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Margret Thatcher
Margret Thatcher was born and raised in Lincolnshire, England. She died in April 2013. She was a Baroness and a stateswoman who, for 11 years she served in the United Kingdom as the prime minister. Moreover, from 1975 to 1990, Thatcher served as the Conservative Party leader. Thatcher was the first female in the United Kingdom to hold the prime mister office, not to mention she was the longest-serving prime minister in the United Kingdom. She studied Chemistry at Oxford University, and before qualifying as a barrister, Thatcher worked as a research chemist for a while. In 1959, Thatcher was given an elective post of Member of Parliament for Finchley (Ponton, Pg. 200). During the Edward Heath government, Thatcher served as the secretary of state for education, from 1970 to 1974. Thatcher defeated Edward Heath in the elections for the Conservative Party governance, and she became the opposition leader. The position made her be the first woman in the United Kingdom to lead a major political party.
Following Thatcher’s wins in the general election held in 1979, she came up with numerous economic policies aimed at reversing high rates of unemployment and the struggles faced by Britons at the time of the aggravating recession and the Winter of Discontent. Both the economic policies and the political philosophy for Thatcher concentrated much on deregulating financial institutions and curbing the influence of trade unions, not to mention the privatization of the companies owned by the state and coming up with flexible labor markets. Amid the increasing rate of unemployment and the economic burble, Thatcher’s popularity waned during her first years as the Prime Minister. The resurgence of her support resulted in Thatcher’s landslide re-election in 1983 following the victory of the Falklands War in 1982 and the economy recovering (King, Pg. 98). In 1984, Thatcher survived a bombing attack conducted by the Provisional IRA in Brighton hotel, and it was a political mileage against her rivals, the National Union of Mineworkers. In 1987, Thatcher garnered a landslide win and was re-elected for a third term as the prime minister.
Thatcher was, without a doubt, an outstanding leader who also made mistakes as any other human being. Thatcher’s uncompromising demeanor may primarily fuel her ousting as a prime minister. According to the majority of the political analysts, Thatcher’s leadership style was autocratic. It means that it was either her way or the highway. Characteristically, the autocratic type of leaders tends to be authoritarian, and they usually make most of the decisions. What makes this style of leadership to be useful is the fact that decisions executed faster as compared to a democratic leadership style, which generally accompanies processes that leads to delays. During Thatcher’s leadership, the country was under intense pressure, and she was powerful and confident to employ the autocracy style to overcome those crises and brought stability. Typically, the United Kingdom’s culture was to work for only three days a week as a result of electricity failure, which Thatcher managed to overturn it into a highly rated financial powerhouse people acknowledge it today.
Autocratic may not be the best form of leadership as it may lead to the disgruntlement of colleagues in the case where their views are overlooked and its mostly applicable in times of panic. However, Thatcher’s autocratic form of leadership was a prerequisite to her long-term political survival since the vast majority of the people ignored women, thus the leaders, more specifically, women, had to be ruthless. Upon coming into power, Thatcher managed to fix what was considered to be the “sick man of Europe” through working tirelessly, and indeed the country’s economic reality transformed. Thatcher’s leadership and personal conviction restored the confidence of the United Kingdom citizens, not to mention their entrepreneurial spirit and self-belief. In 1986, Thatcher deregulated London Stock Exchange, and it turned as one of the notable accomplishments and significantly lead the city to stand out in world finance (Booth, Pg. 1). At the beginning of 2010, it was estimated that the financial sector was worth over £125 billion and growing. Still, London retains a good reputation in terms of world finance. Actions predetermine the nature of great leaders. Thatcher was able to deliver to the people of the United Kingdom, and that is what great leaders do, and they do not find other people or circumstances to be their scapegoats.
Thatcher insisted that one must do or instead get things done, and hard work and sacrifice are not enough. She proved to be one of the fearless and determined leaders due to her unwavering resolve in the wake of demands presented by trade unions at the beginning of the 1980s. During her speech she gave to her Conservative Party, Thatcher stated that a lady should have a firm stand. At the time when Thatcher took the prime minister’s office in 1979, the services provided by the United Kingdom were coming to a standstill as a result of the ongoing overpay strikes by the trade union. The media regarded the period as the Winter of Discontent due to the bad weather and the increasing economic pressure brought along by industrial action (Hay, Pg. 450). Instead of Thatcher bowing to the demands of the workers, she came up with legal procedures that rendered the power of unions as shrink.
In conclusion, Thatcher is still regarded as a figure for “love-hate” despite her being a controversial icon during her regime. Many leaders will resonate with Thatcher’s thoughts on what a good leader should be like. Thatcher did not set out to be liked as she was not prepared to compromise on anything entirely, to achieve greatness. It is a mixture of both love and hates that great leaders have to face and get used to that fact. Thatcher’s economic legacy remains in the United Kingdom and the rest of the world. She was able to bring her criticizers and lovers in equal measure through her robust governance and unyielding resolve.
Works Cited
Booth, Philip. “Thatcher: The myth of deregulation.” Institute of Economic Affairs (2015).
Hay, Colin. “Chronicles of a death foretold: the winter of discontent and construction of the crisis of British Keynesianism.” Parliamentary Affairs 63.3 (2010): 446-470.
King, Anthony. “Margaret Thatcher: The style of a prime minister.” The British prime minister. Palgrave, London, 1985. 96-140.
Ponton, Douglas M. “The female political leader: A study of gender-identity in the case of Margaret Thatcher.” Journal of Language and Politics 9.2 (2010): 195-218.
