Margaret Thatcher is called. Iron Lady of British politics Margaret Thatcher: biography, political activities and interesting facts

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher(English) Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher; nee Roberts; October 13, 1925, Grantham, Lincolnshire, England - April 8, 2013, London, England) - 71st Prime Minister of Great Britain (Conservative Party of Great Britain) in 1979-1990, Baroness since 1992. The first and so far the only woman to hold this position, as well as the first woman to become prime minister European state. Thatcher's premiership was the longest in the 20th century. Nicknamed "Iron Lady" for harsh criticism Soviet leadership, she implemented a number of conservative measures that became part of the policy of the so-called "Thatcherism".

Educated as a chemist, she became a lawyer, and in 1959 was elected Member of Parliament for Finchley. In 1970 she was appointed Minister of Education and Science in the Conservative government of Edward Heath. In 1975, Thatcher defeated Heath in the election of the new head of the Conservative Party and became the head of the parliamentary opposition, as well as the first woman to lead one of the main parties in Great Britain. After the victory of the Conservative Party in the 1979 general election, Margaret Thatcher became prime minister.

As head of government, Thatcher introduced political and economic reforms to reverse what she saw as the country's decline. Its political philosophy and economic policy were based on the deregulation of the financial system in particular, the provision of a flexible labor market, the privatization of state-owned companies and the reduction of the influence of trade unions. Thatcher's high popularity during the early years of her reign waned due to recession and high unemployment, but increased again during the 1982 Falklands War and economic growth, which led to her re-election in 1983.

Thatcher was re-elected for a third time in 1987, but the proposed poll tax and views on Britain's role in the European Union were unpopular with members of her government. After Michael Heseltine challenged her leadership of the party, Thatcher was forced to resign as head of the party and prime minister.

Thatcher is a life member of the House of Lords.

Early life and education

The house in Grantham, where M. Thatcher was born.

Commemorative plaque on the house where M. Thatcher was born

Margaret Roberts was born October 13, 1925. Father - Alfred Roberts is from Northamptonshire, mother - Beatrice Itel (nee Stephenson) is from Lincolnshire. She spent her childhood in the city of Grantham, where her father owned two grocers. Together with her older sister, Muriel was raised in an apartment above one of her father's grocers, located near the railroad. Margaret's father was actively involved in local politics and the life of the religious community, being a member of the municipal council and a Methodist pastor. For this reason, his daughters were brought up by him in strict Methodist traditions. Alfred himself was born into a family liberal views, however, as was then customary in local governments, was non-partisan. Between 1945 and 1946 he was mayor of Grantham, and in 1952, after the landslide victory of the Labor Party in the municipal elections of 1950, as a result of which the party won a majority in Grantham Council for the first time, he ceased to be an alderman.

Roberts attended primary school on Huntingtower Road, then received a scholarship to study at the Kesteven and Grantham School for Girls. Margaret's academic records show diligence and permanent job students on self-improvement. She went to extracurricular activities piano, field hockey, swimming and race walking, courses in poetry. In 1942-1943 she was a senior student. In her senior year at university preparatory school, she applied for a scholarship to study chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford University. Although initially refused, after the refusal of another applicant, Margaret still managed to get a scholarship. In 1943 she came to Oxford and in 1947, after four years of studying chemistry, she graduated with a second degree, becoming a bachelor of science. In her senior year, she worked in X-ray diffraction analysis under Dorothy Crowfoot-Hodgkin.

In 1946, Roberts became chairman of the Oxford University Conservative Party Association. The greatest influence on her political views while at university was Friedrich von Hayek's The Road to Slavery (1944), which saw government intervention in the country's economy as a forerunner of the authoritarian state.

After graduation, Roberts moved to Colchester in the English county of Essex, where she worked as a research chemist for the company BX Plastics. At the same time, she joined the local association of the Conservative Party and took part in the party conference in Llandudno in 1948 as a representative of the Conservative Alumni Association of the University. One of Margaret's Oxford friends was also a friend of the chairman of the Dartford Conservative Party Association in Kent, which was looking for candidates for the election. The chairmen of the association were so impressed with Margaret that they persuaded her to take part in the elections, although she herself was not included in the approved list of candidates from the Conservative Party: Margaret was elected a candidate only in January 1951 and included in the electoral list. At a celebratory dinner organized after her official confirmation as a Conservative Party candidate in Dartford in February 1951, Roberts met the successful and wealthy divorced businessman Denis Thatcher. In preparation for the election, she moved to Dartford, where she took a job as a research chemist with J. Lyons and Co. developing emulsifiers for use in ice cream.

The beginning of a political career

In the general elections of February 1950 and October 1951, Roberts took part in the elections for the Dartford constituency, where Labor traditionally won. As the youngest candidate and the only woman to run, she attracted the attention of the press. Despite losing on both occasions to Norman Dodds, Margaret managed to reduce Labor's support among the electorate, first by 6,000 votes and then by another 1,000 votes. During the election campaign, she was supported by her parents, as well as Denis Thatcher, whom she married in December 1951. Denis also helped his wife become a member of the bar association; in 1953 she became a barrister with a specialization in taxation.

In the same year, twins were born in the family - daughter Carol and son Mark.

Member of parliament

In the mid-1950s, Thatcher resumed her struggle for a seat in Parliament. In 1955, she failed to become a candidate for the Conservative Party in constituency Orpington, however, became a Finchley constituency candidate in April 1958. In the 1959 elections, Thatcher, during a difficult election campaign, nevertheless won, becoming a member of the House of Commons. In her first speech as a parliamentarian, she spoke in support of the Law on Public Organs, demanding that local councils make their meetings public, and in 1961 she refused to support official position the Conservative Party, having voted for the restoration of the punishment of flogging.

In October 1961, Thatcher was nominated to the post of Parliamentary Deputy Minister of Pensions and State Social Insurance in the cabinet of Harold Macmillan. After the defeat of the Conservative Party in the 1964 parliamentary elections, she became the party's spokesperson for housing and land ownership, defending the right of tenants to buy council housing. In 1966, Thatcher became a member of the Treasury's shadow team and, as a delegate, opposed Labor's proposed mandatory price and income controls, arguing that it would backfire and destroy the country's economy.

At the 1966 Conservative Party Conference, she criticized the high taxation policy pursued by the Labor government. In her opinion, it was "not just a step towards socialism, but a step towards communism". Thatcher stressed the need to keep taxes low as an incentive to work hard. She was also one of the few members of the House of Commons who supported the decriminalization of homosexuals and voted for the legalization of abortion and the ban on hunting a hare with greyhounds "by sight".

In addition, Thatcher supported the retention of the death penalty and voted against the weakening of the law on the procedure for dissolution of marriage.

In 1967, she was selected by the US Embassy in London to participate in the International Visitors Program, which gave Thatcher the unique opportunity to visit cities in the United States for six weeks on a professional exchange program, meet with various political figures and visit such international organizations like the IMF. A year later, Margaret became a member of the Shadow Cabinet of the official opposition, overseeing issues related to the fuel sector. Shortly before the 1970 general election, she was involved in transportation and then education.

Minister of Education and Science (1970-1974)

From 1970-1974, Margaret Thatcher was Minister of Education and Science in the cabinet of Edward Heath.

The 1970 parliamentary elections were won by the Conservative Party under the leadership of Edward Heath. In the new government, Thatcher was appointed Minister of Education and Science. In her first months in office, Margaret gained public attention for her attempt to cut costs in this area. She prioritized academic needs in schools and lowered spending on state system education, as a result of which the free distribution of milk to schoolchildren between the ages of seven and eleven was abolished. At the same time, one-third of a pint of milk was given to younger children. Thatcher's policies caused a flurry of criticism from the Labor Party and the media, who called Margaret "Margaret Thatcher, Milk Snatcher"(translated from English - "Margaret Thatcher, the milk thief"). In her autobiography, Thatcher subsequently wrote: “I learned a valuable lesson. Incurred the maximum political hatred for the minimum political benefit..

The period of Thatcher's tenure as Minister of Education and Science was also marked by proposals for a more active closure of literacy schools by local education authorities and the introduction of a unified secondary education. Overall, despite Margaret's intention to keep the literacy schools, the proportion of students attending integrated secondary schools rose from 32 percent to 62 percent.

Leader of the Opposition (1975-1979)

Margaret Thatcher (1975)

After a series of difficulties faced by the Heath government during 1973 (oil crisis, union demands for higher wages), the Conservative Party was defeated by Labor in the February 1974 parliamentary elections. In the next general election, held in October 1974, the result of the conservatives was even worse. Against the background of declining support for the party among the population, Thatcher entered the struggle for the post of chairman of the Conservative Party. Promising party reforms, she enlisted the support of the so-called 1922 Committee of the Conservative members of Parliament. In 1975, in the election of party chairman, Thatcher defeated Heath in the first round of voting, who was forced to resign. In the second round, she defeated William Whitelaw, who was considered the most preferred successor to Heath, and already on February 11, 1975, she officially became the chairman of the Conservative Party, appointing Whitelaw as her deputy.

After her election, Thatcher began to regularly attend official dinners at the Institute. economic relations- a "think tank" founded by the tycoon, a student of Friedrich von Hayek, Anthony Fischer. Participation in these meetings significantly influenced her views, now formed under the influence of the ideas of Ralph Harris and Arthur Seldon. As a result, Thatcher became the face of an ideological movement opposed to the idea of ​​a welfare state. The institute's pamphlets offered the following recipe for the recovery of the British economy: less government intervention in the economy, lower taxes and more freedom for businesses and consumers.

The Russians are set on world domination, and they are rapidly acquiring the means necessary to become the most powerful imperial state the world has ever seen. The men in the Soviet Politburo don't have to worry about quick shifts. public opinion. They chose guns over butter, while for us almost everything else is more important than guns.

In response, the newspaper of the USSR Ministry of Defense "Red Star" called Thatcher "iron lady". Soon the translation of this nickname in the English newspaper "The Sunday Times" as "The Iron Lady" firmly entrenched in Margaret.

Despite the recovery of the British economy in the late 1970s, the Labor government was faced with the problem of public anxiety about the future course of the country, as well as a series of strikes in the winter of 1978-1979 (this page in British history became known as the "Winter of Dissent"). The Conservatives, in turn, staged regular attacks on Labor, primarily blaming them for record unemployment. After James Callaghan's government received a vote of no confidence in early 1979, early parliamentary elections were announced in the UK.

The Conservatives built their campaign promises around economic issues arguing the need for privatization and liberal reforms. They promised to fight inflation and work to weaken the unions, because the strikes they organized caused significant damage to the economy.

Domestic politics

According to the results of the elections on May 3, 1979, the Conservatives confidently won, receiving 43.9% of the vote and 339 seats in the House of Commons (Labor received 36.9% of the vote and 269 seats in the House of Commons), and on May 4, Thatcher became the first woman Prime Minister Great Britain. In this position, Thatcher launched a vigorous effort to reform the British economy and society as a whole.

In the parliamentary elections of 1983, the Thatcher-led Conservatives received the support of 42.43% of the voters, while the Labor Party received only 27.57% of the vote. This was also facilitated by the crisis in the Labor Party, which proposed a further increase in public spending, the restoration of the public sector in the previous volume and an increase in taxes for the rich. In addition, a split occurred in the party, and an influential part of the Laborites (“gang of four”) founded the Social Democratic Party, which came out in these elections together with the Liberal Party. Finally, factors such as the aggressiveness of neo-liberal ideology, populism of Thatcherism, radicalization of trade unions, as well as the Falklands War, played against the Laborites.

In the 1987 parliamentary elections, the Conservatives again won, receiving 42.3% of the vote against 30.83% for the Labor Party. This was due to the fact that Thatcher, thanks to her tough and unpopular measures in the economy and the social sphere, managed to achieve stable economic growth. Foreign investments that began to actively flow into the UK contributed to the modernization of production and an increase in the competitiveness of manufactured products. At the same time, the Thatcher government long time managed to keep inflation at a very low level. In addition, by the end of the 1980s, thanks to the measures taken, the unemployment rate was significantly reduced.

Particular attention from the media was paid to the relationship between the Prime Minister and the Queen, with whom meetings were held weekly to discuss current political problems. In July 1986, a British newspaper Sunday Times published an article in which the author claimed that there was a disagreement between Buckingham Palace and Downing Street on "a wide range of issues relating to domestic and foreign policy".

In response to this article, the Queen's representatives issued an official rebuttal, rejecting any possibility of a constitutional crisis in Britain. After Thatcher's departure from the post of prime minister, the entourage of Elizabeth II continued to call "nonsense" any allegations that the queen and the prime minister were in conflict with each other. Subsequently, the former prime minister wrote: “I have always considered the attitude of the Queen to the work of the Government perfectly correct ... stories about the contradictions between “two powerful women” were too good not to invent them”.

Economics and taxation

The ideas of monetarism and the work of such economists as Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek had a significant impact on Thatcher's economic policy. Together with Chancellor of the Exchequer Geoffrey Howe, Thatcher pursued a policy aimed at reducing direct taxes on income and raising indirect taxes, including value added tax. In order to reduce inflation and money supply, the discount rate was increased. In turn, extremely unpopular measures were taken to combat the budget deficit: subsidies to the remaining state-owned enterprises were cut, assistance to depressed regions was cut, and spending on the social sphere (education and housing and communal services) was reduced. Cutting costs for higher education led to the fact that Thatcher became the first post-war Prime Minister of Great Britain who graduated from Oxford University, who did not receive the status of an honorary doctorate from the university (not only students opposed this, but the governing council voted). The urban technology colleges she created were not very successful. To control education spending by opening and closing schools, the Consolidated Schools Agency was established, which the Social Market Fund said used "unusually dictatorial powers".

Some members of the Conservative Party from the supporters of Edward Heath, who were members of the Cabinet, did not share Thatcher's policy. After the British riots in 1981, the British media openly talked about the need for fundamental changes in the country's economic course. However, at the 1980 Conservative Party Conference, Thatcher openly stated: “Turn around if you want. Lady doesn't turn!"

In December 1980, Thatcher's approval rating dropped to 23%, the lowest ever for a British prime minister. After the worsening economic situation and the deepening of the recession in the early 1980s, Thatcher, despite the worries of leading economists, raised taxes.

By 1982, there were positive developments in the UK economy, indicating its recovery - the inflation rate fell from 18% to 8.6%. Nevertheless, for the first time since the 1930s, the number of unemployed was over 3 million people. By 1983, economic growth accelerated, and inflation and mortgage rates were at their lowest levels since 1970. Despite this, the volume of production compared with 1970 fell by 30%, and the number of unemployed reached its peak in 1984 - 3.3 million people.

By 1987, the country's unemployment rate had fallen, the economy had stabilized, and inflation was relatively low. An important role in supporting the UK economy was played by the income from the 90% tax on North Sea oil, which during the 1980s was also actively used to implement reforms.

According to public opinion polls, the Conservative Party enjoyed the greatest support among the population, and the successful results of local council elections for the Conservatives prompted Thatcher to call parliamentary elections for June 11, although the deadline for holding them was only 12 months later. According to the election results, Margaret retained the post of British Prime Minister for a third term.

During her third premier term, Thatcher introduced a reform of taxation, the proceeds of which went to the budgets of local governments: instead of a tax based on the nominal rental value of a house, the so-called “communal tax” (poll tax) was introduced, which at the same rate was supposed to pay each adult resident of the house.

In 1989 this type of tax was introduced in Scotland, and in 1990 in England and Wales. The reform of the taxation system became one of the most unpopular measures during Thatcher's premiership. On March 31, 1990, public discontent resulted in large demonstrations in London, in which about 70,000 people took part. The demonstrations in Trafalgar Square eventually turned into riots in which 113 people were injured and 340 arrested. Extreme popular dissatisfaction with the tax led Thatcher's successor, John Major, to cancel it.

Foreign policy

Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, Camp David, 1986

In foreign policy, Thatcher was guided by the United States and supported the initiatives of Ronald Reagan in relation to the USSR, to which both politicians treated with distrust. During her first term as prime minister, she supported NATO's decision to deploy BGM-109G ground-launched missiles and Pershing-1A short-range missiles in Western Europe, and also allowed the US military, starting November 14, 1983, to deploy more than 160 cruise missiles on US Air Force Base Greenham Common, located in Berkshire, England, which caused massive protests from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. In addition, Great Britain under Thatcher bought more than £12 billion (in 1996-1997 prices) of Trident missiles to be installed on its SSBNs, which were supposed to replace the Polaris missiles. As a result, the country's nuclear forces have tripled.

Thus, in matters of defense, the British government relied entirely on the United States. In January 1986, the Westland Affair received significant publicity. Thatcher went out of her way to ensure that Westland, the national helicopter manufacturer, refused a merger offer from the Italian company Agusta in favor of an offer from the American company Sikorsky Aircraft. Subsequently, British Secretary of State for Defense Michael Heseltine, who supported the Agusta deal, resigned.

On April 2, 1982, Argentine troops, on the orders of the ruling military junta, landed on the British Falkland Islands, provoking the start of the Falklands War. The ensuing crisis, as history has shown, was a key event in the years of premiership. At the suggestion of Harold Macmillan and Robert Armstrong, Thatcher became the founder and chairman of the War Cabinet, which by 5-6 April tasked the British Navy with regaining control of the islands.

On June 14, the Argentine military surrendered, and the military operation ended in success for the British side, although 255 British soldiers and 3 residents of the Falkland Islands were killed during the conflict. The Argentine side lost 649 people (of which 323 people died as a result of the sinking of the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano by the British nuclear submarine). During the conflict, Thatcher was criticized for neglecting the defense of the Falkland Islands, as well as for the decision to sink the General Belgrano.

Nevertheless, Thatcher was able to use all military and diplomatic options to restore British sovereignty over the islands. This policy was welcomed by the British, which markedly strengthened the faltering position of the Conservatives and Thatcher's leadership in the party before the 1983 parliamentary elections. Thanks to the "Falklands factor", the economic recovery of early 1982 and the divisions among the Labor Party, the Conservative Party, led by Thatcher, managed to win the election.

Thatcher, unlike many conservatives, was cool about the idea of ​​further deepening European integration. In 1988, in a speech in Bruges, she opposed the initiatives of the EEC to increase the centralization of decision-making and the creation of federal structures. Although, in general, Thatcher advocated the membership of Great Britain in the integration association, she believed that the role of the organization should be limited to issues of ensuring free trade and effective competition. Despite the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson and Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe,

Margaret strongly opposed the country's participation in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, the predecessor of the European Monetary Union, believing that this would impose restrictions on the British economy. However, John Major managed to convince Thatcher, and in October 1990 the UK became a member of the mechanism.

The role of the British Commonwealth has diminished under Thatcher. Thatcher's disappointment in this organization was explained by the increased, from her point of view, interest of the Commonwealth in resolving the situation in southern Africa on terms that did not meet the requirements of the British conservatives. Thatcher saw the Commonwealth only as a useful structure for negotiations of little value.

Thatcher was one of the first Western politicians to positively assess the reformist sentiments of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Back in November 1988 - a year before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Eastern European socialist regimes - she announced the end of the Cold War openly for the first time: "Now we are not in a cold war", as "the new relationship is broader than ever". In 1985, Thatcher visited the Soviet Union and met with Mikhail Gorbachev and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Nikolai Ryzhkov. Initially, she opposed the possible unification of Germany. According to her, this “will lead to a change in post-war borders, and we cannot allow this, since such a development of events will call into question the stability of the entire international situation and may threaten our security”. In addition, Thatcher feared that a united Germany would cooperate more with the USSR, relegating NATO to the background. At the same time, the Prime Minister spoke out in support of the independence of Croatia and Slovenia.

Resignation

Thatcher in 1990

During the election of the chairman of the Conservative Party, held in 1989, Thatcher's rival was a little-known member of the House of Commons, Anthony Mayer. Of the 374 members of parliament who were members of the Conservative Party and had the right to vote, 314 people voted for Thatcher, while 33 people voted for Mayer. Her supporters in the party considered the result a success and dismissed any claims that there were divisions within the party.

During her premiership, Thatcher had the second lowest middle level support among the population (about 40%) among all post-war Prime Ministers of Great Britain. Opinion polls indicated that her popularity was below that of the Conservative Party. However, the self-confident Thatcher always insisted that she had little interest in various ratings, pointing to record support during the parliamentary elections.

According to public opinion polls conducted in September 1990, Labor's rating was 14% higher than that of the Conservatives, and by November the Conservatives were already 18% behind Labor. The above ratings, as well as Thatcher's militant personality and her disregard for the opinions of her colleagues, have become a cause of controversy within the Conservative Party. As a result, it was the party that was the first to get rid of Margaret Thatcher.

On November 1, 1990, Geoffrey Howe, the last of the first Thatcher Cabinet in 1979, left the post of Deputy Prime Minister after Thatcher refused to agree on a timetable for Britain to join the European single currency.

The next day, Michael Heseltine announced his desire to lead the Conservative Party. According to public opinion polls, it was his personality that could help the Conservatives overtake Labor. Although Thatcher managed to take first place in the first round of voting, Heseltine secured enough votes (152 votes) for a second round. Margaret originally intended to continue the fight to a victorious end in the second round, but after consultation with the Cabinet, she decided to withdraw from the election. After an audience with the Queen and her final speech in the House of Commons, Thatcher resigned as prime minister. She considered her removal from office a betrayal.

The post of Prime Minister of Great Britain and chairman of the Conservative Party passed to John Major, at the head of which the Conservative Party managed to win the 1992 parliamentary elections.

After resignation

After leaving the premiership, Thatcher was a member of the House of Commons for Finchley for two years. In 1992, at the age of 66, she decided to leave the British Parliament, which, in her opinion, gave her the opportunity to more openly express her opinion on certain events.

After leaving the House of Commons

After leaving the House of Commons, Thatcher became the first former British Prime Minister to establish a foundation. It was closed in 2005 due to financial difficulties. Thatcher wrote two volumes of memoirs: "The Downing Street Years"(1993) and "The Path to Power" (1995).

In July 1992, Margaret was hired by a tobacco company "Philip Morris" as "geopolitical consultant" with an official salary of $250,000 and an annual contribution of $250,000 to her foundation. In addition, for each public performance, she received $50,000.

In August 1992, Thatcher called on NATO to stop the Serb massacres in the Bosnian cities of Gorazde and Sarajevo, putting an end to the ethnic cleansing of the Bosnian War period. She compared the situation in Bosnia to "the worst extremes of the Nazis", stating that the situation in the region could become a new Holocaust. Thatcher also spoke in the House of Lords with criticism of the Maastricht Treaty, which, according to her, "she would never sign".

Against the backdrop of growing interest in Western oil companies in the energy resources of the Caspian Sea in September 1992, Thatcher visited Baku, where she took part in the signing of an agreement on the appraisal development of the Chirag and Shah Deniz fields between the Government of Azerbaijan and British British Petroleum and Norwegian Statoil.

Thatcher with Gorbachev (left) and Mulroney (center) at Reagan's funeral

In the period from 1993 to 2000, Thatcher was the honorary rector of the College of William and Mary in the US state of Virginia, and from 1992 to 1999 - the honorary rector of the University of Buckingham (the first private university in the UK, established by her in 1975).

After the election of Tony Blair as Chairman of the Labor Party in 1994, Thatcher called him "the most dangerous Labor leader since Hugh Gaitskell".

In 1998, after the arrest by Spanish authorities of the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who was to stand trial for massive violations of human rights, Thatcher called for his release, citing his support for Britain during the Falklands conflict. In 1999 she visited former politician, who was under house arrest in the suburbs of London. Pinochet was released by Home Secretary Jack Strow in March 2000 for medical reasons.

During the 2001 parliamentary elections, Thatcher supported the Conservatives, although she did not approve the candidacy of Ian Duncan Smith for the post of leader of the Conservative Party, as was the case with John Major and William Hague. Nevertheless, immediately after the election, she favored Duncan Smith over Kenneth Clark.

In March 2002, Thatcher published a book "The Art of Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World", which she dedicated to Ronald Reagan (the book was also published in Russian). In it, Margaret expressed her position on a number of international political events and processes. She argued that there would be no peace in the Middle East until Saddam Hussein was overthrown; wrote about the need for Israel to sacrifice territory in exchange for peace, the utopianism of the European Union. In her opinion, Britain needs to reconsider the terms of its membership in the EU or even leave the integration entity by joining NAFTA.

After 2002

On June 11, 2004, Thatcher attended the funeral of Ronald Reagan. Due to health problems, a video recording of her funeral speech was made in advance. Then Thatcher, along with Reagan's entourage, went to California, where she attended a memorial service and burial ceremony at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

Thatcher at a memorial service in honor of the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Right - Dick Cheney and his wife

Margaret celebrated her 80th birthday on October 13, 2005 at a London hotel. Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Among the guests were Elizabeth II, Duke of Edinburgh, Alexandra of Kent and Tony Blair. Geoffrey Howe, who also attended the celebrations, stated that "her real triumph transformed not only one but both parties, so when Labor returned to power, much of the principles of Thatcherism were taken for granted".

In 2006, Thatcher, as a guest of Dick Cheney, attended an official memorial service in Washington to commemorate the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. During the visit, Margaret met with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

In February 2007, Thatcher became the first British Prime Minister to have a monument erected in the British Parliament during his lifetime (the official opening took place on February 21, 2007 in the presence of a former politician). A bronze statue with an outstretched right arm is located opposite the statue of Thatcher's political idol - Winston Churchill. Thatcher gave a short speech in the House of Commons, declaring that “I would rather have an iron statue, but bronze will do too ... It will not rust”.

At the end of November 2009, Thatcher briefly returned to 10 Downing Street to present her official portrait to the public by artist Richard Stone (who also painted portraits of Elizabeth II and her mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon). This event was a manifestation of special respect for the former prime minister, who was still alive.

In 2002, Thatcher experienced several minor strokes, after which the doctor advised her to refuse to participate in public events and move away from public and political activities. After collapsing during a dinner in the House of Commons on 7 March 2008, she was taken to St Thomas' Hospital in central London. In June 2009, she was hospitalized due to a broken arm. Until the end of her life she suffered from dementia (senile dementia).

At the 2010 Conservative Party Conference, the country's new prime minister, David Cameron, announced that he would once again invite Thatcher to 10 Downing Street on the occasion of her 85th birthday, which would be celebrated by celebrations with the participation of former and current ministers. However, Margaret ruled out any celebrations, citing the flu.

April 29, 2011 Thatcher was invited to the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, but did not attend the ceremony due to poor health.

Margaret Thatcher passed away on April 8, 2013 at the age of 87. The cause of death was a stroke (according to other sources - a heart attack).

Heritage

For Thatcher's supporters, she remains a political figure who was able to restore the British economy, deal a significant blow to trade unions and restore Britain's image as a world power. During her premiership, the number of British residents who owned shares increased from 7 to 25%; more than a million families have purchased houses formerly owned by municipal councils, increasing the number of homeowners from 55% to 67%. Overall personal wealth increased by 80%. Victory in the Falklands War and a close alliance with the United States are also considered one of her most important achievements.

At the same time, Thatcher's premiership was marked by high unemployment and regular strikes. In the issue of unemployment, most critics blame her economic policy, which was heavily influenced by the ideas of monetarism]. This problem, in turn, has led to the spread of drug addiction and family divorce. Speaking in Scotland in April 2009, on the eve of the thirtieth anniversary of her election as prime minister, Thatcher insisted that she had no regrets about her actions during the premiership, including the issue of imposing a poll tax and refusing subsidies. "an outdated industry whose markets were in decline".

Thatcher's premiership was the longest in the 20th century since Salisbury (1885, 1886-1892 and 1895-1902) and the longest continuous tenure since Lord Liverpool (1812-1827).

Margaret Hilda Thatcher (Margaret Hilda Thatcher, née Roberts) was born October 13, 1925 in Grantham (Lincolnshire, UK) in the family of a grocer.

She was educated at Oxford, where she studied chemistry and became chairman of the University Conservative Association.

After graduating in 1947, she worked as a chemist first in Colchester (Essex), then in Dartford (Kent).

In 1950, she made her first attempt to start political career: Elected to Parliament for the Conservative Party from Dartford.

The attempt ended in failure.

In 1953, she received a lawyer's degree, practiced law, and specialized in tax law.

In 1959, Thatcher was first elected to the House of Commons from the Conservative Party. She took over as chairman of the parliamentary pension committee, combining this position with the head of the national security committee.

In 1967, Thatcher was introduced into the shadow cabinet (a cabinet formed by a party that is in opposition to the ruling party in Britain). Under Edward Heath, Prime Minister from 1970-1974, Margaret Thatcher headed the Ministry of Education, being the only woman in government. Despite the fact that in 1975 the Conservatives lost the election, Mrs. Thatcher retained her ministerial portfolio even in the Liberal government.

In February 1975, Thatcher became leader of the Conservative Party.

The victory of the Conservatives in 1979 in the elections to the House of Commons made Margaret Thatcher Prime Minister. She became the first woman to hold this post in the UK.

During the years of tenure as head of government, Margaret Thatcher was the "iron lady": in her office, all work was based on a clear hierarchy, accountability and high personal responsibility; she was an ardent defender of monetarism, restricting the activities of trade unions by a rigid framework of laws. During her 11 years as head of the British Cabinet, she held a series of tough economic reforms, initiated the transfer to private hands of sectors of the economy where the state monopoly traditionally reigned (British Airways, the gas giant British Gas and the telecommunications company British Telecom), advocated an increase in taxes.

After Argentina occupied the disputed territory of the Falkland Islands in 1982, Thatcher sent south Atlantic warships, and British control of the islands was restored in a matter of weeks. This was a key factor in the Conservatives' second victory in the parliamentary elections in 1983.

The third term of premiership was the most difficult for Margaret Thatcher. After taking a number of unpopular measures, she lost support in her party and she had virtually no choice but to leave her post. In November 1990, Thatcher announced her voluntary resignation "for the sake of party unity and the prospect of winning the general election"; She was replaced by Treasury Secretary John Major.

After her resignation, she was a member of the House of Commons until 1992.

In 1991 she founded and headed the Margaret Thatcher Foundation.

Thatcher held numerous degrees. Among them is the degree of an honorary doctor of the Russian University of Chemical Technology named after D.I. Mendeleev.

She wrote two volumes of memoirs, The Downing Street Years (1993) and The Road to Power (1995), and The Art of Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World (2002).

On June 26, 1992, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain granted her the title of Baroness and she became a life member of the House of Lords.

In 1990, Margaret Thatcher received the Order of Merit, Britain's highest state award. In 1995, she was made a Dame of the Order of the Garter, Britain's highest order of chivalry. In 2001, she was awarded the Chesney Gold Medal.

Thatcher also had awards from a number of foreign states.

Health and age increasingly allowed Baroness Thatcher to participate in public life. AT last years life "iron lady" survived several strokes, and also suffered from senile dementia (dementia).

Margaret Thatcher has died. The ashes of Baroness Thatcher, according to her will, were buried on the territory of the Royal Chelsea Hospital next to her husband.

Margaret Thatcher's husband, Sir Denis Thatcher, died in June 2003 at the age of 88. The couple raised two children, twins Mark (Mark) and Carol (Carol) born in 1953.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Margaret Thatcher was undoubtedly one of the most important politicians of the last century. Many had relatively great achievements, but not everyone managed to leave behind a whole trend in politics - Thatcherism. What is it like and who was its founder?

Margaret Thatcher - short biography

The future head of the British government was born in 1925 in the family of a grocer, she lived in Grantham. After graduating from school, she entered Oxford University and at first tried to associate herself with chemical research.

At the age of twenty-five, Thatcher first tries to participate in politics - he is nominated for parliamentary elections, but fails. Three years later, she became a certified lawyer and practiced as a lawyer until 1957. But even then, the characteristic features of the iron lady appear: she does not deviate from the once taken course and in 1959 still becomes a parliamentarian. From that moment on, Thatcher's life was inextricably linked with politics.

Her career was steadily rising: in 1961, she was appointed Junior Minister of Pensions and Social Security. In 1970, Margaret Thatcher became Minister of Education. When the Conservatives lose the parliamentary elections in 1974, she leaves the government and leads them.

pinnacle of career

May 1979 The Tories win, and Thatcher gets the post of prime minister. It begins to implement a neo-conservative economic program, the core of which was the reduction of public spending and the privatization of state property. Having suppressed the resistance of the miners, the Thatcher government in the mid-1980s maintained a stable low prices for minerals and electricity. Inflation was brought under control at the cost of rising unemployment.

In 1990, the majority of the Conservatives disagreed with their leader in their views on the integration of England into the common European economy. For two years, Thatcher was a representative of the House of Commons, and then left the political arena completely.

While still in charge of education and science, she showed her political views, trying to minimize government spending on education. As prime minister, Thatcher acted much more broadly: she reduced spending on education and utilities, to help regions with a backward economic structure.

In the short term, the country's economy cheered up. However, today it is already clear that the strategic consequences of Thatcherism are extremely bad. Instead of the manufacturing sector of the economy, its financial component received an unreasonably large weight.

Children of Margaret Thatcher and their fate

When children appeared in the life of the future tough politician, she immediately got rid of the duties of raising them. As evidenced by Thatcher's daughter's book Behind the Parapet, the atmosphere in the house was more like an industrial refrigerator running at full capacity than a family corner. A typical feature of Margaret was a craving for beautiful clothes. Carol carefully and comprehensively distanced herself from her family, and made an excellent journalistic career. Mark seemed to be in a better position ... however, in 1984, participating in a car race in Paris, he disappeared without a trace and appeared only three days later. In general, he became a real slob.

Her parents are a seamstress and a shopkeeper. The Roberts family lived a harsh life - not so much because the pious father preached the ideas of asceticism, but because there was never enough money. In the apartment of the future baroness there was not a single hot water, no toilet. Later, our heroine was called different names: and a Toothpick, and a Splinter, and a Cutter, and a Clever Girl. And only much later, one more was added to these nicknames, by which the whole world recognized her: the Iron Lady.

The Baroness was born on October 13, 1925 in a poor apartment located above the warehouse of a grocery store. The English town of Grantham, north of London, where she was born, was famous only for being the birthplace of Sir Isaac Newton. Her parents are a seamstress and a shopkeeper. The Roberts family lived a harsh life - not so much because the pious father preached the ideas of asceticism, but because there was never enough money. The apartment of the future baroness had neither hot water nor a toilet. Later, our heroine was called by different names: Toothpick, and Splinter, and Zubrilka, and Clever. And only much later, one more was added to these nicknames, by which the whole world recognized her: the Iron Lady.

Margaret Thatcher. Photo shared by ©AFP" >

Meet, gentlemen: Baroness Margaret Hilda Thatcher.

Her mother, Beatrice Roberts, was considered an exemplary housewife and practically did not interfere in her daughter's life: firstly, household chores and sewing earnings took too much time and energy, and secondly, an independent daughter did not really allow a timid mothers to participate in their own upbringing. The father is another matter. However, Alfred Roberts did not teach his daughter so much as he constantly praised, encouraged any of her hobbies and was her best friend which the freedom-loving Margaret quite liked.

Maggie Roberts adored her father, and for him she became everything in the world. Alfred, a very gifted person, did not shine with education. Having finished only elementary school, he was forced to stop there, and compensated for his inescapable craving for knowledge by endless reading of books. He infected Margaret with a passion for reading. They went to libraries together, read aloud to each other, passionately argued about this or that book and, most importantly, talked a lot. Perhaps, precisely because God did not give Alfred a son, and his eldest daughter Muriel was strikingly like her mother - a born housewife, he tried to embody all his unrealized ambitions, hopes and dreams in a talented and original youngest daughter.

Father sometimes forgot that Maggie was just a little girl, and communicated with her on an equal footing. From morning to night he inspired his daughter with the principles of honor, duty and faith. Even before Margaret went to school, her father taught her for nothing in the world not to merge with a faceless crowd, not to make herd decisions, not to be afraid of being misunderstood and unlike others, to fearlessly defend her own point of view, not to shift responsibility to someone else. . He said, "Baby, remember, there are no words in life: 'I can't' or 'It's too hard.' Such words are for the weak in spirit.” Alfred convinced a very small child that it is necessary to feel sorry for people, but you can’t feel sorry for yourself. And besides, we must always remember that the Lord does not leave his children. He taught his daughter the way a father usually teaches his son, and at the same time the grains fell into very fertile soil.

The girl absorbed her father's philosophy like a sponge, and performed many of her adult actions under his influence. Father sought to give Margaret a brilliant education. Maggie began to study music and poetry even before school. Alfred Roberts with early childhood accustomed her to sports, as he preached the idea of ​​a harmonious and comprehensive development of the individual. And among other things, the father developed his daughter's oratory skills. It would seem that the girl's life, filled with books, music, sports and endless conversations with her father, was bright and eventful. But every medal has two sides.

Margaret was intellectually ahead of her peers to a large extent, and in a sense, her childhood passed her by. She grew up beyond her age as a serious and withdrawn child and had no friends. If not for her father, Meggie would be generally alone. With all the strength of his father's life position, he had dogmatic religious beliefs that did not allow his daughter to communicate with frivolous peers, go to the movies or, later, to dances. Yes, Margaret did not really strive for this ...

Maggie went to a girls' school. She studied well and actively participated in sports competitions, even became the captain of her school's team. At the age of nine, Margaret Hilda won a poetry competition, perhaps it was then that the famous character of the future Iron Lady first appeared.

When Maggie got first place, the headmistress of the school congratulated the girl, saying to her: “You are very lucky, Margaret,” to which the schoolgirl retorted with conviction: “This is not luck, madam. It's a merit!" Since then, the whole school called Maggie Toothpick - either for her sharp mind, or for her no less sharp tongue.

At the age of 12, she began attending political meetings, and at 13, despite the political predilections of her father, an adherent of conservatives, she made own choice in favor of the Labor Party. In addition, Margaret managed to work in her family's grocery store. In the meantime, not only the daughter was progressing, but also the father. By hard work and extraordinary determination, he achieved what became the mayor of Grantham. Margaret closely followed his political career.

ZUBRILKA

Maggie set herself the most difficult tasks - and brilliantly coped with them. Four years before graduation, she decided that she would study at the best women's college in Oxford - Somerville. There was still not enough money in the family, and in order to qualify for a scholarship, it was necessary to learn Latin perfectly - and with four years of cramming, the girl achieved this. It was then that she acquired her next school nickname - Zubrilka.

But the nickname is a nickname, and Margaret still received the Somerville scholarship. Before college, she had lived in her little isolated world that her father built for her: hard study, the grocery store, and endless discussions about the books she read and politics. In Somerville, Margaret gets another nickname: fellow students began to call her Jeanne in honor of Joan of Arc - either because she "burned" at school, or because for the first time in her life she fell madly in love and, like a real Jeanne, fearlessly ascended on the fire of failed love.

Her first love was the son of the count, whose family, of course, did not accept the daughter of a small shopkeeper. The young man, rather frightened by the explicit threats of his parents to deprive him of financial support, left Margaret alone with her first love disappointments, but she was too strong and proud to allow herself to suffer.

Maggie began to study with even greater perseverance. She was seen with a textbook in her hands from six in the morning to twelve at night. The only thing she was distracted from her studies was the political debates that were popular at that time, which Margaret did not miss. There she honed her oratory skills, learned to defend her position among men, who, in principle, were not interested in women's opinion, and even more so on such “non-female” issues as politics and economics.

Maggie Roberts fell more and more in love with politics. She later joined the Conservative Association at Oxford University. In her memoirs, Margaret admitted that the change in political preferences was due not only to ideological considerations, but also purely career plans to become president of this association.

In 1947, Margaret Roberts received a bachelor's degree in chemistry and became a research assistant in a laboratory located in Mannington. From the first minute she was aware that in little Mannington, with her exorbitant ambitions and ambition, she would be cramped.

She aspired to London, and her next place of work was a chemical laboratory in the capital. The career of a chemical scientist turned out to be not unsuccessful, but rather short, since all Meggie's thoughts were occupied by politics and the jurisprudence closely related to it. In 1948, Margaret decided to try to get into Parliament from the branch of the Conservative Party in Dartford, Kent.

She had practically no chance: 23 years old, a woman ... She did not hover in the clouds and assessed her chances as minimal, but nevertheless joined the fight.

Margaret Roberts lost the election but won in personal life. During the election campaign, Meggie met one of her party comrades, industrialist Denis Thatcher.

Their "political romance" lasted two years, and in 1951 they got married. Almost immediately after her honeymoon, she entered law school. Evil tongues (and Margaret was surrounded by evil tongues all her life) claimed that Meggie got married for purely mercantile reasons, since a wealthy spouse could pay for the legal education she dreamed of. Margaret respected herself and her husband too much to publicly respond to attacks, but in private conversations with friends she admitted that such guesses hurt her.

In 1953, Maggie received her law degree, and she passed the bar exams with two four-month-old twins in her arms. For the next five years, Margaret Thatcher worked as a lawyer. Later, she became a brilliant specialist in patent and tax law, a field of law where there was practically no place for women at that time. It was then that Meggie fearlessly entered the male world and began to look for her place in it under the sun.

Margaret later said: “It’s good that I studied all my life in educational institutions for girls. Having hardly known boys as a child, I never learned how to complex in front of them and give in to them just because they are boys. And when I became an adult - sorry, gentlemen, but it was already too late. Margaret never forgot about her main goal - to break into the world of big politics, but quite deliberately took a time out for several years, allowing her to wait until her children grow up a little.

And in 1959, Margaret entered the fight for a seat in Parliament for the second time and this time she won, becoming a member of the House of Commons at the age of 33.

ARMORED TANK

Margaret Thatcher began to actively advance in political career ladder since the 60s, but only 20 years later, in May 1979, she became Prime Minister of Great Britain, having won almost 44% of the vote. She was 53 years old, and having defended her position in the world of men for so many years, she became even more tough. Even her adoring and admiring father said: “Margaret is 99.5% perfect. The other half percent is what she could have if she were just a little warmer.”

With the advent of big politics, not only her life changed, but also her nicknames. Lord, as soon as they did not name this woman! And the Iron Lady, and the Bloody Margo, and the Armored Tank, and the Shopkeeper's Daughter, and the Ram - you can't list everything! By the way, the Russians came up with the nickname Iron Lady. It was with our light hand that the whole world called it that.

Without a doubt, one of the main projections of politics on the plane of real life is the state of the economy. What country, from this point of view, did Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher get? Before the coming to power of MT, as it was most often called for brevity in the UK, the country was seriously ill. The United States, continental Europe and the rapidly progressing Asian states aggressively forced the British out of the trade and economic niches they had previously conquered. Regression reigned in everything, only the never-ending fuel crisis progressed.

The press gave useful advice to citizens on how to better build their lives in apartments unheated for months. There was no money in the treasury, and civil servants began to withhold salaries, and some were forcibly transferred to a three-four-day work week. Inflation reached 20-25%. In the largest cities of the country, garbage collection was stopped, and hordes of rats gathered around the fetid garbage. For the first time in the history of England, unkempt lawns appeared in central parks.

Brilliant Britain degraded before our eyes. But our life is so arranged that prosperous times, as a rule, give the world the most ordinary people, and titans, heroes and geniuses are born precisely difficult ones. The medicines that MT was forcing her sick country to take were actually completely traditional ingredients.

It would seem that everything is very simple: do not be a dependent; receive practical demanded education; work honestly and pay honestly for work; stretch your legs along the clothes; respect the law; pay taxes; do not borrow until you have paid back what you already owe; Set aside money for sickness and old age. That's all the unpretentious rules of the game! But for their introduction into the economy, MT had to fight with such harsh, almost military methods that the events of those years were called by journalists and researchers historical battle for Britain.

In war as in war - and Margaret Thatcher, without almonds, dealt with completely insolent trade unions, with striking miners protesting against the closure of unprofitable mines, with dependent sentiments in a society that believed that the state “owes” something to it a priori, with offenses during denationalization, with corruption and tax evasion.

The main blow was aimed at fighting inflation, and, of course, the drastic measures taken by the Prime Minister were very unpopular. The government took the issuance of money and credit policy under the most severe control. The country's budget was also placed under completely transparent control, which caused huge cuts in public funding. Unlike many other politicians, MT did not use the carrot and stick method. There was only a whip, but the Iron Lady never faked and did not hypocrite before the nation, she did not give empty promises.

Yes, it was very hard. Yes, no one promised instant improvements. Yes, MT methods are absolutely unfeminine. She said, "Nobody wants a government made up of stuffed animals." However, it was precisely the toughness, analytical mind and determination of the prime minister that led to the fact that by 1984 inflation fell to 4%. There were many casualties along the way. One by one, enterprises that previously lived on government subsidies. The army of the unemployed has reached appalling proportions. A huge gap formed between the economic situation of different regions of the country. However, the middle class gradually began to grow and strengthen its positions.

It is no secret that it is the middle class that most objectively shows the health of the economy, and during the years of the Iron Lady's rule, it has grown significantly and reached 40% of the population. The British business, put on a half-starved diet, having lost excess weight, suddenly felt so much better that it rushed at full speed to catch up with competitors that had pulled far ahead.

Having defeated the main disease - inflation and controlling its dynamics in the most cruel way, MT managed to cope with the complications. Since 1984, the UK began to progress and gradually become the very country that we know today. Although, of course, there were some mistakes. At some point, the anti-inflationary policy was weakened - and prices began to rise again. Several serious miscalculations were made in the tax legislation, which also had a negative impact on the state of the economy. Not the strongest place of the prime minister was foreign policy. But, as you know, only those who do nothing do not make mistakes. She made decisions, committed actions - and was fully responsible for them.

That is why the award of Margaret Thatcher by Queen Elizabeth II in 1992 to the baronial title was perceived in British society as a well-deserved reward.

A lot has been said about the political incarnation of the great MT, but I would like to talk about that side of her life that has never been in sight - about the family. What did the Iron Lady become when, after an eventful working day, she returned to her home?

Margaret, practically inexperienced in dealing with men, except perhaps for political debate, married a man ten years older, with a history of unsuccessful marriages and very wealthy. The question arises: did she need the marriage for herself, for Maggie Roberts, and not to strengthen her political image or to obtain some additional financial opportunities? A careerist, independent, tough and ambitious, was she basically made for a family?

In 1968, Thatcher said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph: "If we can't afford constant help around the house, I'll have to give up my career tomorrow." Do you think it's a public game? Unlikely.

Throughout her life, she proved that she never stooped to falsehood. With fantastic frankness and extraordinary honesty, MT won so many enemies, ill-wishers and opponents that hardly any of the male politicians can compare with her here. She wanted to have a family and a career, and this great woman knows how to achieve her goals.

Margaret Thatcher repeatedly talked about the possibility of combining family and professional duties. Her opinion was unequivocal: yes, it is real. In a 1983 interview with Cosmopolitan, she remarked: “I hope that in the future we will see more and more women combining marriage and career. The prejudice against such a dual role does not come only from men. Much more often, unfortunately, it comes from members of our own sex.”

Throwing off the mask of the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher was a loving daughter, a loving mother and a loving wife. Both Thatcher herself and her husband spoke little publicly about their personal lives, but once Denis Thatcher could not resist: “The world and the family see Margaret with different eyes. The world calls her the Iron Lady. The children call her what children should call her: Ma. I gave her another nickname." Of course, like a true English gentleman, he never admitted which one. Maybe at least once in her life Margaret received a gentle, warm nickname?

The name Thatcher, in a certain sense, has become synonymous with toughness and rationality, but it must be admitted that she is surprisingly charming. Who, if not a Frenchman, can appreciate real woman? It was the Frenchman Francois Mitterrand who made the statement about Margaret Thatcher that has spread all over the world: “She has the eyes of Caligula, and the lips of Marilyn Monroe.”

At the next Sothby's auction, dolls-parodies of the greats of this world were exhibited. Ronald and Nancy Reagan left for 6 thousand pounds sterling, Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stones - for 7.5 thousand. The doll of Baroness Thatcher won the first place. And although it cost 11 thousand 220 pounds, it's not even in this fabulous (for a doll!) amount. The point is different.

Lady will soon be 75 years old. A few years ago, she and her husband celebrated their golden wedding. MT has long moved away from big politics, and recently doctors banned her - the greatest orator of our time - from public performance. Microstrokes are repeated more and more often: alas, the health of the Iron Lady turned out to be not so iron.

Together with the baroness, as with any truly great person, whole era. But in fact, the era of Margaret Thatcher does not go into oblivion, but simply becomes the property of history before our eyes. Lady Margaret has been accustomed to offensive nicknames since childhood, so that she is no longer offended by the unpronounceable name that is almost officially assigned to the era of her reign - the so-called Thatcherism. Unfortunately, this word is often pronounced with a negative connotation, but the big, as you know, is seen from a distance. There is only one impartial and objective judge - Time.

What is the baroness thinking about today? She recently spoke about this with one of the biographers. Margaret Thatcher said that, unfortunately or fortunately, for the first time in her life she had so much free time to think and, sitting in a rocking chair in her beautiful garden, she thinks about the health of her husband, the well-being of the children and the prosperity of the country. Note, it is in this - very understandable and very feminine - order!

Now women in politics will not surprise anyone. But when Margaret Thatcher began her career, it was nonsense in the puritanical and conservative society of Great Britain. She was condemned and hated. Only thanks to her character, she continued to "bend her line" and go to the intended goals.

Today, her person can serve as both an example and an anti-example. She is the perfect example of how determination leads to success. Also, her experience can serve as a reminder - excessive categoricalness can lead to failure and unpopularity.

How did Thatcher's "ironness" manifest itself? Why do so many people hate her even after death?

Difficult character from childhood

The "Iron Lady" did not suddenly become one - her difficult character was traced already in childhood. The father had a great influence on the girl.

Margaret Thatcher (nee Roberts) was born October 13, 1925. Her parents were ordinary people, her mother was a dressmaker, her father was from a shoemaker's family. Due to poor eyesight, the father was unable to continue the family business. In 1919 he was able to open his first grocery store, and in 1921 the family opened a second shop.

Father

Despite his simple origins, Margaret's father had a strong character and an extraordinary mind. He began his career as a sales assistant - and was able to independently become the owner of two shops.

Later, he achieved even greater success, and became a respected citizen of his city. He was a workaholic who occupied every free moment with various activities - he worked in a store, studied politics and economics, served as a pastor, was a member of the city council - and even mayor.

He devoted much of his time to raising his daughters. But this upbringing was specific. Children in the Roberts family had to do useful things all the time.

The family paid considerable attention to their intellectual development, but the emotional sphere was practically ignored. In the family, it was not customary to show tenderness and other emotions.

Hence comes the restraint, severity and coldness of Margaret.

These traits both helped and hurt her throughout her life and career.

School and university

Margaret's teachers respected her, but she was never their favorite. Despite diligence, hard work and the ability to memorize entire pages of text, she had no imagination and an outstanding mind. She was impeccably "correct" - but, apart from correctness, there were no other distinguishing features.

Among classmates, she also did not win much love. She was known as a typical "scribbler", which was, moreover, too boring. Her statements were always categorical, and she could argue until the opponent gave up.

Throughout her life, Margaret had only one girlfriend. Even with her own sister, she did not have a warm relationship.

Studying at the university only tempered her already difficult character. Women in those days were only recently allowed to study at universities. The bulk of Oxford students at that time were young people from rich and eminent families.

In such an uncomfortable environment, she became even colder.

She had to constantly show "needles".

Video: Margaret Thatcher. Path of the Iron Lady

Personal life of the "Iron Lady"

Margaret was a beautiful girl. It is not surprising that even with her complex nature, she attracted many young people.

At university, she met a young man from an aristocratic family. But their relationship was doomed from the very beginning - the parents would not allow kinship with the family of the owner of grocers.

However, at that time the norms of British society softened slightly - and if Margaret had shown gentleness, diplomacy and cunning, she could have won their favor.

But such a path was not for this categorical girl. Her heart was broken, but she didn't show it. Emotions must be kept to yourself!

Staying unmarried in those years was practically a sign of bad taste, and that "there is clearly something wrong with the girl." Margaret was not actively looking for a husband. But, since she was always surrounded by men in her party activities, sooner or later she would meet a suitable candidate.

And so it happened.

Love and marriage

In 1951, she met Denis Thatcher, a former military man and wealthy businessman. The meeting took place at a Conservative Candidate Dinner in Dartford.

At first, she conquered him not with her mind and character - Denis was blinded by her beauty. The age difference between them was 10 years.

Love at first sight did not happen. But they both knew that they were good partners for each other, and their marriage has a chance of success. Their characters agreed - he did not know how to communicate with women, he was ready to support her in everything and did not interfere in most issues. And Margaret needed financial support, which Denis was ready to provide.

Constant communication and recognition of each other led to the emergence of feelings.

However, Denis was not such an ideal candidate - he liked to drink, and there was already a divorce in his past.

This, of course, could not please her father - but by that time Margaret was already making her own decisions.

The relatives of the bride and groom were not too happy about the wedding, but the future couple Thatcher did not care much. And time has shown that it was not in vain - their marriage was incredibly strong, they supported each other, loved - and were happy.

Children

In 1953, the couple had twins Carol and Mark.

The lack of an example in the family of her parents led to the fact that Margaret failed to become a good mother. She generously endowed them, trying to give them everything that she herself did not have. But she did not know the most important thing - how to give love and warmth.

She saw little of her daughter, and their relationship remained cool until the end of her life.

At one time, her father wanted a boy, and she was born. The son became the embodiment of her dream, this desired boy. She spoiled him and allowed him everything. With such an upbringing, he grew up quite self-willed, capricious and adventurous. He enjoyed all the privileges, and everywhere he looked for profit. He caused a lot of problems - debts, problems with the law.

Spousal partnership

The 50s of the 20th century is a rather conservative time. Most of the "doors" are closed to women. Even with some kind of career, family and home remain in the first place.

Men are always in the first roles, men are at the head of families, and the interests and career of a man are always in the first place.

But that was not the case for the Thatcher family. The former military and successful businessman became the shadow and reliable rear of his Margaret. He rejoiced for her after victories, consoled her after defeats and supported her during the struggle. He always followed her discreetly and modestly, did not abuse the many opportunities that opened up thanks to her position.

With all this, Margaret remained loving woman, was ready to obey her husband - and leave her affairs for his sake.

She was not only a politician and leader, but also a simple woman for whom family values ​​are important.

They were together until the death of Denis in 2003. Margaret survived him by 10 years and passed away on April 8, 2013 due to a stroke.

Her ashes were buried next to her husband.

Thatcher and the USSR

Margaret Thatcher had an antipathy for Soviet regime. She practically did not hide it. Many of her actions in one way or another influenced the deterioration of the economic and political situation, and then the collapse of the country.

It is now known that the so-called "arms race" was provoked by false information. The United States and Britain allowed information to allegedly be leaked, according to which their countries possessed much more weapons.

On the British side, this "leak" was made at the initiative of Thatcher.

Believing false information, the Soviet authorities began to significantly increase the cost of arms production. As a result, people faced a "shortage", when it was impossible to buy the most simple goods popular consumption. And this led to discontent.

The economy of the USSR was undermined not only by the "arms race". The country's economy is very dependent on oil prices. By agreement between England, the USA and the countries of the East, a drop in oil prices was carried out.

Thatcher lobbied for the deployment of American weapons and military bases in the UK and Europe. She also actively supported the increase in the nuclear potential of her country. Such actions only exacerbated the situation during the Cold War.

Thatcher met Gorbachev at Andropov's funeral. In the early 80s, he was little known. But even then he was personally invited by Margaret Thatcher. During this visit, she showed her affection for him.

After this meeting, she said:

"You can do business with this person"

Thatcher made no secret of her desire to destroy the USSR. She carefully studied the constitution of the Soviet Union - and realized that it is imperfect, it has some loopholes, thanks to which any republic can secede from the USSR at any time. There was only one obstacle to this - the strong hand of the Communist Party, which would not allow this. The subsequent weakening and destruction of the Communist Party under Gorbachev made this possible.

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One of her statements about the USSR is quite shocking.

She once expressed this idea:

“On the territory of the USSR, the living of 15 million people is economically justified”

This quote caused a significant resonance. It immediately began to be interpreted differently. There were also comparisons to Hitler's ideas of exterminating most of the population.

In fact, Thatcher expressed the following idea - the economy of the USSR is inefficient, only 15 million people are effective and necessary for the economy.

However, even from such a restrained statement, one can understand her attitude towards the country and people.

Video: Margaret Thatcher. Woman at the pinnacle of power

Unpopular decisions and dislike of the people

The categoricalness of Margaret made her quite unpopular among the people. Her policy was aimed at future changes and improvements. But during their implementation, many people suffered, lost their jobs and livelihoods.

She was called the "milk thief". Traditionally in British schools children received free milk. But in the 50s, it ceased to be popular with children - more fashionable drinks appeared. Thatcher canceled this item of expenditure, which caused considerable discontent.

British society is not accustomed to such behavior of a politician, and even more so of a woman. Many of her statements are shocking and inhumane.

So, she called for birth control among the poor, to refuse to subsidize the unprotected segments of the population.

Thatcher ruthlessly closed all unprofitable enterprises and mines. In 1985, 25 mines were closed, by 1992 - 97. All the rest were privatized. This led to unemployment and protests. Margaret sent the police against the protesters - so she lost the support of the working class.

In the early 80s, a serious problem appeared in the world - AIDS. It was necessary to ensure the safety of blood transfusion. However, the Thatcher government ignored this problem and no action was taken on it until 1984-85. As a result, the number of infected people has increased significantly.

Because of her categoricalness, there was also an aggravation in relations with Ireland. Members of the national liberation and republican armies of Ireland were serving their sentences in Northern Ireland. They went on a hunger strike demanding the return of their status as political prisoners. 10 prisoners died during a hunger strike that lasted 73 days - but they never received the desired status. As a result, an attempt was made on Margaret.

Irish politician Danny Morrison called her"the greatest scum we've ever known."

After Thatcher's death, not everyone mourned her. Many rejoiced - and, practically, celebrated. People held parties and walked the streets with posters. She was not forgiven for the milk scandal. After her death, some carried bouquets of flowers to her house, and some carried packages and bottles of milk.

A hit in those days was the song from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, "Ding dong, the witch is dead." It peaked at number two on the UK charts in April.

The fruits of Thatcher's policies

Margaret Thatcher was the longest prime minister in the 20th century - 11 years. Despite significant unpopularity with the population and political opponents, she was able to achieve a lot.

The country has become richer, but wealth is distributed very unevenly, and only certain groups of the population began to live much better.

It significantly weakened the influence of trade unions. She also closed unprofitable mines. This led to unemployment. But, at the same time, subsidizing began to train people in new professions.

Thatcher carried out a reform of state ownership and gave many state-owned enterprises for privatization. Ordinary Britons could buy shares in any enterprise - railway, coal, gas companies. Having passed into private ownership, enterprises began to develop and increase profits. One third of state property has been privatized.

Stopped financing unprofitable industries. All enterprises worked only under contracts - what they did was what they got. This stimulated them to improve product quality and fight for the client.

Loss-making enterprises were destroyed. They were replaced by a small and medium business. Along with this, many new jobs have appeared. Thanks to these new companies, the UK economy gradually emerged from the crisis.

During her reign, more than a million British families were able to purchase their own homes.

The personal wealth of ordinary citizens increased by 80%.

Interesting facts from the life of the Iron Lady

• The nickname "Iron Lady" first appeared in the Soviet newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda.
• When Margaret's husband Denis first saw the newborn babies, he said, "They look like rabbits! Maggie, bring them back."

American diplomats spoke of Thatcher as follows:"A woman with a quick, though shallow mind."

• She was inspired to go into politics by Winston Churchill. He became her idol during World War II. She even borrowed a gesture that was his calling card- the V sign formed by the index and middle fingers.
• Thatcher's school nickname is "toothpick".
• She was the first woman to lead a party in the UK.
• One of the main sources of her views on economics is Friedrich von Hayek's The Road to Slavery. It expresses ideas about reducing the role of the state in the economy.
• As a child, Margaret played the piano, and during her university years she took part in student theater productions and took vocal lessons.
• As a child, Thatcher wanted to be an actress.
• Margaret's alma mater, Oxford, did not honor her with titles. Therefore, she transferred her entire archive to Cambridge. She also cut funding for Oxford.
• One of Margaret's lovers left her, marrying her sister, as she could become best wife and a housewife.

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