Margaret Thatcher Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Margaret Thatcher - Essay Example Five years later, she strongly supported Keith Joseph in his mission to become Conservative Party leader but unfortunately he couldn't remain in the election. After gaining great experience she became the leader of the Conservative party in 1975. Thatcher entered the contest herself and became leader of the Conservative Party. It was 1979 when Margaret Thatcher became England's first female Prime Minister. (Thatcher, 1993, pp-27) In the Conservative manifesto of 1979, she had written about the feeling of helplessness that a nation which was once called a great nation has fallen behind with time. Thatcher entered ten determined to reverse the national decline of the country, which was characterized by a combination of high unemployment, high inflation and stagnant growth. The political philosophy and the economic policies of Thatcher emphasized on the financial sector, selling off of state owned companies and flexible labor markets. (Thatcher, 1993, pp-32) Because of high unemployment and recession her popularity amongst people decreased, with the help of economic recovery and the success of Falklands War which brought a great support for her and in the election of 1983 she was elected again. During her leadership she been through very hard times for example, Brighton hotel bombing which was the attempt to assassinate her, but she survived. Margaret also took a hard line against all the trade unions. Because of her hard words and tough talking she was also know as the Iron Lady. In 1987 she was again elected for the third term. The same year was not good for her and it proved difficult as the Poll tax plan became unpopular and her views about the European Community were also not shared in the Cabinet. (Thatcher, 1997, pp-17) In the November of 1990 she resigned as the Prime Minister. Her period as Prime minister proved longest after the record of Lord Salisbury and she also had a record of spending continuous longest period after Lord Liverpool. She also became the first lady to lead a political party in the England. Thatcher is also the first of only five women to have the four great offices of a state. She also has a peerage as Baroness Thatcher, in the County of Lincolnshire; this made her eligible to sit in the House of Lords. (Thatcher, 1997, pp-34) Thatcher's economic and political philosophy focused on entrepreneurialism and free market. She tried her best to end what she thought was excessive government interference in the economic policies, and therefore she decided to privatized many nationally owned companies and made a policy of selling public housing to tenants at reduced prices. Thatcher was deeply influenced by monetarist thinking as exposed by Milton Friedman, Thatcher started her economic reforms by focusing on increasing interest rates to try lower inflation. Thatcher also ordered to place limits on the printing of money and she thought that legal restrictions on trade unions should be there, in her battle to handle inflation and settle the disputes among trade union she found it very difficult. UK's economy was not good during the whole 1970s. In pursuit of her anti interventionist views Thatcher introduced the system of cash limits on public spending, and tried to reduce expenditures on social services such as edu cation and housing un till 1988. In the same period