Premiership of Margaret Thatcher

Thatcher in 1983
Premiership of Margaret Thatcher 4 May 1979 – 28 November 1990
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Cabinet	First Thatcher ministry Second Thatcher ministry Third Thatcher ministry
Party	Conservative
Election	1979 1983 1987
James Callaghan John Major  →
Coat of arms of HM Government
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This article is part of a series about Margaret Thatcher
Bibliography Electoral history Honours MP for Finchley Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act Secretary of State for Education and Science Circular 10/70 Withdrawal of school milk Leader of the Opposition Shadow Cabinet 1975 leadership election 1979 VoNC in Callaghan ministry Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Premiership Policies Thatcherism domestic economic other Appointments Ministers wets and dries Articles by ministry and term: 1979–1983 First ministry 1979 election "The lady's not for turning" "TINA" 1979 budget 1980 budget 1981 budget 1982 budget 1983 budget Falklands War Right to Buy 1983–1987 Second ministry 1983 re-election 1984 budget 1985 budget 1986 budget 1987 budget Anglo-Irish Agreement Big Bang Brighton bombing Joint Declaration Miners' strike UK rebate Westland affair 1987–1990 Third ministry 1987 re-election 1988 budget 1989 budget 1989 leadership election 1990 budget 1990 leadership election and resignation Bruges speech Poll tax Sermon on the Mound Post–prime minister Ceremonial funeral Legacy Publications The Downing Street Years (1993) The Path to Power (1995) Statecraft (2003)
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Margaret Thatcher's term as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom began on 4 May 1979 when she accepted an invitation of Queen Elizabeth II to form a government, and ended on 28 November 1990 upon her resignation. She was elected to the position in 1979, having led the Conservative Party since 1975, and won landslide re-elections in 1983 and 1987. She gained intense media attention as Britain's first female prime minister, and was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century.^[1] Her premiership ended when she withdrew from the 1990 Conservative leadership election. While serving as prime minister, Thatcher also served as the First Lord of the Treasury, the Minister for the Civil Service and the Leader of the Conservative Party.

In domestic policy, Thatcher implemented sweeping reforms concerning the affairs of the economy, eventually including the privatisation of most nationalised industries,^[2] and the weakening of trade unions.^[3] She emphasised reducing the government's role and letting the marketplace decide in terms of the neoliberal ideas pioneered by Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek, promoted by her mentor Keith Joseph, and promulgated by the media as Thatcherism.^[4] In foreign policy, Thatcher decisively defeated Argentina in the Falklands War in 1982. In longer-range terms she worked with Ronald Reagan to wage a war against communism during the Cold War. However, she also promoted collaboration with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in ending the Cold War.^[5]

In her first years she had a deeply divided cabinet. As the leader of the "dry" faction she purged most of the One Nation "wet" Conservatives and took full control.^[6]: 34 By the late 1980s, however, she had alienated several senior members of her Cabinet with her opposition to greater economic integration into the European Economic Community, which she argued would lead to a federalist Europe and surrender Britain's ability to self govern. She also alienated many Conservative voters and parliamentarians with the imposition of a local poll tax. As her support ebbed away, she was challenged for her leadership and persuaded by Cabinet to withdraw from the second round of voting – ending her eleven-year premiership. She was succeeded by John Major, her Chancellor of the Exchequer.

First term (1979–1983)

Thatcher was Britain and Europe's first female prime minister.^[a] She appointed few women to high office and did not make women's issues a priority,^[1] but her pioneering election was widely hailed as an achievement for women in general.^[7]

Royalty tensions

Thatcher, having to share the media spotlight with

Biographer John Campbell reports that in July 1978, before Thatcher became prime minister, when asked by a Labour MP in the Commons what she meant by socialism:

[S]he was at a loss to reply. What in fact she meant was Government support for inefficient industries, punitive taxation, regulation of the labour market, price controls – everything that interfered with the functioning of the free economy.^[11]: 95

Deflationary strategy

Under Margaret Thatcher's government, the taming of inflation displaced high employment as the primary policy objective.^[12]: 630

As a

Political commentators harked back to the Edward Heath government's "U-turn" and speculated that Thatcher would follow suit, but she repudiated this approach at the 1980 Conservative Party conference, telling the party: "To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only one thing to say: You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning".^[14] That she meant what she said was confirmed in the 1981 budget, when, despite concerns expressed in an open letter from 364 leading economists,^[15] taxes were increased in the middle of a recession, leading to newspaper headlines the following morning of "Howe it Hurts", a reference to the Chancellor Geoffrey Howe.

Unemployment

In 1981, as unemployment soared (exceeding 2.5 million by the summer and heading towards 3 million before Christmas) and the Government's popularity plunged, the party chairman,

Following the Brixton riot in West London in April 1981, employment secretary Norman Tebbit, responding to a suggestion that rioting was caused by unemployment, observed that the unemployment of the 1930s was far worse than that of the 1980s—and that his father's generation never reacted by rioting. "I grew up in the 1930s with an unemployed father", Tebbit said. "He did not riot. He got on his bike and looked for work, and he went on looking until he found it."^[18]

Over two million manufacturing jobs were ultimately lost in the recession of 1979–81.^[12]: 630 This labour-shedding helped firms deal with long-standing X-inefficiency from over-manning,^[12]: 630 enabling the British economy to catch up to the productivity levels of other advanced capitalist countries.^[12]: 630

The link between the money supply and inflation was proven accurate, and by January 1982, the inflation rate had dropped back to 8.6% from earlier highs of 18%.^[12]: 630 Interest rates were then allowed to fall. Unemployment continued to rise, passing 3 million by January 1982 and remaining this high until early 1987. However, Tebbit later suggested that, due to the high number of people claiming unemployment benefit while working, unemployment never reached three million.

By 1983, manufacturing output had dropped by 30% from 1978, although economic growth had been re-established the previous year. The productivity turnaround from labour-shedding proved to be a one-off and was not matched by growth in output.^[12]: 628 The industrial base was so reduced that thereafter the balance of payments in manufactured goods was in deficit.^[12]: 630 Chancellor Nigel Lawson told the Lords' Select Committee on Overseas Trade: "There is no adamantine law that says we have to produce as much in the way of manufactures as we consume. If it does turn out that we are relatively more efficient in world terms at providing services than at producing goods, then our national interest lies in a surplus on services and a deficit on goods."^[19]

Defence spending

In her first six months as prime minister, Thatcher repeatedly prioritised defence spending over economic policy and financial control. However, in 1980, she reversed this priority and tried to cut the defence budget. The 1981 Defence Review by John Nott, the defence minister, dramatically cut the capabilities of the Royal Navy's surface fleet. She replaced Francis Pym as defence secretary because he wanted more funding. The cuts were cancelled when the ships destined for cuts proved essential in the Falklands War.^{[20][21][22]: 660–61}

Housing and urban enterprise

One of Thatcher's largest and most successful policies assisted council tenants in public housing to purchase their homes at favourable rates. The "Right to Buy" had emerged in the late 1940s, but was too great a challenge to the post-war consensus to win Conservative endorsement. Thatcher from her earliest days in politics favoured the idea because it would lead to a "property-owning democracy". By the 1970s, many working-class people had ample incomes for home ownership, and eagerly accepted Thatcher's invitation to purchase their homes at a sizeable discount. The new owners were more likely to vote Conservative, as Thatcher had hoped.^[23][24] The downside to this was that it eventually led to council house shortages, as the share of the money from the sale of the houses to be used to construct more council properties gradually fell by the end of the 1980s, and saw fewer councils building affordable housing.^[25]

To deal with economic stagnation in the inner cities, the Government introduced "enterprise zones" starting in 1981; the idea began in Britain and was adopted by the United States and some EU countries. It targeted designated small, economically depressed neighbourhoods and exempted them from some regulations and taxes. The goal was to attract private capital and new business activity that would bring jobs and progress to declining areas. Important projects included those in London Docklands, Salford and Gateshead.^{[26][27][page needed]}

Foreign relations

Rhodesia, 1979

Before the 1979 election Thatcher was on record as supporting the all-white government of

According to Robert Matthews, the success of the Lancaster House negotiations can be explained by four factors:

A balance of forces on the battlefield that clearly favoured the nationalists; international sanctions and their adverse effects on Rhodesia's economy and Salisbury's ability to wage war; a particular pattern of third party interests; and finally, the skill and resources that Lord Carrington as mediator brought to the table.^[32]: 317

Iranian Embassy siege, 1980

Thatcher's determination to face down political violence was first demonstrated during the 1980 siege of the Embassy of Iran, London, when the armed forces were for the first time in 70 years authorised to use lethal force on the British mainland. For six days in May, 26 hostages were held by six gunmen; the siege came to a dramatic end with a successful raid by SAS commandos. Later that day, Thatcher went to congratulate the SAS men involved and sat among them watching a re-run of the attack.^[33]: 40 The breaking of the siege by the SAS was later ranked by the public as one of television's greatest moments.^[34]

Her decisiveness—christened the "resolute approach" by the Prime Minister herself—became Thatcher's trademark and a source of her popularity.

When the Soviet Union troops entered Afghanistan in December 1979, Thatcher saw it as a typical example of "relentless Communist imperialism". However, the foreign ministry said the Kremlin was desperately trying to save its failing ally there. Thatcher supported the American plan to boycott the Moscow Olympics, as did Parliament. However, the athletes disagreed, and they went to Moscow anyway.^{[22]: 560–63 [36]}

Thatcher gave the go ahead for Whitehall to approve

The Polish crisis of 1980 and 1981 involved large-scale anti-Communist protests in the heartland of Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe. Thatcher recognised that Soviet hegemony was vulnerable in Poland and offered public support for Lech Wałęsa and his Solidarity labour union, in close co-operation with the United States and Pope John Paul II (a long-time leader of Polish Catholicism). Thatcher considered Poland as a key centre of Soviet vulnerability. She offered limited help to Solidarity in tandem with the United States. Success came with the thaw in superpower relations, the consolidation of Thatcherism at home and the march of neo-liberal ideas internationally.^{[39][22]: 574–76}

Falklands War, 1982

On 2 April 1982, the ruling Argentine military junta

In the six weeks it took to arrive, she engaged in diplomatic efforts moderated by Reagan's secretary of state

In May 1980, one day before Thatcher was due to meet the Irish Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, to discuss Northern Ireland, she announced in Parliament that "the future of the constitutional affairs of Northern Ireland is a matter for the people of Northern Ireland, this government, this parliament, and no-one else".^{[47][22]: 595–603}

In 1981, a number of

Thatcher also continued the "Ulsterisation" policy of the previous Labour government and its Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Roy Mason, believing that the Unionists of Northern Ireland should be at the forefront in combating Irish republicanism. This meant relieving the burden on the mainstream British Army and elevating the role of the Ulster Defence Regiment and the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

1983 general election

The "Falklands Factor", along with the resumption of economic growth by the end of 1982, bolstered the Government's popularity and led to Thatcher's victory in the most decisive landslide since the general election of 1945.^[51]

The Labour Party at this time had split, and there was a new challenge in the SDP–Liberal Alliance, formed by an electoral pact between the Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Party. However, this grouping failed to make its intended breakthrough, despite briefly holding an opinion poll lead.^[52]

In the June 1983 general election, the Conservatives won 42.4% of the vote, the Labour Party 27.6% and the Alliance 25.4%. Though the gap between Labour and the Alliance was narrow in terms of votes, the Alliance vote was scattered, and they won only a fraction of the seats that Labour held, with its concentrated base. The Conservatives' share of the vote fell slightly (1.5%) since 1979. Labour's vote had fallen by far more (9.3%), and the Conservatives now had an overall majority of 144 MPs.

Second term (1983–1987)

The second term saw Thatcher in full charge.^[e]

Domestic affairs

Contaminated blood scandal

Thatcher was prime minister during what The Guardian described as "the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS."^[53][54] Thousands of haemophiliacs were infected with HIV, Hepatitis C, or both, via the clotting-agent Factor VIII.^[55] Britain had imported infected supplies of Factor VIII from risky overseas commercial sources;^[56] it is generally thought that this was because the Thatcher government had not made public funding available for the NHS sufficient in creating its own supplies.^[57][58]

It has been alleged that the Thatcher cabinet attempted to "cover up" the events of the scandal.

Thatcher was committed to reducing the power of the trade unions but, unlike the Heath government, adopted a strategy of incremental change rather than a single Act. Several unions launched strikes in response, but these actions eventually collapsed. Gradually, Thatcher's reforms reduced the power and influence of the unions. The changes were chiefly focused upon preventing the recurrence of the large-scale industrial actions of the 1970s but were also intended to ensure that the consequences for the participants would be severe if they took any future action. The reforms were also aimed, Thatcher claimed, to democratise the unions and return power to the members. The most significant measures were to make secondary industrial action illegal, to force union leadership to first win a ballot of the union membership before calling a strike, and to abolish the closed shop. Further laws banned workplace ballots and imposed postal ballots.

Coal miners were highly organised and had defeated Prime Minister Heath. Thatcher expected a major confrontation, planned ahead for one, and avoided trouble before she was ready. In the end the miners' strike of 1984–85 proved a decisive victory for her—one that permanently discouraged trade unionists.^{[61][page needed]} The National Coal Board received the largest amount of public subsidies going to any nationalised industry: by 1984 the annual cost to taxpayers of uneconomic pits had reached £1 billion.^{[62]: 143–4, 161} The year-long confrontation over strikes carried out from April 1984 by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), in opposition to proposals to close a large number of unprofitable mines, proved a decisive victory for Thatcher. The Government had made preparations to counter a strike by the NUM long in advance by building up coal stocks, keeping many miners at work, and co-ordinating police action to stop massive picketing. Her policies defeated the NUM strategy of causing severe cuts in the electricity supply—the legacy of the industrial disputes of 1972 would not be repeated.^{[63][64][page needed]}

The images of crowds of militant miners attempting to prevent other miners from working proved a shock even to some supporters of the strikes. The NUM never held a strike vote, which allowed many miners to keep working and prevented other unions from supporting the strike. The mounting desperation and poverty of the striking families led to divisions within the regional NUM branches, and a breakaway union, the Union of Democratic Mineworkers (UDM), was soon formed. More and more frustrated miners resigned to the impending failure of the strike and, worn down by months of protests, began to defy the union's rulings, starting splinter groups and advising workers that returning to work was the only viable option.^{[65]: ch. 7}

The miners' strike lasted a full year before the NUM leadership conceded without a deal. Conservative governments proceeded to close all but 15 of the country's pits, with the remaining 15 being sold off and privatised in 1994. Since then, private companies have acquired licences to open new pits and

The defeat of the miners' strike led to a long period of demoralisation in the whole of the trade union movement.^[66]: 476

The 51-week miners' strike of 1984–85 was followed a year later by the 54-week

Thatcher's political and economic philosophy emphasised reduced state intervention,

According to Jacob Ward, the privatisation of British Telecom was a "landmark moment for neoliberalism." It became a model for other countries that sold their state utilities. Planners in the Long Range Planning Department used new computer models to support the transition of telecommunications and, more generally, the dramatic move from social democracy to neoliberalism, from monopoly to market. The telecommunications network was essential to plans for the digitalisation of the economy. Computer simulations were needed to support neoliberalism, both as a managerial tool that could simulate free markets, as well as a technology that enabled the contraction of the government's role in the private sector.^[73]

Establishment criticism

In February 1985, in what was generally viewed as a significant snub from the centre of the British establishment,

Thatcher's preference for defence ties with the United States was demonstrated in the Westland affair when, despite ostensibly maintaining a neutral stance, she and Trade and Industry secretary Leon Brittan allowed the helicopter manufacturer Westland, a vital defence contractor, to link with the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation of the United States. Defence secretary Michael Heseltine had organised a consortium of European and British firms, including the Italian firm Agusta, to make a rival bid. He claimed that Thatcher had prevented proper discussion by cancelling a promised meeting of the Cabinet Economic Affairs Committee early in December 1985. Cabinet eventually (19 December 1985) forbade any minister from actively campaigning for either option.^{[68]: 449–96}

Thatcher thought Heseltine too powerful and popular a figure to sack. After a period in early January 1986 in which Heseltine and the Thatcher/Brittan camp leaked material damaging to each other's case to the press, Cabinet agreed (9 January) that all statements on the matter, including repetitions of those already made, must be cleared through the Cabinet Office. Heseltine resigned and walked out of the meeting in protest, claiming that Thatcher had broken the conventions of

In April 1986, Thatcher, enacting a policy set out in her party's 1983 manifesto,^[85] abolished the Greater London Council (GLC) and six top-tier metropolitan county Councils (MCCs):^{[68]: 371–72}

The GLC was the biggest council in Europe; under the leadership of the Labour socialist Ken Livingstone it had doubled its spending in three years, and Thatcher insisted on its abolition as an efficiency measure, transferring most duties to the boroughs, with veto power over major building, engineering and maintenance projects being given to the environment secretary.^[86] The Government also argued that the transfer of power to local councils would increase electoral accountability.^[87] Critics contended that the "excesses" of a few "loony left" councils helped Mrs Thatcher to launch a party-political assault',^[88] as all the eliminated councils were controlled by the Labour Party, favoured higher local government taxes and public spending, and were vocal centres of opposition to her government. The GLC also warned that the break-up of the county councils would lead to the creation of "endless joint committees and over 60 quangos".^[89] Several of the councils including the GLC had however rendered themselves vulnerable by committing scarce public funds to controversial causes such as Babies Against the Bomb, the Antiracist Year, and lesbian mothers seeking custody of their children; the Save the GLC campaign itself was estimated to have cost ratepayers £10 million,^[86] climaxing in a final defiant week of festivities that cost ratepayers £500,000.^[90]

Economic boom, 1984–1988

During the 1980s there was a great improvement in the United Kingdom's productivity growth relative to other advanced capitalist countries.

The United Kingdom's growth rate was more impressive, ranking first in the OECD-16 in 1987, a statistical achievement that Thatcher and her government exploited to the full in the general election campaign of that year.[12]^: 631 However, the balance of payments record had deteriorated, faring even worse than those of non-oil-exporting countries, and there was a decline in the country's relative standing in terms of unemployment.^[12]: 631 The resulting welfare payments meant that even though Thatcher and her ministers in 1979 had taken the view that "public expenditure is at the heart of Britain's present economic difficulties", it was not until the boom year of 1987 that the expenditure ratio fell below the 1979 level.^[12]: 635 For most of the 1980s, the average tax take was higher than in 1979.^[12]: 636

Ireland and Northern Ireland issues

Brighton bombing

On the early morning of 12 October 1984, the day before her 59th birthday, Thatcher escaped injury in the

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On 15 November 1985, Thatcher signed the Hillsborough

Cold War

In the Cold War, Thatcher supported US president Ronald Reagan's policies of rollback against the Soviets, which envisioned the end of Communism in Europe (which happened in 1989–91). This contrasted with the policy of détente (or "live and let live") which the West had pursued during the 1970s. In a decision that came under heavy attack from the Labour Party, American forces were permitted by Thatcher to station nuclear cruise missiles at British bases, arousing mass protests by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. A critical factor was Thatcher's idea that Mikhail Gorbachev was the key to the solution, an idea which she cajoled along by such initiatives as her March 1987 speech in the Kremlin.^[95] She convinced Reagan that he was "a man we can do business with." This was a start of a move by the West to force a dismantling of Soviet control over Eastern Europe, which Gorbachev realised was necessary if he was to reform the weak Soviet economy.^[96] Those who share her views on it credit her with a part in the West's victory, by both the deterrence and détente postures. According to Thatcher, the West won the Cold War "without firing a shot" because the Kremlin would not risk confrontation with NATO's superior forces.^[97]

Thatcher played a major role as a broker between Reagan and Gorbachev in 1985–87, with the successful negotiation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF). The INF Treaty of December 1987, signed by Reagan and Gorbachev, eliminated all nuclear and conventional missiles, as well as their launchers, with ranges of 500–1,000 kilometres (310–620 mi) (short-range) and 1,000–5,500 kilometres (620–3,420 mi) (intermediate-range). The treaty did not cover sea-launched missiles of the sort Britain possessed. By May 1991, after on-site investigations by both sides, 2700 missiles had been destroyed.^{[98][68]: 23–26, 594–5 [99]: 252–53}

US bombing of Libya

In the aftermath of a series of terrorist attacks on US military personnel in Europe, which were believed to have been executed at

Later that year in America, President Reagan persuaded Congress to approve of an extradition treaty which closed a legal loophole by which IRA members and Volunteers escaped extradition by claiming their killings were political acts. This had been previously opposed by Irish-Americans for years but was passed after Reagan used Thatcher's support in the Libyan raid as a reason to pass it.^{[28]: 282 [68]: 513–20}

US invasion of Grenada

Grenada was a former colony and current independent Commonwealth nation under the Queen. The British government exercised no authority there and did not object when Maurice Bishop took control in a coup in 1979.^[100] The small Caribbean island had been ruled by Bishop, a radical Marxist with close ties to Cuba. In October 1983 he was overthrown by dissident Marxists and killed. This alarmed other small countries in the region who had a regional defence organisation, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), which formally asked the United States for help in removing the new regime. Reagan promptly agreed and almost overnight ordered a major invasion of Grenada. He notified Thatcher a few hours before the invasion, but he did not ask her consent. She was privately highly annoyed, but in Cabinet and Parliament she announced that Britain supported the Americans, saying "We stand by the United States".^{[68]: 117–35} When it became clear that the American rollback of the upstart Communist regime had been a striking success, Thatcher "came to feel that she had been wrong to oppose it".^[28]: 279

Apartheid in South Africa

Thatcher resisted international pressure to impose economic sanctions on South Africa, where the United Kingdom was the biggest foreign investor and principal trading partner. This meant that the status quo remained, and British companies continued to operate in South Africa, although other European countries continued trading to a lesser degree. According to Geoffrey Howe, one of her closest allies, Thatcher regarded the African National Congress (ANC), which fought to end apartheid, as a "typical terrorist organisation" as late as 1987.^[101]

At the end of March 1984, four South Africans were arrested in Coventry, remanded in custody, and charged with contravening the UN arms embargo, which prohibited exports to South Africa of military equipment. Thatcher took a personal interest in the Coventry Four, and 10 Downing Street requested daily summaries of the case from the prosecuting authority, HM Customs and Excise.^[102] Within a month, the Coventry Four had been freed from jail and allowed to travel to South Africa, on condition that they return to England for their trial later that year. However, in August 1984, South African foreign minister Pik Botha decided not to allow the Coventry Four to return to stand trial, forfeiting £200,000 bail money put up by the South African embassy in London.

In April 1984, Thatcher sent senior British diplomat,

Thatcher defended Botha's visit as an encouragement to reform,[107] but he ignored her concern over Mandela's continued detainment,^[105] and although a new constitution brought coloured people of mixed race and Indians into a tricameral assembly, 22 million blacks continued to be excluded from the representation.^[104] After the outbreak of violence in September 1984, Thatcher granted temporary sanctuary to six African anti-apartheid leaders in the British consulate in Durban.^[108]

In July 1985, Thatcher, citing the support of Helen Suzman, a South African anti-apartheid MP, reaffirmed her belief that economic sanctions against Pretoria would be immoral because they would make thousands of black workers unemployed; instead she characterised industry as the instrument that was breaking down apartheid.^{[109]: 6 [101]} She also believed sanctions would disproportionately injure Britain^[110] and neighbouring African countries,^[111] and argued that political and military measures were more effective.^[112]

Thatcher's opposition to economic sanctions was challenged by visiting anti-apartheid activists, including South African bishop Desmond Tutu, whom she met in London, and Oliver Tambo, an exiled leader of the outlawed ANC guerrilla movement,^[113] whose links to the Soviet bloc she viewed with suspicion,^[114] and whom she declined to see because he espoused violence and refused to condemn guerrilla attacks and mob killings of black policemen, local officials and their families.^[111]

At a Commonwealth summit in Nassau in October 1985, Thatcher agreed to impose limited sanctions and to set up a contact group to promote a dialogue with Pretoria,^[115] after she was warned by Third World leaders, including Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, that her opposition threatened to break up the 49-nation Commonwealth.^[116] In return, calls for a total embargo were abandoned, and the existing restrictions adopted by member states against South Africa were lifted.^[112] ANC president Tambo expressed disappointment at this major compromise.^[117]

China and Hong Kong

Hong Kong was ceded to the British Empire following the First Opium War and in 1898, Britain obtained a 99-year lease on the New Territories. In 1984 Thatcher visited China intending to resolve the difficulties that would inevitably be encountered as the New Territories were due to be returned to the Chinese in 1997.^[118] She signed an agreement with Deng Xiaoping to hand back not simply the New Territories, but the whole colony, in exchange for China awarding the colony the special status within China of a "Special Administrative Region". Under the terms of the agreement, China was obliged to leave Hong Kong's economic status unchanged after the handover on 1 July 1997, for at least fifty years.^{[119][page needed]}

European rebate

At the Dublin European Council in November 1979, Thatcher argued that the United Kingdom paid far more to the

Thatcher, like many Britons, had long been fascinated by the idea of

Thatcher and François Mitterrand agreed on the project and set up study groups. Mitterrand as a socialist said the French government would pay its share. Thatcher insisted on private financing for the British share, and the City assured her that private enterprise was eager to fund it. Final decisions were announced in January 1986.^[124][125]

Third term (1987–1990)

Thatcher's third term started well but the economic boom faltered. Her mistakes^[

Thatcher led her party to a landslide victory in the 1987 general election with a 102-seat majority.

Despite her third straight victory she remained a polarising figure. Performative hatred from the far left motivated scores of songs that "expressed anger, amusement, defiance and ridicule" towards her.[129]^: 373 A common chant among protestors was "Maggie Out!"^[130]: 79

Domestic policies

Economics and welfare reforms

With the battle against inflation and strikes long won, an economic boom was in its early stages. Unemployment had fallen below 3,000,000 during the spring of 1987, and the tax cuts by chancellor Nigel Lawson sent the economy into overdrive. By early 1988, unemployment was below 2,500,000. A year later, it fell below 2,000,000. By the end of 1989, it was down to 1,600,000. A residential property price surge saw the average home price in Britain double between 1986 and 1989.

However, this led to the government doubling interest rates during 1988^[131] and it chose to increase these further during 1989 and 1990^[132] as inflation increased.^[132] In 1988, Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson reacted to a market fall with a reflationary budget, stoking inflation and precipitating a slide in the Government's fortunes. By the time of Thatcher's resignation in 1990, inflation had again hit 10%, the same level she had found it in 1979.

As early as September 1988, economists warned that the economic boom would soon be over and that 1989 could see a recession set in. For the moment, the economy defied these predictions; it continued to grow throughout 1989, and unemployment continued to fall, despite the United States entering recession that year.

Employment was booming by the late 1980s, above all in the financial and retail sectors, particularly on new commercial developments built on old industrial sites. For example, the Merry Hill Shopping Centre in the West Midlands saw 6,000 retail jobs created between 1984 and 1989 on the former Round Oak Steelworks site that had shed just over 1,200 jobs when it closed in 1982. The comparable MetroCentre was built at Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, around the same time.

On 29 March 1988, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister of Trade and Industry, Kenneth Clarke, announced the sale to British Aerospace of the Rover Group, the new name of British Leyland, which had been nationalised in 1975 by the government of Harold Wilson.^[133]

The threat of recession finally became a reality in October 1990, when it was confirmed that the economy had declined during the third quarter of the year. Unemployment started to rise again. Inflation, which the first Thatcher government had conquered by 1983, was touching 10% for the first time in eight years.

Overall, the economic record of Thatcher's government is disputed. In relative terms, it could be held there was a modest revival of British fortunes. Real gross domestic product (GDP) had grown by 26.8% over 1979–89 in the United Kingdom as against 24.3% for the

In the Thatcher years the top 10% of earners received almost 50% of the tax remissions,[12]^: 636 but there proved to be no simple trade-off between equality and efficiency.^[12]: 636 The receipts ratio^{[clarification needed]} did not fall below the 1979 level until 1992.^[12]: 636 The expenditure ratio rose again after Thatcher's resignation in 1990, even climbing for a time above the 1979 figure.^{[12]: 635–36} The cause was the heavy budget charge of the recessions of 1979–81 and 1990–92 and the extra funding required to meet the higher level of unemployment.^[12]: 636

In Thatcher's third term, welfare reforms created an adult Employment Training system that included full-time work done for the dole plus a £10 top-up, on the workfare model from the United States.

NHS internal market

Thatcher had initially not made any major attempts to reform the National Health Service. However, based on recommendations from the Griffiths report of 1983 into NHS management,^[134] from 1988 onwards she began to apply the principles of New Public Management throughout the welfare state, including the NHS, in order to decentralize decision making and introduce competition, with the goal of making the state a purchaser of healthcare rather than a provider.^[135] The National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 established an internal market within the NHS which divided NHS providers into those that provided services and those that purchased services from them, requiring NHS hospitals and other service providers to generate their own income and compete for business.^[136] The intention was that patients would be given the option to choose between different providers and would inevitably choose the best hospitals, the money would follow the patients and the best hospitals would prosper. However, in practice the majority of patients were not in a position to exercise choice between providers and so the internal market was not as successful as Thatcher had anticipated.^[137]

Section 28

Though an early backer of decriminalisation of male homosexuality, at the 1987 Conservative Party conference, Thatcher's speech read: "Children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay". Backbench Conservative MPs and peers had already begun a backlash against the "promotion" of homosexuality and, in December 1987, the controversial "Section 28" was added as an amendment to what became the Local Government Act 1988.^[138] This legislation was eventually repealed by the Blair government between 2000 and 2003.

Environment

Thatcher, a trained chemist, became publicly concerned with environmental issues in the late 1980s.

At

In 1987–88, Chancellor Nigel Lawson had been following a policy of "shadowing the

At a meeting before the European Community summit in Madrid in June 1989, Lawson and foreign secretary Geoffrey Howe forced Thatcher to agree to the circumstances under which she would join the

South Africa and release of Mandela

Thatcher continued to be the leading international advocate of a policy of contact with apartheid South Africa,^[146] and the most forthright opponent of economic sanctions against the country, which a white minority government ruled.^[147] Her stand had divided the Commonwealth 48–1 at three conferences since 1985, but had brought her influence in South Africa's white community. Rejecting the US policy of disinvestment as a mistake, she argued a prosperous society would be more receptive to change.^[146]

In October 1988, Thatcher said she would be unlikely to visit South Africa unless black nationalist leader Nelson Mandela was released from prison.^[148] In March 1989 she stressed the need to release him for multi-party talks to take place,^[149] urging that the ANC's promise to suspend violence should be enough to permit his release and that the "renunciation of violence" should not be an absolute condition for negotiations for a settlement.^[150] At the end of March 1989, Thatcher's six-day, 10,000-mile tour through southern Africa—a follow-up to her "look and learn" exercise in Kenya and Nigeria in 1988—did not include South Africa because Mandela had not yet been released.^[151]

Thatcher met reformist F. W. de Klerk in London in June 1989 and stressed that Mandela must be freed and reforms put in place before she would visit the country.^[152] In July 1989 she called for the release not only of Mandela but also Walter Sisulu and Oscar Mpetha before all-group talks could continue.^[153][154]

Thatcher, therefore, welcomed de Klerk's decision in February 1990 to release Mandela and lift the ban on the ANC, and said the change vindicated her positive policy: "We believe in carrots as well as sticks".^{[146][155][147]} However Thatcher had also set the freeing of Mandela as a condition of friendship with the white government.^[156]

Thatcher said the European Community's voluntary ban on new investment should be lifted when Mandela was released.^[157] However her call to the world to reward reforms was countered by Mandela himself, who while still in jail argued sanctions must be maintained until the end of white rule,^[147] and criticised her decision to lift a ban on new investment unilaterally.^[158] Mandela declared: "We regard the attitude of the British Government on the question of sanctions as of primary importance ... My release from prison was the direct result of the people inside and outside South Africa. It was also the result of the immense pressure exerted on the South African Government by the international community, in particular from the people of the UK."^[159]

However, foreign secretary Douglas Hurd was adamant: "We needed to make a practical response to a man, President F. W. de Klerk, who has taken his political life into his hands".^[160] Nevertheless, as a gesture of goodwill Thatcher agreed to begin aid to the ANC, which until its suspension of violence she had criticised as "a typical terrorist organisation",^[161] her disapproval reinforced by her anti-socialism.^[162]

Thatcher's opposition to sanctions left her isolated within the Commonwealth and the European Community, and Mandela did not take up an early offer to meet her,^[163] opposing her proposed visit to his country as premature.^[164] Mandela rejected all concessions to the South African government,^[165] which he accused of seeking the easing of sanctions before it had offered "profound and irreversible change".^[166]

Mandela delayed meeting Thatcher until he had gathered support for sanctions from other world leaders in the course of a four-week, 14-nation tour of Europe and the United States.^[167][168] Their first meeting failed to resolve differences over her unilateral lifting of sanctions and his refusal to renounce armed struggle until existing conditions for the black majority in South Africa changed.^[169] In their economic discussions, Mandela initially favoured nationalisation as a preferred method for redistributing wealth between blacks and whites, but with British investment in South Africa in 1989 accounting for half of the total, and with bilateral trade worth just over $3.2 billion,^[169] Thatcher successfully urged him to adopt free-market solutions, arguing they were necessary to maintain the kind of growth that would sustain a liberal democracy.^[170]

German reunification and the Gulf War

The NATO nations were in general agreement on delicately handling the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989, the reunification of Germany in 1990–91, and the end of communism and the Soviet Union in 1991. There was no gloating or effort to humiliate Gorbachev. While US president

In November 1989, Thatcher was challenged for the Conservative Party's leadership by

Thatcher was fiercely committed to a new tax—commonly called the "poll tax"—that would apply in equal amounts to rich and poor alike, despite intense public opposition. Her inability to compromise undermined her leadership in the Conservative Party, which turned decisively against her. Thatcher sought to relieve what she considered the unfair burden of property tax on the property-owning section of the population and outlined a fundamental solution as her flagship policy in the Conservative manifesto for the 1987 election. Local government rates (taxes) were replaced by the community charge, popularly known as the "poll tax", which levied a flat rate on all adult residents.^[174]: 297 Almost every adult, irrespective of income or wealth, paid the same, which would heavily redistribute the tax burden onto the less well-off.^[175]

She defended the poll tax, firstly, on the principle of marginality, that all voters should bear the burden of extra spending by local councils; secondly, on the benefit principle, that burdens should be proportional to benefits received.^[174]: 298 Ministers disregarded political research which showed potential massive losses for marginal Conservative-voting households.^[176]

The poll tax was introduced in Scotland in 1989 and England and Wales in 1990. This highly visible redistribution of the tax burden onto the less well-off proved to be one of the most controversial policies of Thatcher's premiership. Additional problems emerged when many of the tax rates set by local councils proved to be much higher than earlier predicted. Opponents organised to resist bailiffs and disrupt court hearings of community charge debtors. One Labour MP, Terry Fields, was jailed for 60 days for refusing to pay.

The unpopularity of the poll tax culminated in riots—most notably in Trafalgar Square on 31 March 1990.

An indication of the unpopularity of the policy was given by a

Labour continued to benefit from the situation as their lead in the opinion polls widened, and they made gains from the Tories in local council elections and more than once in by-elections. The new Liberal Democrats, after a weak start, were starting to gain ground in the opinion polls and seized the safe Eastbourne seat in its by-election in October.

Constitutional commentators concluded from the tax fiasco that "the British state [became] dangerously centralised, to an extent that important policy developments can now no longer be properly debated".^[174]: 299 The unpopularity of the poll tax came to be seen as an important factor in Thatcher's downfall,^[180] by convincing many Conservative backbenchers to vote against her when she was later challenged for the leadership by Michael Heseltine.^[176]

Following Thatcher's departure, her former chancellor Nigel Lawson labelled the poll tax as "the one great blunder of the Thatcher years". The succeeding Major government announced the abolition of the tax in spring 1991 and, in 1993, replaced it with Council Tax, a banded property tax similar in many respects to the older system of rates.^[180] Former trade-and-industry secretary Nicholas Ridley agreed that Thatcher had suffered a massive defeat over the poll tax, but he argued that Major's repeal "vindicated the rioters and those who had refused to pay. Lawlessness seemed to have paid off".^{[17]: 91–92}

1990 leadership challenge and resignation

Thatcher's political "assassination" was, according to witnesses such as Alan Clark, one of the most dramatic episodes in British political history.^{[65]: 249–73 [28]: 709–47, 410} The idea of a long-serving prime minister, undefeated at the polls, being ousted by an internal party ballot might, at first sight, seem bizarre. However, by 1990, opposition to Thatcher's policies on local government taxation, her Government's perceived mishandling of the economy (in particular the high interest rates of 15% that eroded her support among homeowners and business people), and the divisions opening in the Conservative Party over European integration made her seem increasingly politically vulnerable and her party increasingly divided. A Gallup poll in October 1990 showed that while Thatcher remained personally respected, there was overwhelming opposition towards her final initiatives,^[i] while various polls suggested the party was trailing Labour by between 6 and 11 points. Moreover, the Prime Minister's distaste for "consensus politics" and willingness to override colleagues' opinions, including that of her Cabinet, emboldened the backlash against her when it did occur.^[181]

On 1 November 1990, Sir Geoffrey Howe, one of Thatcher's oldest allies and longest-serving Cabinet member, resigned from his position as Deputy Prime Minister in protest at Thatcher's open hostility both to moves towards European federalism and to her own government's policy advocating a "hard ecu", i.e. a new European currency which competed alongside existing national currencies. In his resignation speech in the House of Commons two weeks later, he likened having to negotiate against what he called the "background noise" of her rhetoric to trying to play cricket despite the team captain having broken her own team's bats. He ended by suggesting that the time had come for "others to consider their own response to the tragic conflict of loyalties", with which he stated that he had wrestled "for perhaps too long".

Thatcher's former cabinet colleague Michael Heseltine then challenged her for the leadership of the party; she led the first round of voting by Conservative MPs (20 November) with just under 55% of the vote but fell four votes short of the 15% margin needed to win outright. Though she initially stated that she intended to contest the second ballot, most of Thatcher's Cabinet colleagues offered her at best lukewarm support, and many warned her that she would very likely lose a second ballot to Heseltine. On 22 November, at just after 9.30 am, she announced to the Cabinet that she would not be a candidate in the second ballot after all. Shortly afterwards, her staff made public what was, in effect, her resignation statement, in which she stated that she had "concluded that the unity of the Party and the prospects of victory in a General Election would be better served" if she stood down as prime minister.

Leader of the Opposition Neil Kinnock proposed a motion of no confidence in the Government, and Margaret Thatcher seized the opportunity this presented on the day of her resignation to deliver one of her most memorable performances. Among other quips, she famously noted: "a single currency is about the politics of Europe, it is about a federal Europe by the back door. So I shall consider the proposal of the Honourable Member for Bolsover [that she be the first governor of the new European Central Bank]. Now where were we? I am enjoying this".

She supported John Major as her successor, and after he had won the leadership contest, she formally resigned as prime minister on 28 November. In the years to come, her approval of Major would fall away. After her resignation, a

, at the age of 66 years and 33 years as an MP.

Record in perspective

External videos
Booknotes
"The Downing Street Years by Margaret Thatcher" (Interview), interviewed by Brian Lamb, Washington: C-SPAN, 5 December 1993
"The Path to Power by Margaret Thatcher" (Interview), interviewed by Steve Scully, Washington: C-SPAN, 25 June 1995

Altogether, the eleven-year duration of her three terms in office make up the third to have outlasted a decade from start to finish, following

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Thatcher had broadened her interest in foreign policy since she became Conservative Party leader and would work with five foreign secretaries.^[j]

As prime minister, she cautiously moved closer to the European Community, tried to limit

Information released

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (August 2017)

From the National Archives

Under the thirty-year rule, various government documents relating to Thatcher's premiership have been declassified and released by the National Archives. These include:

GCSEs

Papers released in December 2014 show that Thatcher completely disapproved of GCSEs which, in 1986, Sir Keith Joseph was trying to introduce in the face of fierce opposition from teaching unions. At very least she wanted a two-year delay to ensure rigorous syllabuses and adequate teacher training. However, when the unions who had been involved in a pay dispute for two years further criticised reforms at their conference, Joseph persuaded her to go ahead immediately to avoid appearing to take their side. According to Dominic Cummings, special advisor to Michael Gove, it was a catastrophic decision which led to a collapse in the integrity of the exam system.^[191]

Cocaine production

In July 1989, Thatcher called for research on the use of

In February 2020, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse reported that Thatcher was made aware of child abuse allegations against Conservative MP Peter Morrison.^[193]

See also

• List of ministers under Margaret Thatcher
• Thatcherism
• Wets and dries
• Post-industrial society
• Presidency of Ronald Reagan

Notes

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192. ^ Wardle, Sally (30 December 2016), "Margaret Thatcher's letters reveal plan to spray cocaine plants with deadly pests", The Independent, retrieved 30 December 2016
193. ^ O'Neill, Sean (26 February 2020), "Abuse inquiry: MP Peter Morrison was backed by Thatcher despite claims against him", The Times, retrieved 17 February 2021

Further reading

See also: Bibliography of Margaret Thatcher

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Surveys and politics

• Childs, David (2012), Britain since 1945: A Political History (7th ed.), pp. 213–271; textbook{{citation}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
• Cooper, James (2012), Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan
• Dorey, Peter (2015), "The Legacy of Thatcherism – Public Sector Reform", Observatoire de la Société Britannique, 17 (17): 33–60,
  doi:10.4000/osb.1759
• Jessop, Bob (2015), "Margaret Thatcher and Thatcherism: Dead but not buried", British Politics, 10 (1): 16–30,
  S2CID 154369425
• Kavanagh, Dennis (1990), Thatcherism and British politics: the end of consensus?, Oxford UP
• ——— (2015), "Thatcher and Thatcherism. Do They Still Matter?", Observatoire de la Société Britannique, 17 (17): 211–221,
  doi:10.4000/osb.1792
• Krieger, Joed (1986), Reagan, Thatcher, and the politics of decline, New York: Oxford University Press
• Leys, Colin (2015), Politics in Britain: From Labourism to Thatcherism, U of Toronto Press
• Savage, Stephen P. and L. J. Robins, eds. (1990), Public policy under Thatcher, New York: St. Martin's Press,
  ISBN 978-0312050146
• Seldon, Anthony and Daniel Collings (2014), Britain Under Thatcher, Routledge^[ISBN missing]
• Sked, Alan and Chris Cook (1993), Post-war Britain: A Political History (4th ed.), Penguin Books,
  ISBN 978-0140137507
• Tinwell, Angela (2013), "The impact of Thatcherism in popular culture", Journal of European Popular Culture, 4 (2): 123–137,
  doi:10.1386/jepc.4.2.123_1
• Turner, Alwyn (2010), Rejoice, Rejoice!: Britain in the 1980s
• Wapshott, Nicholas (2007), Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher: A Political Marriage, Sentinel,
  ISBN 978-1595230478

Economics and unions

• Backhouse, Roger E. (2002), "The Macroeconomics of Margaret Thatcher", Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 24 (3): 313–334,
  S2CID 154788348
• Dorey, Peter (2016), "Weakening the Trade Unions, One Step at a Time: The Thatcher Governments' Strategy for the Reform of Trade-Union Law, 1979–1984" (PDF), Historical Studies in Industrial Relations, 37: 169–200,
  doi:10.3828/hsir.2016.37.6^{[dead link}
  ]
• Farrall, Stephen and Colin Hay, eds. (2014), The Legacy of Thatcherism: Assessing and Exploring Thatcherite Social and Economic Policies, Oxford UP^[ISBN missing]
• Howell, David; et al. (1987), "Goodbye to all that?: A Review of Literature on the 1984/5 Miners' Strike", Work, Employment & Society, 1 (3): 388–404,
  S2CID 154609889
• Gibbon, Peter (1988), "Analysing the British miners' strike of 1984–5", Economy and Society, 17 (2): 139–194,
  doi:10.1080/03085148800000008
• Marsh, David (1991), "Privatization under Mrs. Thatcher: a review of the literature", Public Administration, 69 (4): 459–480,
  doi:10.1111/j.1467-9299.1991.tb00915.x
• Marsh, David (1991), "British industrial relations policy transformed: the Thatcher legacy", Journal of Public Policy, 11 (3): 291–313,
  S2CID 154551291
• Miller, Kenneth and Mairi Steele (1993), "Employment legislation: Thatcher and after", Industrial Relations Journal, 24 (3): 224–235,
  doi:10.1111/j.1468-2338.1993.tb00675.x
• Norpoth, Helmut (1992), Confidence regained: economics, Mrs. Thatcher, and the British voter, U of Michigan Press^[ISBN missing]
• Williamson, Adrian (2016), Conservative Economic Policymaking and the Birth of Thatcherism, 1964–1979, Springer^{[ISBN missing]}
• Wilsher, Peter; Donald Macintyre; and Michael CE Jones, eds. (1985), Strike: Thatcher, Scargill and the miners, A. Deutsch

Biographies

• Bale, Tim. ed. Margaret Thatcher (4 vol, Routledge, 2015) 1,624 pp of republished excerpts by many writers; review by Robert Saunders, "The Many Lives of Margaret Thatcher" English Historical Review132#556 (2017), pp 638–658.^{[ISBN missing]}
• Gilmour, Ian (1992), Dancing with dogma: Britain under Thatcherism^{[ISBN missing]}
• Harris, Kenneth (1988), Thatcher, Boston: Little, Brown,
  ISBN 978-0316348379
• Theakston, Kevin, ed. (2004), British Foreign Secretaries since 1974, Routledge^[ISBN missing]
• Urban, George R. (1996), Diplomacy and disillusion at the court of Margaret Thatcher: an insider's view, teNeues^{[ISBN missing]}

Foreign and defence policy

• Ashton, Nigel J. (2011), "Love's Labours Lost: Margaret Thatcher, King Hussein and Anglo–Jordanian Relations, 1979–1990", Diplomacy & Statecraft, 22 (4): 651–677,
  S2CID 154279598
• Bennett, Harry. "Lord Carrington, 1979–82." in British Foreign Secretaries Since 1974 (Routledge, 2004) pp. 131–154.^[ISBN missing]
• Brown, Archie (2020), The Human Factor: Gorbachev, Reagan, and Thatcher, and the End of the Cold War, Oxford UP^{[ISBN missing]}
• Bruni, Domenico Maria. "A leader at war: Margaret Thatcher and the Falklands crisis of 1982." Observatoire de la société britannique 20 (2018): 135–157 online.
• Byrd, Peter, ed. (1988), British foreign policy under Thatcher, Philip Allan^{[ISBN missing]}
• Chiampan, Andrea (2013), "Running with the Hare, Hunting with the Hounds: The Special Relationship, Reagan's Cold War and the Falklands Conflict", Diplomacy & Statecraft, 24 (4): 640–660,
  S2CID 153940456
• Cooper, James (2012), Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan: A Very Political Special Relationship, Palgrave Macmillan^[ISBN missing]
• Cooper, James (2013), "Two's Company, Three's A Crowd: Neil Kinnock, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, 1984–1987", White House Studies, 13 (1): 1–20
• Corthorn, Paul (2013), "The Cold War and British debates over the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics", Cold War History, 13 (1): 43–66,
  S2CID 153726522
• Cottrell, Robert (1993), The end of Hong Kong: The secret diplomacy of imperial retreat, John Murray^[ISBN missing]
• Donaghy, Aaron. "Margaret Thatcher's Private Secretaries for Foreign Affairs, 1979–1984." in Private Secretaries to the Prime Minister (Routledge, 2017) pp. 166–186.^{[ISBN missing]}
• Dorril, Stephen (2002), MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Simon and Schuster,
  ISBN 978-0743217781
• Eames, Anthony M. (2014), "Margaret Thatcher's Diplomacy and the 1982 Lebanon War", Mediterranean Quarterly, 25 (4): 27–44,
  S2CID 153634771
• Lahey, Daniel James (2013), "The Thatcher government's response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, 1979–1980", Cold War History, 13 (1): 21–42,
  S2CID 153081281
• Ledger, Robert (2016), "From Solidarity to 'Shock Therapy'. British Foreign Policy Towards Poland Under the Thatcher Government, 1980–1990", Contemporary British History, 30 (1): 99–118,
  S2CID 155643505
• Lochery, Neill (2010), "Debunking the Myths: Margaret Thatcher, the Foreign Office and Israel, 1979–1990", Diplomacy & Statecraft, 21 (4): 690–706,
  S2CID 153995303
• Ramsbotham, Oliver and Hugh Miall (1991), "The British Defence Debate in the 1980s", in Hugh Miall and Oliver Ramsbotham (ed.), Beyond Deterrence, Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 127–143
• Stoddart, Kristan. Facing Down the Soviet Union: Britain, the USA, NATO and Nuclear Weapons, 1976–1983 (Springer, 2014).^[ISBN missing]
• Turner, Michael J. (2010), Britain's international role, 1970–1991, Palgrave Macmillan^{[ISBN missing]}
• Urban, G. R. Diplomacy and Disillusion at the Court of Margaret Thatcher: An Insider's View (1996)^{[ISBN missing]}
• Wallace, William (1992), "British foreign policy after the Cold War", International Affairs, 68 (3): 423–442,
  JSTOR 2622964

External links

• Essentials from the Margaret Thatcher Foundation
• Margaret Thatcher and the Privatization Movement from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives