Margaret Thatcher
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom · 1925–2013
Thatcher was Conservative prime minister from 1979 to 1990, the first woman to hold the office. She privatised state industries, curbed trade union power, fought the Falklands War, and grew increasingly opposed to European integration.
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Estimated from their documented words and actions. A simplification, not a verdict.
Abolished the Greater London Council and metropolitan councils and opposed devolution to Scotland and Wales.
Won three general elections while centralising power and clashing with unions and local government.
Took a hard line on the miners' strike, IRA terrorism and policing powers.
Her Bruges speech rejected a European superstate and defended national sovereignty.
Went to war to retake the Falklands and supported nuclear deterrence and U.S. missile deployments.
Said in 1978 that people feared being swamped by other cultures and tightened nationality law in 1981.
Privatised state industries and council housing and reduced top tax rates.
Followed monetarism and deregulation, including the 1986 Big Bang in the City of London.
Supported free trade and the European single market for goods and capital.
A Methodist-raised Anglican who argued for Christian morality in politics, as in her Sermon on the Mound.
Introduced Section 28 and stressed family values, though she voted earlier to decriminalise homosexuality.
A trained chemist who backed science and was an early leader to warn about climate change.