of The Iron Lady | This Lady's Not For Turning | Timeline

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A strong-willed woman, she will be dividing much of the population. She was the prime minister who really did root out socialism from the system. These are the 10 years of Britain's potential maximum prosperity. The years of North Sea oil and things which could have been done to make Britain a better place have been missed. I think she's a person with great stamina, great dedication, great courage. For more than 11 years, Margaret Thatcher was one of the world's most influential and respected political leaders, as well as one of the most controversial, dynamic and plain spoken. You turn if you want to. Not for turning. I admire her energy, and I admire her determination. But she suffers, I think, even in those particulars, from what Proust called the certainty of the second rate. I don't admire her intellectual method, which is an incapacity for thinking she might be wrong. Whether she was supported or opposed during her years in power, Margaret Thatcher's legacy continues to shape the society in which Britons live today. Her legacy remains the core of modern British politics. Margaret Thatcher's early life in Grantham played a large part in forming her convictions. The Roberts family ran a grocery business, bringing up their two daughters in an apartment over the shop. Margaret Roberts attended a local state school, and later won a place at Oxford to study chemistry. But chemistry took second place to politics in Margaret Thatcher's future plans. Conservative politics had always been a feature of her home life. Her father was local councillor, and politics was the subject of choice at the dining table. Her first foray into politics came in 1946. She was elected President of the Student Conservative Association at Oxford. In her mid-twenties, she ran as a Conservative candidate for the strong Labour seat of Dartford at the general elections of 1950 and 1951, winning national publicity as the youngest woman candidate in the country. She lost both times, but cut the Labour majority sharply, and hugely enjoyed the experience of campaigning. During these years, she met her husband, Dennis Thatcher. They married in 1951. Twins Mark and Carol were born in 1953. Thatcher began looking for a safe Conservative seat in the mid-1950s. She was narrowly rejected as the candidate for Orpington in 1955, but was selected for Finchley in April 1958. She won the seat after a hard campaign in 1959. Thatcher will occupy the Finchley seat for more than 30 years. She made her maiden speech in the House of Commons on 5 February 1960, requiring local authorities to hold their council meetings in public. She gave her first television interview the following day. Oh, very much so. I've done a good deal of other speaking, but speaking in the House of Commons is quite different. It's a unique experience. Do you think it's more difficult because you are a woman? No, I didn't notice that. It really is because of the quality of one's audience and the fact that most of them have had more experience at doing precisely what you are doing. There's been universal praise for your performance yesterday. Talk of the front bench. How do you feel about that? Well, I think we'll just try to be a very good backbencher first. Certainly until these two are a little older, I couldn't take on any more political responsibilities. These responsibilities are quite enough. In October 1961, Thatcher was promoted to the front bench in Harold Macmillan's administration. Well, I'm quite happy about it because it means that one has a definite job to get down to rather than having a roving brief throughout the whole of the political scene. What do you feel about this particular appointment? Is it one that you look forward to when you were indulging in pipe dreams? Well, I hadn't thought of ever having any appointment really, certainly not so soon, but I'm very happy about it because I think it offers scope both for the human side, which is helping people who are in need of help, and also on the financial side of seeing that the scheme is sound. Tell me, what happens on your, so to speak, your first day when the new girl comes in? What happens? Well, I was as curious about that as you. I've had a very pleasant morning. I was received by the minister as soon as I came in and introduced to the various heads of departments and my sphere of duty well defined, and I shall be given an enormous amount of homework to take away for the weekend. After the conservative loss of the 1964 election, she became conservative spokesman on housing and land, in which position she advocated the conservative policy of allowing tenants to buy their council houses. She made a splash at the conservative party conference of 1966, when she strongly criticized the high tax policies of the Labor government. If you run all the budgets in a race called the high taxation stakes, I am glad to say that conservative budgets don't come in any of the first four places. The topmost prize for increased taxation would go to Hugh Gateskill in 1951. The second prize for increased taxation would go to Callaghan in 1966. The third prize to Callaghan in 1965. The fourth prize to Callaghan in 1964. This chap Callaghan must go. The conservative party under Edward Heath won the 1970 general election, and Thatcher was appointed Secretary of State for Education and Science. In her first months in office, she attracted public attention as a result of the administration's attempts to cut spending. She gave priority to academic needs in schools and imposed public expenditure cuts on the state education system, resulting in the abolition of free milk for school children aged 7 to 11. She held that few children would suffer if schools were charged for milk, but she agreed to provide younger children with a third of a pint daily. Her decision provoked a protest from the Labor Party and the press, and led to the moniker Margaret Thatcher Milk Snatcher. The Heath government continued to experience difficulties with oil embargoes and union demands for wage increases in 1973, and was defeated in the February 1974 general election. The conservative result in the general election of October 1974 was even worse, and Thatcher mounted a challenge for the leadership of the conservative party. Promising a fresh start, she drew her main support from the conservative 1922 committee. Well, I think Mr. Heath's been leader for 10 years, and the party decided that there should be a contest, but you can't have a contest without a contestant, obviously, and I'm one of the main ones. Is the prejudice amongst our fellow MPs, who are elected, of course, against you as a woman, to find this? That's very difficult to judge. I think that's gradually melting. I think that's been a great change over the last four or five weeks, because after all, women in other countries have done very well in the leadership. You couldn't have had a country less likely to have a woman prime minister than India, and yet they have had a most successful one for a long time. She's a delightful person. One of your colleagues said that there's nobody quite so determined to dislodge Ted Heath as he is to remain, and therefore you haven't much chance. How determined are you? I'm very determined. I've had to be during my political life even to be here. He said you'll go through a second and a third ballot if need be. I think that's what he said. Do you feel so? I take objectives one at a time. Let's see how well we do on the first ballot. I have great hopes of it. You do think you've got a chance on the first ballot? Indeed. Well, I don't know. That depends on how much extra support we get this week. I don't count my chickens before they're hatched. Thank you very much. Thank you. She defeated Heath on the first ballot, and he resigned the leadership. Well, it was close. Hugh Fraser got 16 votes. Ted Heath, 119. Margaret Thatcher, 130. That's the real turn It is not what I think most people would have expected this morning. I'm delighted by it. It's just a few above our hopes, which is even better. Are you going to stand on the second ballot? Yes. In the second ballot, she defeated Heath's preferred successor, William Whitelaw, and became party leader on the 11th of February 1975. To me, it's like a dream that the next name in the line, Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Hughes and Edward Heath, is Margaret Thatcher. It is important to me that this prize has been won in open electoral contest with four other potential leaders. I know that they'll be disappointed, but I hope we shall soon be back working together as colleagues for the things in which we believe. There is much to do, and I hope you will allow me time to do it thoughtfully and well. January 19, 1976, Thatcher made a speech in Kensington Town Hall, in which she made a scathing attack on the Soviet Union. In response, the Soviet Defence Ministry newspaper, Red Star, gave her the nickname Iron Lady. She took delight in the name, and it soon became associated with her image. Mr. Chairman, Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, I stand before you tonight in my red star chiffon evening gown, my face softly made up, and my fair hair gently waved. The Iron Lady of the Western world, a Cold War warrior, an Amazon philistine, even a Peking plotter. Yes, if that's how they wish to interpret my defense of values and freedoms fundamental to our way of life, and by they I mean that somewhat strange alliance between the comrades of the Russian Defence Ministry and our own Defence Minister. They're welcome to call me what they like if they believe that we should ignore the build-up of Russian military strength. James Callaghan had succeeded Harold Wilson as Labour Prime Minister after the letter's surprise resignation in April 1976. By March 1977, Labour's small 74 majority had become a minority government after several by-election defeats, and from March 1977 to August 78, Callaghan governed by an agreement with the Liberal Party through the Lib-Lab pact. Callaghan then considered calling an election in the autumn of 1978, but ultimately decided that a possible economic upturn in 79 could favour his party at the polls. However, events would soon overtake the Labour government. A series of industrial disputes in the winter of 1978 to 79, dubbed the Winter of Discontent, led to widespread strikes across the country and seriously hurt Labour's standing in the polls. When the Scottish National Party withdrew support for the Scotland Act 1978, a vote of no confidence was held and passed by one vote on the 28th of March 1979, forcing Callaghan to either resign or call a general election. The Prime Minister drove the short distance to Buckingham Palace to see the Queen, traditionally the first to hear details of a government's surrender of authority and submission to the electorate. As the previous election had been held in October 1974, Labour could have held on until the autumn of 1979 if it had not been for the lost confidence vote. I believe we shall win, but I'm very conscious that that's a sort of question, you know, asked of every party leader. Every party leader says that, and the only way to do the best you can is to work as hard as you can. James Callaghan and the Labour campaign reiterated their support for the National Health Service and full employment, and focused on the damage they believed the Conservatives would do to the country. One question that will come up time after time in the next few weeks is this. Will a sudden reversal of policy, a jerk in the entirely opposite direction, really do the trick? I want to say quite plainly that I do not believe there is any magic solution to these problems, and it would do great harm if the country were suddenly to go into reverse on the range of policies that have brought us through so far. Then there's another question. How can we ensure peace in industry and avoid the disruption that we've seen? I believe that cooperation and partnership, not confrontation, will serve us best. Thatcher campaigned on economic issues, pledging to control inflation and to reduce the increasing power of the unions who supported the mass strikes. Thatcher asked Labour voters for their support when she launched her campaign in Cardiff, claiming that Labour was now extreme. In the end, the overall swing of 5.2% was the largest since 1945, and gave the Conservatives a workable majority of 43 for the country's first female Prime Minister. The Conservative victory in 1979 also marked a change in government, which would continue for 18 years until the Labour victory in 1997. Margaret Thatcher's win is still regarded as a pivotal point in 20th century British politics. My Lords and members of the House of Commons, my government will give priority in economic policy to controlling inflation through the pursuit of firm monetary and fiscal policies. By reducing the burden of direct taxation and restricting the claims of the public sector on the nation's resources, they will start to restore incentives, encourage efficiency, and create a climate in which commerce and industry can flourish. Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister on the 4th of May 1979. Plainclothes police out of a car behind her, and Mrs Thatcher out onto the doorstep. A wave that we've now become really quite well accustomed to throughout this campaign. Arriving at 10 Downing Street, she paraphrases the prayer of St Francis. Very excited, very aware of the responsibilities. Her Majesty the Queen has asked me to form a new administration, and I have accepted. It is of course the greatest honour that can come to any citizen in a democracy. I know full well the responsibilities that await me as I enter the door of number 10, and I'll strive unceasingly to try to fulfil the trust and confidence that the British people have placed in me, and the things in which I believe. And I would just like to remember some words of St Francis of Assisi, which I think are really just particularly apt at the moment. Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. And where there is despair, may we bring hope. And to all the British people, howsoever they voted, may I say this, now that the election is over, may we get together and strive to serve and strengthen the country of which we are so proud to be a part. Finally, one last thing, in the words of Erin Eve, whom we had hoped to bring here with us, there is now work to be done. Margaret Thatcher began work on May 5, 1979, with a mandate to reverse the United Kingdom's economic decline and to reduce the role of the state in the economy. In the short term, painful measures were required. Although direct taxes were cut, the budget had to be balanced, and so indirect taxes were increased. Value-added tax was raised to 15%, resulting in short-term rise in inflation. The economy was already entering a recession. But inflation was rising, and interest rates had to be raised to control it. By the end of Margaret Thatcher's first term, unemployment in Britain was more than three million, and it began to fall only in 1986. A large section of Britain's inefficient manufacturing industry closed down. No one had predicted how severe the downturn would be. Political commentators harked back to the Heath government's U-turn. In the 70s, the Heath government more or less abandoned their economic policy changes due to public pressure. The press speculated that Thatcher would follow suit, but she refuted this approach at the 1980 Conservative Party Conference. You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning. Thatcher's job approval rating fell to 23% by December 1980, lower than recorded for any previous Prime Minister. But long-term gains were made. Inflation was checked, and the government created the expectation that it would do whatever was necessary to keep it low. The budget of spring 1981, increasing taxes at the lowest point of the recession, offended, but it made possible a cut in interest rates, and demonstrated Thatcher's determination. Economic recovery started in the same quarter, and a long expansion followed. Thatcher's determination to face down political violence was first demonstrated during the 1980 siege of the Iranian embassy in London, when, for the first time in 70 years, the armed forces were authorised to use lethal force on the British mainland. Six gunmen held 26 hostages for six days in May, until the siege came to a dramatic end with a successful raid by SAS commandos. The decisiveness demonstrated the resolute approach by Thatcher, and became a source of her popularity. Reflecting her Iron Lady stance, the storming of the Iranian embassy had shown that Thatcher would meet terror with force. She would demonstrate this again before the end of her first mandate. Political support started to flow from this achievement, and the success of the economic reform, but the chance of re-election will be highly boosted by an unpredicted event, the Falklands War. Margaret Thatcher met the Argentine junta's invasion of the islands on April 2nd, 1982, in the firmest way and with a sure touch. She worked with the US administration in pursuing the possibility of a diplomatic solution. Thatcher sent a naval task force to back diplomatic efforts with the threat of the use of force, and if negotiations failed, to recapture the islands and eject the invaders. When diplomacy failed, military action was quickly launched. The conflict escalated from there, evolving into an amphibious and ground combat operation. Argentina surrendered on the 14th of June, and the operation was deemed a success. Despite 258 British casualties, the British electorate was impressed. Victory brought a wave of patriotic enthusiasm and increased support for the Thatcher government. It has been said that we surprise the world, that British patriotism was rediscovered in those spring days. Mr President, it was never rarely lost. One poll suggested that 84% of the electorate approved of the Prime Minister's handling of the crisis. Thatcher had laid the foundation for a much more vigorous and independent British foreign policy. Thatcher's first four years as Prime Minister had not been an easy time. Unemployment had rocketed in the first three years of her term as she battled to control inflation. By the start of 1982, unemployment had passed the three million mark for the first time since before the Second World War, and the economy had been in recession for nearly two years. The Falklands factor, along with the beginning of economic growth by the end of 1982, bolstered the government's popularity. The timing was perfect. Thatcher visited Buckingham Palace and asked the Queen to dissolve Parliament, announcing an election would be held on the 9th of June. The election saw a landslide victory for the Conservatives, achieving their best results since A larger victory, as it looks now, than I had ever dared to hope, because I am so cautious. The night was a disaster for the Labor Party. Vote fell by over three million from 1979, and this accounted for both a national swing of almost four percent towards the Conservatives and their larger parliamentary majority of 144. I am deeply ashamed that we should have allowed the fortunes of our country and the fortunes of the people who look for us for protection, both here in this country and throughout the world. I'm deeply ashamed that we have permitted that power to rest with such a government as we have in Britain. Thatcher's second term opened with almost as many difficulties as the first. Since gaining power, she had experimented by selling off a small, nationalised company, the National Freight Company, to its workers with a surprisingly positive response. Following the 1983 landslide victory, Thatcher became bolder and, starting with British Telecom, sold off most of the large utilities companies, which had been in public ownership since the late 1940s. The policy of privatisation was despised by many on the left, but will become synonymous with Thatcherism. Critics on the left described privatisation as the biggest electoral bribe in history, but Thatcher's political and economic philosophy emphasised reduced state intervention, free markets and entrepreneurialism. Following her philosophy, Thatcher was committed to reducing the power of the trade unions. The most significant measures were to make secondary industrial action illegal and to force union leadership to first win a ballot of the union membership before calling a strike. Policy of privatisation, change to the industrial relation and reduced state intervention will not be well received in the mining sector. The National Coal Board received the largest amount of public subsidies going to any nationalised industry. By 1984, the annual cost to taxpayers had reached one billion pounds. Thatcher decides that it was time to stop the subsidies and close all unprofitable mines. In 1984, the National Coal Board announced that they intended to close 20 coal mines. 20,000 jobs would be lost. In response to the proposed closures in their own areas, miners in various coal fields began strike action. Although not widely known at the time, the Thatcher government had prepared against a repeat of the effective 1974 industrial action by stockpiling coal to avoid power cuts. Over 6,000 miners were already on strike when a local ballot led to strike action at many more mines. In response, the Thatcher government announced that five pits would be subject to accelerated closure. On March 12, 1984, the unions declared a national strike and called for action from members in all coal fields. A widely reported clash took place at the Algreve coking plant on June 18, 1984. This confrontation between striking miners and police was dubbed the Battle of Algreve. Violence flared after police on horseback charged the miners and inflicted serious injuries. Two separate events, an assault on a working miner in November and the manslaughter of a taxi driver in December, prompted the end to the strike. Nearly a year after it had begun, the National Union of Mine Workers conceded without a deal. Thatcher's conservative governments proceeded to close all but 15 of the country's pits, the remaining 15 being sold off in 1994. It was seen as a major political and ideological victory for Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party. On October 1984, while the miners' strike was underway, the Irish Republican Army attempted to murder Margaret Thatcher and many of her cabinet by bombing her hotel in Brighton during the Conservative Party annual conference. The bomb detonated at 2.54am on October 12. Thatcher was still awake at the time, working on her conference speech for the next day in her suite. It badly damaged her bathroom, but left her sitting room and bedroom unscathed. Thatcher and her husband, Dennis, escaped injury. Thatcher changed her clothes and then was escorted by the security guards to Brighton police station. As she left the hotel, she gave an impromptu interview. You hear about these atrocities, these bombs, you don't expect them to happen to you. But life must go on, as usual. And your conference will go on. The conference will go on, as usual. Thank you. The bomb failed to kill Thatcher or any of her government ministers. Five people, however, were killed, including Conservative MP Sir Anthony Berry and Parliamentary Treasury Secretary John Wakeham's wife, Roberta. Thatcher herself would have been injured, if not for the fact that she was delayed from using the bathroom, which sustained severe damages. The IRA claimed responsibility the next day and promised to try again. Its statement read, Mrs Thatcher will now realise that Britain cannot occupy our country and torture our prisoners and shoot our people in their own streets and get away with it. Today we were unlucky, but remember, we only have to be lucky once. You will have to be lucky, always. Give Ireland peace and there will be no war. Margaret Thatcher began the next session of the conference at 9.30am the following morning, as scheduled. Her defiance was another defining moment, which encapsulated both her own steely character and the British public's refusal to submit to terrorism. Immediately afterwards, her popularity soared to near Falklands levels. A week later, she seemed to realise the full impact. Sun was just coming through the stained glass windows and falling on some flowers right across the church. And it just occurred to me that this was a day I was meant not to see. British policy in Northern Ireland had been a standing source of conflict for every Prime Minister since 1969. But Margaret Thatcher reignited the IRA's special hatred for her refusal to meet their political demands. Her policy throughout was implacably hostile to terrorism, Republican or Loyalist. On November 15, 1985, she negotiated the Hillsborough Anglo-Irish Agreement, the first time a British Government gave the Republic of Ireland a say in the governance of Northern Ireland. The Agreement was an attempt to improve security cooperation between Britain and Ireland, and to give some recognition to the political outlook of Catholics in Northern Ireland. The Agreement failed to bring an immediate end to political violence in Northern Ireland. The power-sharing government envisaged by the Agreement would not become a reality for many years. However, it did improve cooperation between the British and Irish Governments, which was key to the creation of the Good Friday Agreement 12 years later. The personal friendship between President Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher was often described as ideological soulmates. They shared the philosophy of the free market, low taxes, limited government intervention, and a strong defence. In 1982, Thatcher and Reagan reached an agreement to replace the British Polaris Fleet with US-supplied Trident missiles, and Reagan became only the second foreign leader to address both Houses of Parliament. Reagan was supportive in the Falklands War, and approved shipments of the latest weapons to the British Task Force. Thatcher later stood alone among Western allies when she returned the favour by letting US F-11s take off from RAAF bases for the 1986 bombing of Libya, justifying it as an overdue move to help Reagan. Britain figures more prominently in American strategy than any other European power. At crucial moments in the late 1980s, Thatcher's influence was considerable in shifting Reagan's perceptions about the credibility of Gorbachev when he repeatedly asserted his intention to end the Cold War. Before coming to Geneva, I spoke often of the need to build confidence in our dealings with each other. Frank and forthright conversations at the summit are part of this process. But I'm certain General Secretary Gorbachev would agree that real confidence in each other must be built on deeds, not simply words. I leave Geneva today and our fireside summit determined to pursue every opportunity to build a safer world of peace and freedom. There's hard work ahead, but we're ready for it. General Secretary Gorbachev, we ask you to join us in getting the job done, as I'm sure you will. Thank you. The legislative platform of the third term Thatcher government was among the most ambitious ever put forward by a British administration. There were measures to reform the education system, introducing a national curriculum for the first time. There was a new tax system for local government, the community charge or poll tax, as it was dubbed by opponents. And there was legislation to separate purchasers and providers within the National Health Service, opening up the service to a measure of competition for the first time and increasing the scope for effective management. All three measures were deeply controversial. The community charge in particular became a serious political problem, as local councils took advantage of the introduction of a new system to increase tax rates, blaming the increase on the Thatcher government. The system was abandoned by Margaret Thatcher's successor, John Major, in 1991. By contrast, the education and health reforms proved enduring. Successive governments built on the achievement and in some respects extended their scope. The economy boomed in 1987 to 1988, but also began to overheat. Interest rates had to be doubled during 1988. A division within the government over management of the currency emerged into the open, Margaret Thatcher strongly opposing the policy urged by her Chancellor of the Exchequer and others of pegging and pound sterling to the Deutsche Mark through the European exchange rate mechanism. In the process, her relations with her Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nigel Lawson, were fatally damaged, and he resigned in October 1989. Behind this dispute, there was profound disagreement within the government over policy towards the European community itself. The Prime Minister found herself increasingly at odds with her Foreign Secretary, Sir Geoffrey Howe, on all questions touching European integration. Her speech at Bruges in September 1988 began the process by which the Conservative Party, at one time largely pro-European, became predominantly Eurosceptic. All this took place against a backdrop of international events, profoundly helpful to the Conservative cause. By late 1990, the Cold War was over, and free markets and institutions vindicated, but that event triggered the next stage in European integration, as France revived the project of a single European currency, hoping to check the power of a reunited Germany. As a result, divisions over European policy within the British government were deepened by the end of the Cold War, and now became acute. On November 1, 1990, Sir Geoffrey Howe resigned over Europe, and in a bitter resignation speech precipitated a challenge to Margaret Thatcher's leadership of her party by Michael Hesselty. In the ballot that followed, she won a majority of the vote, yet under party rules the margin was insufficient, and a second ballot was required. Receiving the news at a conference in Paris, she immediately announced her intention to fight on. But a political earthquake occurred the next day on her return to London, when many colleagues in her cabinet, unsympathetic to her on Europe and doubting that she could win a fourth general election, abruptly deserted her leadership, and left her no choice but to withdraw. This will allow the party to elect a new leader who will unite the party and build on her immense successes. If I could add just a personal note, I am very saddened indeed that our greatest peacetime prime minister has left government. She is an outstanding leader not only of our country and of the world, and I do not believe we will see her life again. Thatcher resigned as prime minister on November 28, 1990. Can I just say that I have heard that Mrs Thatcher has resigned. May I say at once that this brings to an end a quite remarkable premiership. She has made a remarkable contribution to Britain's history and has led this country with great distinction in the way for an election for the vacancy of leader of the Conservative Party, which will enable others to come forward. I very much welcome that. I would expect my own name to be still there as it has already been nominated, and we will then find a way of uniting the Conservative Party and going on to win the next general election. John Major succeeded her and served in the post until the landslide election of Tony Blair's Labour government in May 1997. On a personal basis I'll miss her because I value her counsel. I value her long experience, the wisdom that comes from her long experience, and she has been an outstanding prime minister for the United Kingdom and an outstanding friend of the United States. After 1990 Lady Thatcher, as she became, remained a potent political figure. She wrote two best-selling volumes of memoirs, The Downey Street Years and The Path to Power, while continuing for a full decade to tour the world as a lecturer. It's not through the benevolence of people but through their intelligent self-interest that society as a whole becomes wealthier. So we don't need to be saints in order to make an economy work well. We just need to set the right rules and then leave individuals to get on with the job. A book of reflections on international politics, Statecraft, was published in 2002. During the period she made some important intervention in domestic British politics, notably over Bosnia and the Maastricht Treaty. In March 2002, following several small strokes, she announced an end to her career in public speaking. Dennis Thatcher, her husband of more than 50 years, died in June 2003. Margaret Thatcher remains an intensely controversial figure in Britain. Critics claim that her economic policies were divisive socially, that she was harsh or uncaring in her politics, and hostile to the institutions of the British welfare state. Defenders point to a transformation in Britain's economic performance over the course of the Thatcher governments and those of her successors as Prime Minister. Critics and supporters alike recognise the Thatcher premiership as a period of fundamental importance in British history. Margaret Thatcher accumulated huge prestige over the course of the 1980s and often compelled the respect even of her bitterest critics. Indeed her effect on the terms of political debate has been profound. Whether they were converted to Thatcherism or merely forced by the electorate to pay it lip service, the Labor Party leadership was transformed by her period of office and the new Labor politics of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown would not have existed without her. Her legacy remains the core of modern British politics. The world economic crisis since 2008 has revived many of the arguments of the 1980s, keeping her name at the centre of political debate in Britain.