Margaret Thatcher’s Achievements as Prime Minister in the Years 1979-1990 Were Limited.

Margaret Thatcher is a former prime minister who worked closely with Ronald Reagan. In the sincere and appreciative eulogy for Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher utilizes characterization, rhetorical appeals, and specific diction to recall all of Ronald Reagan's life and the wonderful things he achieved during his presidency.

This essay will examine the impact of the Conservative party during their period in office between 1951 and 1964. The assessments by historians of these thirteen years vary widely as the Conservative rule left behind a mixed feeling about its achievements. We will therefore be discussing to what extent their period in office can be described as “thirteen years wasted”, based on their performances in the political, economic and social sectors.

But has the Conservative party actually abandoned Thatcherism? Considering the points displayed in this essay, I have come to the conclusion that Cameron’s ‘progressive’ party may not so adverse to Thatcherism at all. The most important issues over specific reforms raised by the current Conservative Government seem to be highly influenced by the ideas of Thatcher. What is essential to point out is that times have evolved since the Thatcher timeframe and the Conservatives have had to evolve along with these times and adapt their attitudes to gain support from the electorate who view the ‘Iron Lady’s’ concepts as out of date. As to any argument, there are two sides to the story; let us remember that Cameron’s Government has only had the chance

The Labour government in 1945-1951 achieved a high degree of activity and success, despite working within ‘the aftermath of war’ which inevitably ‘brings enormous difficulties’. The Labour government devoted their power to reconstructing a better nation, one that would be a ‘better place in which to be born, to grow up, and to live and even die’. On the other hand it is possible to criticise Labour due to their ‘irresponsible’ spending.

As stated by Holmes, in the 1980s, there was a lot of chaos in the party as Margaret Thatcher had moved the party to the extreme right amongst other things, making her members of parliament keen to replace her. She was replaced by John Major in 1990 who won four successive elections. Between 1900 and 2000, the conservatives were in power two-third of the time. The period in time when they were not in power, was in 1997 were they lost the election and also in 2001.At that point time, the conservative leaders were (William Hague and Iain Duncan smith) who struggled to win back votes of the people. The policies that were left by Margret Thatcher were not favoured by the people. In 2003, Michael Howard (right winger) revived the conservatives but the conservatives were defeated by the liberal democrat party in the 2005 general election. (Holmes pg276-277)

Thatcherism changed and affected not only the political landscape of Britain but also the mere social fabric that Britain had lived by for decades. Thatcher’s policies of the 1970s and 1980s would go on to shape the nation well into the millennium.

During this period the condition of much of Britain was incredibly poor and something desperately needed to be done. Reforms such as extending the franchise in 1884-85 meant a process was beginning that gave a larger majority a voice as to who ran the country but not as to what actually happened. The governments felt that they were improving conditions by introducing minor reforms however conditions had barely changed. Any reforms that involved the

Thatcherism gained lots of opposition due to her social and economic policies. Her focus on reducing inflation and creating a self-sufficient society meant that unemployment rose. Also, those who did benefit from her policies such as privatisation encouraged the gap between the rich and poor to grow. Ultimately the growth of the get rich quick, capitalist society in the most important criticism of Thatcher as it links in with many of the other points of opposition

Margaret Thatcher became the first female Prime Minister in 1979 when the Conservatives won the general election. However; Thatcher was not the most popular politician of her time. Before 1982 according to sources, “No British leader in recent times had been so unpopular” (Garfinkel, 1985) Before 1982 she had

meant taking a democratic collectivist vision for Britain's post war future. The political changes of the 1940s is best understood as launching a distinctly modern political settlement.

Margaret last name was not originally Thatcher but she was first known as Margaret Roberts. Margaret was born on October 13, 1925 in Grantham, England. During this time women were known and represented by their fathers or their husbands more or less. However Margaret was someone who aspired to make a name for herself. She went to an all girl’s high school and showed a very high interest in politics at a very young age of 14. She was very different among most of her classmates when she was in high school. She was a very ambitious women at a very young age, she wanted to be the first women Member of Parliament. Her goals were set very high and aspiring to be an MP was a very far-fetched idea at the time. What Margaret accomplished in her life time set an example for all women that there is no limit of potential or triumph that a women can have and or achieve.

She did however, recieve major press coverage as the youngest and the only female candidate. She ran several more times before finally being elected as MP for the safe seat in the Conservative party of Finchley. When the Conservative Party won the 1970 general election, she was appointed the Education Secretary. Over time, she became fed up with the current leadership and decided to run for leader of the party. In 1975, that's just what she became as she was elected leader by her fellow MPs. In 1979, she was elected Prime Minister, which for the first time was a position held by a woman. Initally, riots plauged England due to a failing economy, and Thatcher's job approval rating fell dramatically. However, by 1987 the economy had turned around, and Thatcher and the the Conservative Party were comfortably ahead in polls and opinion. In 1990, discontent hit the Conservative Party, when it showed that they were slipping behind Labour in the polls. This along with Thatcher's ever growing combative personality, along with little regard for her collagues' opinions, made her MP's vote against her to replace the head of the party. She decided to step down as Prime Minister after three terms in late

Margaret Thatcher as Margaret Hilda Roberts was born October 13, 1925 in Grantham, England to Alfred Roberts, a grocer, preacher, and local mayor, and Beatrice Ethel. She, along with her younger sister, Muriel, spent most of their childhood in Grantham, helping with their father’s grocery business. Margaret’s father was active in local politics and brought up Margaret and Muriel as strict Methodists. He became Mayor of Grantham in 1945, but lost his position as alderman in 1952, when the Labor Party came into power. Margaret won a scholarship to Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School, where she was head girl for the academic year 1942-1943. Her school reports showed academic consistency and brilliance in many extracurricular activities. In

Shortly after her resignation, she was appointed to the House of Lords, as Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven, in 1992. In this period, she wrote two books, ‘The Downing Street Years’ and ‘The Path to Power’, published in 1993 and 1995, respectively, both describing her political career. For the first few years after leaning the office she remained extremely active as a public speaker. However, after the death of her husband and one of her dear friends, Ronald Reagan, she became a recluse. Her office in the House of Lords was permanently closed in July 2011, this was the end of her political and public life. In 2002, Thatcher`s book, ‘Statecraft’ was published, in which she descriped her views on international politics. Although she delivered the occasional speech in Britain, her energies were mainly occupied by foreign affairs. She criticized the West’s indifference to the genocide in the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. Her status remained extraordinarily high in the United States, where she was worshipd as one of the greatest figures of the 20th century. There and in Asia she regularly spoke for large sums to supportive audiences. She raised money for her own Margaret Thatcher Foundation, which spent it on aiding foreign students, on funding a Chair of Enterprise Studies at Cambridge, and on other worthy causes. Margaret Thatcher published two volumes of memoirs. The first, The Downing Street Years (1993), was about her time as Prime Minister. The

At the very end of World War 2, the British people is craving for a change in the economic and social policies of their country. In fact, the Great Depression and pre-war Conservative governments were very disappointing : Chamberlain's (from 1937 to 1940) and Churchill's (from 1940 to 1945) governments were practically only based on foreign policy (because of the war and the progressive degradation of the British Empire), and were considered responsible for not enough preparing Britain to war ; moreover, the Great Depression's various governments (Labour as well as Tories) were blamed because they did not assure the people's, and particularly the working-class'