Tatcher_Revolution

THE THATCHER REVOLUTION Margaret Roberts, the daughter of a British grocer, was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, on 13th October, 1925. After graduating from Oxford University she worked as a research chemist. Later she studied law and eventually became a barrister. On 13th December, 1951 she married Denis Thatcher, a successful businessman. A member of the Conservative Party, Margaret Thatcher was elected to represent Finchley in October 1959. Two years later she joined the government of Harold Macmillan as joint parliamentary secretary for Pensions and National Insurance. In 1975 Thatcher defeated Heath in the Conservative Party leadership election and became Leader of the Opposition, as well as the first woman to lead a major political party in the United Kingdom. She became prime minister after winning the 1979 general election. A Soviet journalist nicknamed her the "Iron Lady", which later became associated with her uncompromising policies. As prime minister, she implemented conservative policies that have come to be known as Thatcherism. Thatcher wanted to return to the Victorian values, she did it in her own way (self-reliance). She said “I am a reformer “; she also said “I need more than one mandate”. She described two enemies: - within i.e. the Trade Union -outside i.e. collectivism, communism (USSR) WHAT IS THTACHERISM' It is a set of values that already existed in the Victorian Era. She took positive ones from Whiggism (Liberal’s forefathers) and Toryism (Conservatives’ forefathers) which implies: thrift, self-help, self-reliance, hard work. She even took family values. THATCHER’S AIM: She established Conservative Research Center within the conservative party because of chaos, inflation …etc.in order to find solution to them. 1974-1975 set the priority for defeating inflation & not to interfere in economy. i.e. replacing monkey money by Sound Money. **Sound Money: the real value of all products & services of the country Vs all the sum of money & bills. The more production is good in quality & quantity the higher money in value. Thatcher based her policy on liberalism, monetarism. It was an important step in her policy to denationalize & privatize in order to thrift & save government’s money. There were troublesome & strikes so privatizing creates competition therefore saving money thereby people benefit of quality. The aim of Thatcher is to reduce taxation & to cut government’s spending. ***reduce taxation: to stimulate ppl to invest & work. TRADE UNION REFORMS: Cutting the government’s spending cannot be done without reducing the power of T.U., that’s why she was in barging from 1981 in T.U. reforms. Her task was to identify the causes of Britain’s problems (decline). She said it’s T.U. & she called it “the enemy with inside.” State intervention was also an enemy, as it’s associated with socialism, communism & collectivism which r represented by the USSR. She was very clever in fighting against the T.U. She learnt from the Heathen Era. She fought under popular themes. Examples: *closed shop system: getting a job needs joining the T.U. For Thatcher it’s against personal freedom, so she abolished it by an act. *voting: straight decisions took place with by showoff hands; Thatcher said it’s not right & obliged them to use secret ballot box.