From May 1979 to November 1990, Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister of Great Britain. She gave the country share ownership, privatisation, deregulation, council house sales, union leglisation, local management of schools, lower taxes, and an economy that made house prices rise beyond their owners' dreams.
She also presided over the Falklands War, record unemployment, the butchering of the steel industry, the destruction of shipbuilding, the miners' strike and the closure of colleries, inner-city riots and the poll tax. Margaret Hilda Thatcher steered a new course and took Britain into unchartered waters.
1979
MARGARET Thatcher becomes the first woman prime minister of a Western state, winning her leadership battle over Edward Heath on a majority of 43.
She has started the contest as a 50-1 outsider. On winning the General Election in May, she vows to bring harmony and hope, but the unions warn her to keep her hands off union legislation.
Margaret Thatcher holding her namesake, Maggie a Charolais calf, during her electioneering tour of East Anglia in 1979
Two weeks after the election, the compulsory introduction of comprehensive education is scrapped and standard tax is cut from 33 per cent to 30 per cent.
Public spending, however, is under attack with cuts announced, and VAT is raised.
In June, the public declare the European elections a bore, with only one in three voters turning out. In November, Mrs Thatcher demands an EC rebate of £1,000m in her first wrangle with other European leaders.
The Pope makes a peace appeal on a visit to Ireland. The Yorkshire Ripper claims his 12th victim. Mother Teresa of Calcutta is given the Nobel Peace Prize. Lord Mountbatten is killed by an IRA bomb.
1980
UNION clashes continue with a 13-week steel strike. Mrs Thatcher puts an end to secondary picketing, and begins to implement her proposals to turn every person into a property owner by giving council tenants the right to buy.
It is one of a series of wide-ranging government reforms which also includes the end of price controls and the first privatisation, of the airline and aerospace industries.
Unemployment tops two million in August and bankruptcies are running at record levels, but Mrs Thatcher blames the situation on wage inflation and declares the Government will not be panicked into emergency measures.
EC foreign ministers agree to cut Britain's contributions. Meanwhile, Michael Foot becomes leader of the Labour Party and Ronald Reagan takes over as US President.
The Solidarity union is created in Poland. Everyone wants to know who shot JR. John Lennon is murdered. IRA hunger-striker Bobby Sands dies.
1981
THE Gang of Four break away from the Labour Party to form the SDP, and later join with the Liberals to fight the next General Election.
The Coal Board announces plans to close 50 pits employing 30,000 workers, and militant miners go on strike. In her first major U-turn, the Prime Minister promises more state money for the mines.
Mrs Thatcher meets Mr Reagan for the first time in what is to be a "special relationship”. Youths riot in Brixton, Liverpool, London and Birmingham, and unemployment reaches 2.5 million. By September, Mrs Thatcher has sacked three so-called wets from the Cabinet.
Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer. The Pope is shot as he blesses the crowds. The first London Marathon is run. The first League football is played on Sunday.
1982
THE jobless total tops three million for the first time since 1933 – one in eight of the working population. Mrs Thatcher is shown by opinion polls to be the most unpopular PM of modern times.
When Argentina invades the Falklands in April, Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington resigns, accepting responsibility for "a very great national humiliation”, and prompting a Cabinet reshuffle. Argentina is overcome in June, and Thatcher's popularity soars.
At Brighton in October, she tells the conference "The NHS is safe with us".
Prince William is born. Channel 4 is launched. Greenham Common Cruise missile protests begin. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev dies.
1983
THE Tories win the June election with a landslide majority of 144, but their share of the vote drops from 44 to 42 per cent. Mrs Thatcher is the first PM for 30 years to gain re-election after a full term in office.
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher waving to well-wishers after her election win
The NHS is forced from September to allow private contractors to tender for cleaning, catering and laundering services.
Neil Kinnock takes over as Labour leader, and Roy Jenkins hands over to David Owen at the SDP. The Government announces plans to abolish the Metropolitan Counties. Cecil Parkinson resigns from the Cabinet over his affair with Sarah Keays.
A total of 134 prisoners break out of the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland. Murderer Dennis Nilson admits to slaughtering 15 men. The first British heart and lung transplant is performed.
1984
MRS Thatcher survives the IRA bomb at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, which kills five. Local councils are ordered to cut £1bn spending.
The aftermath of the bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton
The year-long miners' strike begins, and trade unions are banned at GCHQ.
The Government announces the new GCSE examination, and Sir Geoffrey Howe announces the deal to hand over Hong Kong to China in 1997.
Soviet leader Yuri Andropov dies and is replaced by Konstantin Chernenko. The Aids virus is discovered. David Jenkins is installed as Bishop of Durham.
1985
THE miners' strike ends, and Mrs Thatcher claims "a famous victory”.
Miners clash with police during the strikes in the summer of '84
The Government plans to ban alcohol from problem soccer grounds. The pound falls to its lowest value ever, unchecked by an emergency interest rate rise of four and a half points to 14 per cent.
The Bill to scrap the Greater London Council and Metropolitan counties becomes law. Protesting Liverpool and Lambeth councillors refuse to set a rate.
Mrs Thatcher boycotts South African apartheid sanctions. University dons at Oxford refuse to grant her an honorary degree, a move to be repeated in the future.
When MPs approve the Anglo-Irish accord, Ulster Unionists resign in protest.
Fifty-five people die in the Bradford City fire, and 38 at Heysel stadium.
Live Aid rocks for Ethiopia. Becker wins Wimbledon and Europe wins the Ryder Cup. Gorbachev becomes the Soviet leader.
1986
A MAJOR crisis for Mrs Thatcher – the Westland helicopter controversy bring the resignation of two Cabinet ministers, Michael Heseltine and Leon Brittan, MP for Richmond, North Yorkshire.
A letter was leaked by No 10, admits Mrs Thatcher, but without her knowledge.
An agreement is signed with France to build the Channel Tunnel, and the Government begins a long action to stop the publication of the Spycatcher memoirs.
Corporal punishment is banned in schools by a Commons majority of just one vote. Thatcher restates her opposition to sanctions on South Africa, saying they hurt blacks most.
Police clash with pickets at Rupert Murdoch's Wapping print plant.
The space shuttle Challenger explodes in mid-air. An accident at Chernobyl nuclear plant raises fears of a meltdown. Derek Hatton is expelled from the Labour Party. Four million apply for British Gas shares.
1987
MRS Thatcher meets President Gorbachev in Moscow and is warmly welcomed by crowds.
In June she becomes the first Prime Minister since 1827 to win three consecutive victories.
Unemployment drops below three million, but a record trade deficit appears.
New plans are announced for the abolition of the rates, charges for eye and dental tests, longer pub opening and an education Bill to give parents the right to choose schools for their children.
After the Spirit of Free Enterprise disaster, Mrs Thatcher announces urgent safety measures for ferries.
The Government announces its backing of an anti-Aids campaign. The Prime Minister comes under attack in Brussels when she refuses to increase Britain's EC payments.
A gunman massacres 14 and injures 15 in Hungerford. Nineteen die in the worst gales for 200 years. Gorbachev and Reagan sign a historic first treaty to reduce nuclear arms.
1988
MRS Thatcher is now the longest serving Prime Minister this century.
Margaret Thatcher standing in the shell of London's old Battersea power station in 1988, when she renamed the site 'The Battersea'
The beleaguered SDP and Liberals join to form the SLD. Child benefit is frozen in huge reforms of the welfare system, and Mrs Thatcher makes a surprise speech of concern over the world's environment.
Pubs are allowed to open all day.
The Lockerbie air disaster claims the lives of 270 people, and the Prime Minister attends a memorial service to them. The Duke and Duchess of York have their first child. Health Minister Edwina Currie resigns over the salmonella in eggs health scare.
1989
THE Government makes proposals for a major reshaping of the NHS, with changes to funding. A full-scale draft of the proposals is leaked by Labour.
Margaret Thatcher fields questions with Foreign Secretary, Geoffrey Howe at a press conference in London in 1989
The Tories suffer a 24 per cent drop in votes in the Richmondshire by-election, North Yorkshire, their worst performance since Mrs Thatcher came to power, and public concern at the NHS plans and water privatisation are blamed.
Unemployment drops below two million for the first time since 1980, but the same month the trade deficit rises to its third-highest level.
Fury follows a rise to 15 per cent of base lending rates, and Nigel Lawson resigns in October, saying his position has been undermined.
In December Sir Anthony Meyer, the "stalking donkey”, stands against Mrs Thatcher for leadership of the party. She gets a clear majority but 60 MPs either abstain or vote against her.
Mrs Thatcher becomes a grandmother. Olympic athlete Ben Johnson is fined for taking drugs. Salman Rushdie goes into hiding over his book, The Satanic Verses. The Guildford Four go free. The Berlin Wall comes down.
1990
EMPLOYMENT Minister Norman Fowler resigns, and Peter Walker announces he will quit at the next election. Labour win the mid-Staffordshire by-election in March, Bootle in May and Knowsley in September, and make large gains in the May local elections.
Margaret Thatcher toasts Julie Goodyear and the cast of Coronation Street when she visited the Rovers Return at Granada Television Studios in Manchester in 1990
Mrs Thatcher claims, at the EC summit, that European political unity could threaten the monarchy, and Nicholas Ridley resigns after accusing Germany of wanting to take over Europe.
In October, Britain stands alone at the EC summit on the single currency issue, then joins the ERM after the CBI announces that industry has hit a ten-year low.
The Liberal Democrats win at Eastbourne. Sir Geoffrey Howe resigns as Deputy Prime Minister, attacking Mrs Thatcher's leadership style and stance on Europe.
All over the country, people are rioting and demonstrating over the introduction of the poll tax.
Michael Heseltine challenges her for the leadership of the party. Mrs Thatcher does not get the required majority but says she will fight on through the second ballot. But on the morning of November 22 Margaret Thatcher resigns.
Ambulancemen strike for six months. Prisoners riot at Strangeways. The Gulf Crisis sends oil prices soaring.
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