Margaret Thatcher - the Conservative Party - Essay Example

Running Head: Margaret Thatcher Margaret Thatcher of Margaret Thatcher Margaret Thatcher was born on 13th October 1925 in Lincolnshire, England. She served United Kingdom as the Prime Minister of the country from 1979 to 1990. She was also the leader of the Conservative Party from 1974 to 1990. Margaret Thatcher is the only woman to have held both the posts. In the early stages of her life, she studied chemistry at the college of Somerville. Later she became a barrister. In the general election of 1959 she won a seat of MP as a Conservative. In 1970's Edward Heath formed a government, Margaret Thatcher was appointed as Secretary of State for education and science. 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 education and housing un till 1988. In the same period Conservatives in the Cabinet, who were called wets, expressed uncertainty over her policies. Another problem was of civil unrest in the country which created a need for a policy change. During the Conservative Party Conference in 1980 she addressed the issue directly and clearly powered by a speech written by Ronald Millar. Thatcher reduced direct taxes on income but on the other hand she increased indirect taxes. When the recession of 1980s deepened as a result unemployment soared. Thatcher's job approval rating fell to 30%, which was the lowest of her entire premiership, and it was the lowest rating that was recorded for any previous prime minister of the country, but the fact is that she remained much more popular than her party. After some time, around January 1985 the post was ended and as a result inflation dropped to 9.5% from an earlier high of 17%, and interest rates dramatically fell, although the rate of unemployment exceeded of 2,500,000 for the first time since the early 1930s. Her job approval rating recovered to 42% and by 1985, overall economic growth of the country was stronger and mortgage rates were at their lowest levels. Manufacturing output dropped by 25% and unemployment was more than double. (Thatcher, 2003, pp-54) Thatcher brought a new system for government to raise revenue of the country. She made policies for the business culture to grow, she replaced government taxes with Poll tax, the good thing about this was that it made the property tax rates uniform for everyone. Thatcher's system proved so good for the business environment, that this revolutionary system was introduced in Scotland and Wales also. Thatcher government failed to anticipate that the local councils would eventually raise their own shares from the government taxes. As a result of this the central government put such rates that seemed totally out of line, which created the charges of partisanship and the alienation Conservatives. (Thatcher, 2003, pp-72) In 1989 the popularity of Prime Minister declined as she stood firm on the policy to compromise on the tax. After that number of riots took place in the country, most of the riots occurred in London, in 1990. In these riots more than hundred thousand protesters attended out of which five hundred were arrested. (Thatcher, 2003, pp-134) Thatcher had her seat in the House of Commons for two years; she followed John Major as her successor. She often spoke in the House after she became Prime Minister, mostly commenting and campaigning on issues pertaining to her beliefs. In 1991, she was given standing ovation for five minutes at the annual conference of the party. After the election of 1992 she retired from the House of Commons, and at the age of 65 she said to the public that after leaving the House will allow her more freedom to express her feelings and speak her mind. From Thatcher supporter's point of view she will remain a revolutionary figure who gave a new life to England's economy and re established the country as a world power. But on the other hand Thatcher was also a controversial figure because people say that her premiership was marked by social unrest and high unemployment. Many of her critics mistake her economic policies for the unemployment in the country. In April 2009, in Scotland she spoke before the 30th anniversary of being a prime minister, she said I regret nothing, and she said that she was right and wise to introduce the poll tax system. References: Thatcher, Margaret. (1993). The Downing street years. 1993-11-05 Thatcher, Margaret. (1997). The Path to power. 1997-06-09. Thatcher, Margaret. (2003). Statecraft. 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