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British Politician Polarized Opinion Like Margaret Thatcher

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No British politician polarized opinion like Margaret Thatcher did. Loved and hated in equal measure, she dominated the political landscape for fifteen years, first as Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the Conservative Party, and then as Prime Minister. Strengthened by her ideas, she had a vision for the United Kingdom, one that put it back on recovery and destroyed the socialist state established by the Post-War consensus. She took on the image of the 'Iron Lady ' and fought for economic and political freedom around the world. Her new approach and personal style revolutionized not just Britain, but in fact, the entire world. Margaret Hilda Thatcher (née Roberts) was born October 13, 1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. The …show more content…

Without a doubt, Margaret Thatcher was an incredibly intelligent woman, earning the spot of Head Girl at her local grammar school and later attending Oxford University, where she studied research chemistry. Because Margaret Thatcher was a woman though, she was unable to attend the famed Oxford political debates, and became discontent with the Conservative establishment. As she wrote in her diary, “these Conservatives seem to hate Capitalism!” Regardless of her frustrations though, she fascinated her peers at the Oxford Conservatives Association with her writings and in 1946, they elected her as one of the first female Presidents of the organization; a prelude to the 1975 leadership contest. Graduating the following year in 1947, Thatcher began a career in chemistry, meanwhile studying for the bar in her spare time. In 1949, Thatcher made her first political run in the Labour-held seat of Dartford. Previous Conservative candidates hobnobbed only with the elite of Dartford, but Thatcher took an entirely different approach. Foreshadowing her strategy in the 1979 general election, she instead went to the poorer parts of town; spoke with the common people, and began relating with them. The strategy worked, cutting the Labour lead in half, but failed to provide Thatcher with a victory. Trying repeatedly in 1950 and 1951, she still could not win the election. While in pursuit of a Parliamentary seat, she met an affluent executive, Denis Thatcher.

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