127-521: The Community Charge , commonly known as the poll tax , was a system of local taxation introduced by Margaret Thatcher 's government whereby each taxpayer was taxed the same fixed sum (a " poll tax " or " head tax "), with the precise amount being set by each local authority. It replaced domestic rates in Scotland from 1989, prior to its introduction in England and Wales from 1990. The abolition of
254-547: A barrister in 1953 and specialised in taxation. Later that same year their twins Carol and Mark were born, delivered prematurely by Caesarean section. In 1954, Thatcher was defeated when she sought selection to be the Conservative Party candidate for the Orpington by-election of January 1955. She chose not to stand as a candidate in the 1955 general election , in later years, stating: "I really just felt
381-533: A realignment towards neoliberal policies in Britain; the complex legacy attributed to this shift continues to be debated into the 21st century. Margaret Hilda Roberts was born on 13 October 1925 in Grantham , Lincolnshire. Her parents were Alfred Roberts (1892–1970), from Northamptonshire, and Beatrice Ethel Stephenson (1888–1960), from Lincolnshire. Her father's maternal grandmother, Catherine Sullivan,
508-487: A research chemist before becoming a barrister . She was elected Member of Parliament for Finchley in 1959 . Edward Heath appointed her secretary of state for education and science in his 1970–1974 government . In 1975, she defeated Heath in the Conservative Party leadership election to become leader of the opposition , the first woman to lead a major political party in the UK. On becoming prime minister after winning
635-474: A 1991 interview for Today , Thatcher stated that she thought Powell had "made a valid argument, if in sometimes regrettable terms". Around this time, she gave her first Commons speech as a shadow transport minister and highlighted the need for investment in British Rail . She argued: "[I]f we build bigger and better roads, they would soon be saturated with more vehicles and we would be no nearer solving
762-542: A busy itinerary focused on economic issues, including Paul Samuelson , Walt Rostow , Pierre-Paul Schweitzer and Nelson Rockefeller . Following the visit, Heath appointed Thatcher to the Shadow Cabinet as fuel and power spokeswoman. Before the 1970 general election , she was promoted to shadow transport spokeswoman and later to education. In 1968, Enoch Powell delivered his "Rivers of Blood" speech in which he strongly criticised Commonwealth immigration to
889-610: A crosshair and seemingly-abstract images on them. Upon closer inspection, those images read "no poll tax". After the poll tax was announced, opinion polls showed the Labour opposition opening a strong lead over the Conservative government. Following the Poll Tax Riots, Conservative ministers contemplated abolition of the tax but knew that, as a flagship Thatcherite policy, its abolition would not be possible while Thatcher
1016-595: A decade in office. All three of the contenders to succeed her pledged to abandon the tax. The successful candidate, John Major , appointed Heseltine to the post of Environment Secretary, responsible for replacing the poll tax. In early 1991 the Chancellor of the Exchequer , Norman Lamont , announced a rise in Value Added Tax from 15 to 17.5 per cent to pay for a £140 reduction in the tax. The abolition of
1143-568: A factor in the high turnout. In Scotland , the Scottish National Party (SNP) hoped for a major electoral breakthrough in 1992 and had run a hard independence campaign with "Free by '93" as their slogan, urging voters to back a party which would deliver Scottish independence from the United Kingdom. Although the party increased its total vote by 50% compared to 1987, they only held onto the three seats they had won at
1270-493: A fixed rate was widely criticised as being unfair, and needlessly burdensome on those less well-off. Mass protests were co-ordinated by the All Britain Anti-Poll Tax Federation , other national networks such as 3D (Don't Register, Don't Pay, Don't Collect) and by hundreds of local Anti-Poll Tax Unions (APTUs), which were not aligned to any particular political grouping. In Scotland, where the tax
1397-571: A former television producer. By chance, Reece met the actor Laurence Olivier , who arranged lessons with the National Theatre 's voice coach. Thatcher began attending lunches regularly at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), a think tank founded by Hayekian poultry magnate Antony Fisher ; she had been visiting the IEA and reading its publications since the early 1960s. There she
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#17327657003641524-489: A fourth consecutive election victory, with a majority of 21. This would be the last time that the Conservatives would win an overall majority at a general election until 2015 and the last general election to be held on a day which did not coincide with any local elections until 2017 . This election result took many by surprise, as opinion polling leading up to the election day had shown a narrow but consistent lead for
1651-480: A job at Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) but was rejected after the personnel department assessed her as "headstrong, obstinate and dangerously self-opinionated". Jon Agar in Notes and Records argues that her understanding of modern scientific research later impacted her views as prime minister. Roberts joined the local Conservative Association and attended the party conference at Llandudno , Wales, in 1948, as
1778-495: A landslide majority in 1983, but her popularity and that of her government sharply declined due to internal divisions in the party and the unpopular Community Charge (also known as the 'poll tax') , as well as the fact that Britain was sliding into recession in the run-up to her resignation in November 1990. Labour began to lead the Conservatives in the opinion polls by as much as 20 percentage points. Thatcher resigned following
1905-475: A major Labour Party election rally in Sheffield . At the time of the event polls suggested Labour was well ahead of the Conservatives. Richards argues the rally "acquired a mythological status as fatal event" after Labour's defeat, but considers this theory to be "a red herring". He notes that prior to the result of the election becoming known, "there was no suggestion that Kinnock had made a terrible blunder" at
2032-510: A non-payment campaign. In July 1991, Terry Fields , Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Liverpool Broadgreen , and a member of the Militant tendency , was imprisoned for sixty days for refusing to pay. At the time of Fields' jailing, Labour leader Neil Kinnock commented: "Law makers must not be law breakers." In popular culture, the punk band The Exploited featured the song "Don't Pay The Poll Tax" in their album The Massacre , which
2159-477: A personal assistant to the company's head of research and development, providing opportunities to learn about operations management : "But on my arrival it was decided that there was not enough to do in that capacity." Instead, she seems to have researched methods of attaching polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to metals. While with the firm, she joined the Association of Scientific Workers . In 1948, she applied for
2286-476: A precursor to an authoritarian state. After graduating, Roberts secured a position as a research chemist for British Xylonite ( BX Plastics ) following a series of interviews arranged by Oxford; she subsequently moved to Colchester in Essex to work at the firm. Little is known about her brief time there. By her own account, she was initially enthusiastic about the position, as she had been intended to function as
2413-810: A representative of the University Graduate Conservative Association. Meanwhile, she became a high-ranking affiliate of the Vermin Club , a group of grassroots Conservatives formed in response to a derogatory comment made by Aneurin Bevan . One of her Oxford friends was also a friend of the Chair of the Dartford Conservative Association in Kent , who were looking for candidates. Officials of
2540-589: A sensible, well-read essay." She opted to read for a classified honours degree , entailing an additional year of supervised research. As her thesis supervisor, Hodgkin assigned Roberts to work with Gerhard Schmidt , a researcher in Hodgkin's lab, to determine the structure of the antibiotic peptide gramicidin S . Although the research made some progress, the peptide's structure proved more complex than anticipated, and Schmidt would only determine its full structure much later; Roberts (by then Thatcher) learned this in
2667-511: A very attractive creature – very reserved but quite nice". In preparation for the election, Roberts moved to Dartford, while she supported herself by working as a research chemist for J. Lyons and Co. in Hammersmith , reportedly as part of a team developing emulsifiers for ice cream . As the work was more theoretical in nature than during her prior role with BX Plastics, Roberts found it "more satisfying". While at Lyons, she worked under
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#17327657003642794-480: A very slim Labour majority. Of the 50 opinion polls published during the election campaign period, 38 suggested Labour had a narrow but clear lead. After the polls closed, the BBC and ITV exit polls still predicted that there would be a hung parliament and "that the Conservatives would only just get more seats than Labour". With opinion polls at the end of the campaign showing Labour and the Conservatives neck and neck,
2921-429: A women's college. Twice a week outside study she worked in a local forces canteen. During her time at Oxford, Roberts was noted for her isolated and serious attitude. Her first boyfriend, Tony Bray (1926–2014), recalled that she was "very thoughtful and a very good conversationalist. That's probably what interested me. She was good at general subjects". Roberts's coursework involved subjects beyond chemistry as she
3048-537: Is discord, may we bring harmony; Where there is error, may we bring truth; Where there is doubt, may we bring faith; And where there is despair, may we bring hope. In office throughout the 1980s, Thatcher was frequently referred to as the most powerful woman in the world. Thatcher was the Opposition leader and prime minister at a time of increased racial tension in Britain. During the 1977 local elections , The Economist commented: "The Tory tide swamped
3175-634: Is the most recent in which the Conservatives won more seats than Labour in Greater London , at 48 to 35; in the 1997 election, the Conservatives would win only 11. For the Liberal Democrats their first election campaign was a reasonable success; the party had worked itself up from a "low base" during its troubled creation and come out relatively unscathed. It was Labour's second general election defeat under leader Neil Kinnock and deputy leader Roy Hattersley . Both resigned soon after
3302-484: The 1950 and 1951 general elections, Roberts was the Conservative candidate for the Labour seat of Dartford . The local party selected her as its candidate because, though not a dynamic public speaker, Roberts was well-prepared and fearless in her answers. A prospective candidate, Bill Deedes , recalled: "Once she opened her mouth, the rest of us began to look rather second-rate." She attracted media attention as
3429-552: The 1979 general election , Thatcher introduced a series of economic policies intended to reverse high inflation and Britain's struggles in the wake of the Winter of Discontent and an oncoming recession . Her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised greater individual liberty , the privatisation of state-owned companies , and reducing the power and influence of trade unions . Her popularity in her first years in office waned amid recession and rising unemployment. Victory in
3556-612: The Big Bang . Thatcher was re-elected for a third term with another landslide in 1987 , but her subsequent support for the Community Charge (also known as the "poll tax") was widely unpopular, and her increasingly Eurosceptic views on the European Community were not shared by others in her cabinet. She resigned as prime minister and party leader in 1990, after a challenge was launched to her leadership , and
3683-537: The Council Tax from the start of the 1993/1994 financial year. The VAT rate of 17.5 per cent remained despite an earlier policy of charging a higher poll tax. Council Tax strongly resembled the rates system of tax that had been in effect prior to the poll tax. The main differences (at the Council Tax's inception) were that properties were placed in bands based on a range of property values, thereby capping
3810-663: The February 1974 general election . Labour formed a minority government and went on to win a narrow majority in the October 1974 general election . Heath's leadership of the Conservative Party looked increasingly in doubt. Thatcher was not initially seen as the obvious replacement, but she eventually became the main challenger, promising a fresh start. Her main support came from the parliamentary 1922 Committee and The Spectator , but Thatcher's time in office gave her
3937-600: The Labour Party under leader Neil Kinnock during a period of recession and declining living standards. John Major had won the leadership election in November 1990 following the resignation of Margaret Thatcher . During his first term leading up to the 1992 election he oversaw the British involvement in the Gulf War , introduced legislation to replace the unpopular Community Charge with Council Tax , and signed
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4064-592: The Maastricht Treaty . Britain was sliding into its second recession in a decade at the time of Major's appointment. Opinion polls in the run-up to the election had suggested that it would end in a hung parliament or a narrow Labour majority. The fact that it produced a Conservative majority meant that it was one of the most dramatic and memorable elections in the UK since the end of the Second World War. The Conservative Party received what remains
4191-518: The October 1974 general election . In the 1979 elections the Conservative manifesto stated that lowering income tax took priority. The Government published a green paper in 1981 under the title Alternatives to Domestic Rates . It considered a flat-rate per-capita tax as a supplement to another tax, noting that a large flat-rate tax would be seen as unfair. The 1980s saw a period of general confrontation between central government and Labour-controlled local authorities over levels of expenditure (known as
4318-500: The Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 , requiring local authorities to hold their council meetings in public; the bill was successful and became law. In 1961 she went against the Conservative Party's official position by voting for the restoration of birching as a judicial corporal punishment . Thatcher's talent and drive caused her to be mentioned as a future prime minister in her early 20s although she herself
4445-545: The Sheffield Arena , where Neil Kinnock famously cried out "We're all right!" three times. However, some analysts and participants in the campaign believed it actually had little effect, with the event only receiving widespread attention after the election. This was the first general election for the newly formed Liberal Democrats , a party formed by the formal merger of the SDP–Liberal Alliance following
4572-528: The epithet a week later; in a speech to Finchley Conservatives she likened it to the Duke of Wellington 's nickname "Iron Duke". The "Iron" metaphor followed her throughout ever since, and would become a generic sobriquet for other strong-willed female politicians. Thatcher became prime minister on 4 May 1979. Arriving at Downing Street she said, paraphrasing the Prayer of Saint Francis : Where there
4699-555: The party leadership ballot in November 1990 , initiated by Michael Heseltine , and was replaced by her Chancellor of the Exchequer John Major . This was well received by the public; Labour lost some momentum as it reduced the impact of their calls for "Time for a Change". On 16 January 1991, Operation Desert Storm began the Gulf War , the Major ministry's first foreign affairs crisis. The quick and successful outcome on
4826-547: The previous election . They lost Glasgow Govan , which their deputy leader Jim Sillars had taken from Labour in a by-election in 1988 . Sillars quit active politics after the general election with a parting shot at the Scottish electorate as being "ninety-minute patriots", referring to their support of the Scotland football team only during match time. The election also saw a small change in Northern Ireland :
4953-545: The " rate-capping rebellion "), which eventually led to the abolition of the Greater London Council and the six metropolitan county councils. The commitment to abolish the rates was replaced in the 1983 general election manifesto with a commitment to introduce the ability for central government to cap rates which it saw as excessive. This was introduced by the Rates Act 1984 . Although the rates system
5080-471: The "U" turn, I have only one thing to say. "You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning ." 1992 United Kingdom general election John Major Conservative John Major Conservative The 1992 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 9 April 1992, to elect 651 members to the House of Commons . The governing Conservative Party led by the prime minister John Major won
5207-485: The "poll tax" as this is a general term referring to a tax charged at an equal amount per head (also known as a head-tax), but also as a reference to historical unpopular head-taxes, in particular the English Poll Tax of 1379 . This proposal was contained in the Conservative manifesto for the 1987 General Election . The legislation introducing the poll tax was passed in 1987, 1988, and the new tax replaced
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5334-504: The 1960s while visiting the Weizmann Institute , where her former research partner was then working. Roberts graduated in 1947 with a second-class honours degree in chemistry, and in 1950 also received the degree of Master of Arts (as an Oxford BA, she was entitled to the degree 21 terms after her matriculation ). Although Hodgkin would later be critical of her former student's politics, they continued to correspond into
5461-420: The 1980s, and Roberts in her memoirs would describe her mentor as "ever-helpful", "a brilliant scientist and a gifted teacher". As prime minister, she would keep a portrait of Hodgkin at 10 Downing Street . Later in life, she was reportedly prouder of becoming the first prime minister with a science degree than becoming the first female prime minister. While prime minister she attempted to preserve Somerville as
5588-604: The 1982 Falklands War and the recovering economy brought a resurgence of support, resulting in her landslide re-election in 1983 . She survived an assassination attempt by the Provisional IRA in the 1984 Brighton hotel bombing and achieved a political victory against the National Union of Mineworkers in the 1984–85 miners' strike . In 1986, Thatcher oversaw the deregulation of UK financial markets , leading to an economic boom , in what came to be known as
5715-445: The 1987 general election. Its formation had not been without its problems, but under the strong leadership of Paddy Ashdown , who proved to be a likeable and candid figure, the party went into the election ready to win votes and seats. They focused on education throughout the campaign, as well as a promise on reforming the voting system. The weather was largely dull for most of the campaign, but sunny conditions on 9 April may have been
5842-553: The April 2012 Leveson Inquiry , Rupert Murdoch claimed that the "infamous" headline was "both tasteless and wrong". Tony Blair also accepted this theory of Labour's defeat and put considerable effort into securing The Sun ' s support for New Labour , both as Leader of the Opposition before the 1997 general election and as Prime Minister afterwards. Steve Richards notes that one theory for Labour's defeat relates to Kinnock seeming triumphalist, "overconfident and cocky" at
5969-479: The BBC's coverage started five minutes before the polls closed and the result of the exit poll was announced live, accompanied by footage of Big Ben striking, at 10pm. This method of revealing the exit poll has been repeated in all subsequent BBC election night broadcasts. Coverage was, according to the Radio Times , supposed to end at 04:00 on Friday morning, but was extended. The BBC began construction of
6096-491: The Cabinet, the so-called " wets ", expressed doubt over Thatcher's policies. The 1981 England riots resulted in the British media discussing the need for a policy U-turn . At the 1980 Conservative Party conference, Thatcher addressed the issue directly with a speech written by the playwright Ronald Millar , that notably included the following lines: To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase,
6223-466: The Conservatives lost the 1964 election , she became spokeswoman on housing and land. In that position, she advocated her party's policy of giving tenants the right to buy their council houses . She moved to the Shadow Treasury team in 1966 and, as Treasury spokeswoman, opposed Labour's mandatory price and income controls, arguing they would unintentionally produce effects that would distort
6350-1198: The Conservatives organised and stood candidates in the constituent country for the first time since the Ulster Unionist Party had broken with them in 1972 over the Sunningdale Agreement . Although they won no seats, their best result was Laurence Kennedy achieving over 14,000 votes to run second to James Kilfedder in North Down . Former prime minister Margaret Thatcher stepped down at the general election, as did former cabinet minister Norman Tebbit , Labour veteran Denis Healey , former Conservative chancellor Nigel Lawson , Geoffrey Howe , former Labour leader Michael Foot , former SDP leader David Owen , Merlyn Rees , then- Speaker Bernard Weatherill , former Conservative Party chairman Cecil Parkinson , John Wakeham , Nicholas Ridley and Peter Morrison . Alan Clark also retired from Parliament, though he returned in 1997 as MP for Kensington and Chelsea , only to die two years later. The following newspapers endorsed political parties running in
6477-464: The Conservatives to shore up its support amongst its white working-class supporters. The Conservatives also pounded the Labour Party over the issue of taxation, producing a memorable poster entitled "Labour's Double-Whammy", showing a boxer wearing gloves marked "tax rises" and "inflation". An early setback for Labour came in the form of the " War of Jennifer's Ear " controversy, which questioned
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#17327657003646604-694: The Election 92 studio in October 1990, completing it in February 1991, due to speculation that an early election may be called in 1991. Rehearsals were held in the event of a Conservative and Labour victory. Although the election was not part of the storyline, there was much background chanting and campaigning in the BBC television soap opera EastEnders . On ITV, ITN produced their election night coverage from their studios in London, with Jon Snow anchoring
6731-657: The Foreign Leader Program), a professional exchange programme that allowed her to spend about six weeks visiting various US cities and political figures as well as institutions such as the International Monetary Fund . Although she was not yet a Shadow Cabinet member, the embassy reportedly described her to the State Department as a possible future prime minister. The description helped Thatcher meet with prominent people during
6858-532: The House of Commons Bernard Weatherill left the House of Commons after this election, though Maude and Adams returned at the next election. Future Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith was elected to parliament in this election. The Conservatives had been re-elected in a landslide at the 1987 general election under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher , who had led the party back into power in 1979 and won
6985-705: The Midlands, but achieved a slight increase in their vote in Scotland, where they had a net gain of one seat. Labour and Plaid Cymru strengthened in Wales, with Conservative support declining. However, in the South East, South West, London and Eastern England the Conservative vote held up, leading to few losses there: many considered Basildon to be indicative of a nouveau riche working-class element, referred to as Essex man , voting strongly Conservative. This election
7112-477: The Opposition on 11 February 1975; she appointed Whitelaw as her deputy . Heath was never reconciled to Thatcher's leadership of the party. Television critic Clive James , writing in The Observer prior to her election as Conservative Party leader, compared her voice of 1973 to "a cat sliding down a blackboard". Thatcher had already begun to work on her presentation on the advice of Gordon Reece ,
7239-565: The Queen's attitude towards the work of the Government absolutely correct [...] stories of clashes between 'two powerful women' were just too good not to make up." Thatcher's economic policy was influenced by monetarist thinking and economists such as Milton Friedman and Alan Walters . Together with her first chancellor , Geoffrey Howe , she lowered direct taxes on income and increased indirect taxes. She increased interest rates to slow
7366-407: The Queen. The answer is that their relations were punctiliously correct, but there was little love lost on either side. As two women of very similar age – Mrs Thatcher was six months older – occupying parallel positions at the top of the social pyramid, one the head of government, the other head of state, they were bound to be in some sense rivals. Mrs Thatcher's attitude to the Queen was ambivalent. On
7493-453: The United Kingdom and the then-proposed Race Relations Bill . When Heath telephoned Thatcher to inform her that he would sack Powell from the Shadow Cabinet, she recalled that she "really thought that it was better to let things cool down for the present rather than heighten the crisis". She believed that his main points about Commonwealth immigration were correct and that the selected quotations from his speech had been taken out of context. In
7620-469: The United Kingdom sat for the last time on Monday 16 March, being dissolved on the same day. Under the leadership of Neil Kinnock , the Labour Party had undergone further developments and alterations since its 1987 general election defeat. Labour entered the campaign confident, with most opinion polls showing a slight Labour lead that if maintained suggested a hung parliament , with no single party having an overall majority. The parties campaigned on
7747-521: The United States in 1975 and met President Gerald Ford , visiting again in 1977, when she met President Jimmy Carter . Among other foreign trips, she met Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi during a visit to Iran in 1978. Thatcher chose to travel without being accompanied by her shadow foreign secretary , Reginald Maudling , in an attempt to make a bolder personal impact. In domestic affairs, Thatcher opposed Scottish devolution ( home rule ) and
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#17327657003647874-431: The United States, said she had done "a very good job" on the project, "showing great determination". She sent Jellinek a congratulatory letter upon his retirement in 1984, and another letter shortly before his death two years later. Roberts married at Wesley's Chapel and her children were baptised there, but she and her husband began attending Church of England services and would later convert to Anglicanism . In
8001-686: The Western world. In 1976, Thatcher gave her "Britain Awake" foreign policy speech which lambasted the Soviet Union, saying it was "bent on world dominance". The Soviet Army journal Red Star reported her stance in a piece headlined "Iron Lady Raises Fears", alluding to her remarks on the Iron Curtain . The Sunday Times covered the Red Star article the next day, and Thatcher embraced
8128-409: The actual election result was a surprise to many in the media and in polling organisations. The apparent failure of the opinion polls to come close to predicting the actual result led to an inquiry by the Market Research Society , and would eventually result in the creation of the British Polling Council a decade later. Following the election, most opinion polling companies changed their methodology in
8255-485: The association were so impressed by her that they asked her to apply, even though she was not on the party's approved list; she was selected in January 1950 (aged 24) and added to the approved list post ante . At a dinner following her formal adoption as Conservative candidate for Dartford in February 1949, she met divorcé Denis Thatcher , a successful and wealthy businessman, who drove her to her Essex train. After their first meeting, she described him to Muriel as "not
8382-405: The belief that a ' Shy Tory factor ' affected the polling. The election turnout of 77.67% was the highest in 18 years. There was an overall Labour swing of 2.2%, which widened the gap between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Although the percentage of Conservative votes was only 0.3% down on 1987, the Conservative overall majority in the House of Commons was reduced from 102 to 21. This number
8509-404: The conflict led to a boost in opinion polls for Major, in spite of the deepening recession and rising unemployment. Another boost in the polls for Major was his announcement that the unpopular community charge (poll tax) would be replaced with the Council Tax . The Labour opposition made repeated calls for a general election to be held during 1991, but Major resisted these calls. As 1992 dawned,
8636-492: The courts by contesting local council attempts to gain liability orders, and ultimately, not to attend court hearings arising from their non-compliance. In November 1990, South Yorkshire Police said they were planning to refuse to arrest poll tax defaulters, even when instructed to by the courts, because it would be "physically impossible for the police because of the large number of defaulters". The opposition Labour Party, at its 1988 annual conference, decided against support for
8763-469: The creation of a Scottish Assembly . She instructed Conservative MPs to vote against the Scotland and Wales Bill in December 1976, which was successfully defeated, and then when new Bills were proposed, she supported amending the legislation to allow the English to vote in the 1979 referendum on Scottish devolution. Britain's economy during the 1970s was so weak that then Foreign Secretary James Callaghan warned his fellow Labour Cabinet members in 1974 of
8890-422: The direction of her foreign policy for a Conservative government, Thatcher was distressed by her repeated failure to shine in the House of Commons. Consequently, Thatcher decided that as "her voice was carrying little weight at home", she would "be heard in the wider world". Thatcher undertook visits across the Atlantic, establishing an international profile and promoting her economic and foreign policies. She toured
9017-523: The economy. Jim Prior suggested Thatcher as a Shadow Cabinet member after the Conservatives' 1966 defeat , but party leader Edward Heath and Chief Whip William Whitelaw eventually chose Mervyn Pike as the Conservative shadow cabinet 's sole woman member. At the 1966 Conservative Party conference, Thatcher criticised the high-tax policies of the Labour government as being steps "not only towards Socialism, but towards Communism", arguing that lower taxes served as an incentive to hard work. Thatcher
9144-488: The election in the following ways: In a move later described in The Observer as appalling to its City readership, the Financial Times endorsed the Labour Party in this general election. Almost every poll leading up to polling day predicted either a hung parliament with Labour the largest party, or a small Labour majority of around 19 to 23. Polls on the last few days before the country voted predicted
9271-774: The election, and were succeeded by John Smith and Margaret Beckett respectively. Sitting MPs Dave Nellist , Terry Fields , Ron Brown , John Hughes and Syd Bidwell , who had been expelled or deselected by the Labour Party and stood as independents, were all defeated, although in Nellist's case only very narrowly. Tommy Sheridan , fighting the election from prison, polled 19% in Glasgow Pollok . All parties with more than 500 votes shown. Plaid Cymru result includes votes for Green/Plaid Cymru Alliance. The BBC ran coverage from 21:55 till 06:00, and from 09:30 till 16:00 on Friday 10 April. Unlike most prior British elections,
9398-401: The electoral register to evade collection attempts, possibly because of the false impression that the words "poll tax" created. This may have affected the results of the 1992 general election , which ended in a fourth successive Conservative victory, despite most opinion polls pointing to a hung parliament or narrow Labour majority. The change from payment based on the worth of one's house to
9525-576: The event. Indeed, Richards notes that the BBC's political editor John Cole had indicated he had been impressed in his live reporting of the rally which Cole compared with similar events held by President Kennedy . Richards concluded that the party would have lost the election even if there had been no Sheffield Rally. This election continued the Conservatives' decline in Northern England, with Labour regaining many seats they had not held since 1979. The Conservatives also began to lose support in
9652-399: The familiar grounds of taxation and health care. Major became known for delivering his speeches while standing on an upturned soapbox during public meetings. Immigration was also an issue, with Home Secretary Kenneth Baker making a controversial speech stating that, under Labour, the floodgates would be opened for immigrants from developing countries. Some speculated that this was a bid by
9779-459: The government's attempts to cut spending. She gave priority to academic needs in schools, while administering public expenditure cuts on the state education system, resulting in the abolition of free milk for schoolchildren aged seven to eleven. She held that few children would suffer if schools were charged for milk but agreed to provide younger children with 0.3 imperial pints (0.17 L) daily for nutritional purposes. She also argued that she
9906-428: The growth of the money supply, and thereby lower inflation; introduced cash limits on public spending and reduced expenditure on social services such as education and housing. Cuts to higher education led to Thatcher being the first Oxonian post-war prime minister without an honorary doctorate from Oxford University after a 738–319 vote of the governing assembly and a student petition. Some Heathite Conservatives in
10033-465: The highest total of votes for any political party in any UK general election, beating the previous largest total vote of 13.98 million achieved by Labour in 1951 (although this was from a smaller electorate and represented a higher vote share). Nine government ministers lost their seats in 1992, including party chairman Chris Patten . The Sun ' s analysis of the election results was headlined " It's The Sun Wot Won It ", though in his testimony to
10160-533: The largest number of votes at a United Kingdom general election in British history, breaking the previous record set by the Labour Party in 1951 . Former Conservative leader and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, former Labour Party leader Michael Foot , former SDP leader David Owen , three former Chancellors of the Exchequer , Denis Healey , Geoffrey Howe and Nigel Lawson , former Home Secretary Merlyn Rees , Francis Maude , Norman Tebbit , Rosie Barnes , Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams and Speaker of
10287-425: The maximum amount, and that the tax was levied on the property's capital value rather than on its notional rental value. Households with only one occupant were also entitled to a 25 per cent discount. The only substantial change since the introduction of the Council Tax form of direct taxation is the gradual introduction of certain exemptions and discounts. In 2015, any remaining debt was written off in Scotland with
10414-476: The one hand she had an almost mystical reverence for the institution of the monarchy [...] Yet at the same time she was trying to modernise the country and sweep away many of the values and practices which the monarchy perpetuated. Michael Shea , the Queen's press secretary, in 1986 leaked stories of a deep rift to The Sunday Times . He said that she felt Thatcher's policies were "uncaring, confrontational and socially divisive". Thatcher later wrote: "I always found
10541-501: The passage of the Community Charge Debt (Scotland) Act 2015. Margaret Thatcher [REDACTED] Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher ( née Roberts ; 13 October 1925 – 8 April 2013), was a British stateswoman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She
10668-428: The piano, field hockey, poetry recitals, swimming and walking. She was head girl in 1942–43, and outside school, while the Second World War was ongoing, she voluntarily worked as a fire watcher in the local ARP service . Other students thought of Roberts as the "star scientist", although mistaken advice regarding cleaning ink from parquetry almost caused chlorine gas poisoning . In her upper sixth year , Roberts
10795-625: The policy but had been forced into it by the Treasury. Her decision provoked a storm of protest from Labour and the press, leading to her being notoriously nicknamed "Margaret Thatcher, Milk Snatcher". She reportedly considered leaving politics in the aftermath and later wrote in her autobiography: "I learned a valuable lesson. I had incurred the maximum of political odium for the minimum of political benefit." The Heath government continued to experience difficulties with oil embargoes and union demands for wage increases in 1973, subsequently losing
10922-405: The poll tax was announced in 1991 and it was replaced in 1993 by the current system of the Council Tax . [REDACTED] The abolition of the rating system of taxes (based on the notional rental value of a house) to fund local government had been unveiled by Margaret Thatcher when she was Shadow Environment Secretary in 1974, and was included in the manifesto of the Conservative Party in
11049-405: The poll tax was announced on 21 March 1991. The Conservative government was re-elected for a fourth successive term in office at the 1992 general election , shaking off the strong challenge from the Labour Party. The Labour Party having been defeated in this way, their leader Neil Kinnock resigned. By the time of the 1992 general election, legislation had been passed replacing the poll tax with
11176-403: The poll tax. This was a fixed tax per adult resident, although there was a reduction for poor people. This charged each person for the services provided in their community. Owing to the variations in the amount of local taxes paid and the amount of grant provided by central government to individual local authorities, there were differences in the amount charged between councils. It become known as
11303-456: The polls. Thatcher reacted to this by branding the Labour government "chickens", and Liberal Party leader David Steel joined in, criticising Labour for "running scared". The Labour government then faced fresh public unease about the direction of the country and a damaging series of strikes during the winter of 1978–79, dubbed the " Winter of Discontent ". The Conservatives attacked the Labour government's unemployment record, using advertising with
11430-466: The possibility of "a breakdown of democracy", telling them: "If I were a young man, I would emigrate." In mid-1978, the economy began to recover, and opinion polls showed Labour in the lead, with a general election being expected later that year and a Labour win a serious possibility. Now prime minister, Callaghan surprised many by announcing on 7 September that there would be no general election that year and that he would wait until 1979 before going to
11557-529: The problem." Thatcher made her first visit to the Soviet Union in the summer of 1969 as the Opposition transport spokeswoman, and in October, delivered a speech celebrating her ten years in Parliament. In early 1970, she told The Finchley Press that she would like to see a "reversal of the permissive society". The Conservative Party, led by Edward Heath, won the 1970 general election, and Thatcher
11684-575: The rates in Scotland from the start of the 1989/90 financial year and in England and Wales from the start of the 1990/91 financial year. Additionally, the Uniform Business Rate , levied by local government at a rate set by central government and then apportioned between local authorities in proportion to their population, was introduced. The tax was not implemented in Northern Ireland , which continued, as it still does as of 2018, to levy
11811-478: The rating system, despite some unionists calling for the region to have the same taxation system as Great Britain. The poll tax when implemented encountered a number of administrative and enforcement difficulties. Some renters did not pay, knowing they would have moved elsewhere by the time the bills arrived. Councils of towns with highly mobile populations, such as university towns, were faced with big store rooms of unprocessed "gone-aways". The initial register, which
11938-418: The recession had still not ended, unemployment now topped 2.5 million and the election loomed, with most opinion polls suggested that the election would produce a hung parliament or a narrow Labour majority, although the lead in the polls had shifted between Tory and Labour on several occasions since November 1990. Parliament was due to expire no later than 16 June 1992. Major called the election on 11 March, as
12065-490: The reputation of a pragmatist rather than that of an ideologue. She defeated Heath on the first ballot, and he resigned from the leadership. In the second ballot she defeated Whitelaw, Heath's preferred successor. Thatcher's election had a polarising effect on the party; her support was stronger among MPs on the right, and also among those from southern England, and those who had not attended public schools or Oxbridge . Thatcher became Conservative Party leader and Leader of
12192-465: The richness and variety of this country. The moment the minority threatens to become a big one, people get frightened". In the 1979 general election, the Conservatives had attracted votes from the NF, whose support almost collapsed. In a July 1979 meeting with Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington and Home Secretary William Whitelaw, Thatcher objected to the number of Asian immigrants, in the context of limiting
12319-585: The scale of the Trafalgar Square riot. As the amount of the poll tax began to rise and the inefficiency of local councils in their collection of the tax became apparent, large numbers of people refused to pay. Local councils tried to respond with enforcement measures, but they were largely ineffective given the huge numbers of non-payers. According to the BBC, up to 30 per cent of former ratepayers in some areas refused to pay. The anti-poll-tax organisations encouraged non-payers not to register, to clog up
12446-526: The slogan " Labour Isn't Working ". A general election was called after the Callaghan ministry lost a motion of no confidence in early 1979. The Conservatives won a 44-seat majority in the House of Commons, and Thatcher became the first female British prime minister. I stand before you tonight in my Red Star chiffon evening gown, my face softly made up and my fair hair gently waved, the Iron Lady of
12573-632: The smaller parties – specifically the National Front [NF] , which suffered a clear decline from last year." Her standing in the polls had risen by 11% after a 1978 interview for World in Action in which she said "the British character has done so much for democracy, for law and done so much throughout the world that if there is any fear that it might be swamped people are going to react and be rather hostile to those coming in", as well as "in many ways [minorities] add to
12700-411: The supervision of Hans Jellinek, who headed the company's physical chemistry section. Jellinek assigned her to research the saponification of α-monostearin ( glycerol monostearate ), which has properties as an emulsifier, stabiliser and food preservative. Agar has noted the research may have been connected with the emulsification of ice cream, but only as a possibility. In September 1951, their research
12827-417: The total of Vietnamese boat people allowed to settle in the UK to fewer than 10,000 over two years. As prime minister, Thatcher met weekly with Queen Elizabeth II to discuss government business, and their relationship came under scrutiny. Campbell (2011a , p. 464) states: One question that continued to fascinate the public about the phenomenon of a woman Prime Minister was how she got on with
12954-500: The truthfulness of a Labour party election broadcast concerning National Health Service (NHS) waiting lists. Labour seemingly recovered from the NHS controversy, and opinion polls on 1 April (dubbed "Red Wednesday") showed a clear Labour lead. But the lead fell considerably in the following day's polls. Observers blamed the decline on the Labour Party's triumphalist " Sheffield Rally ", an enthusiastic American-style political convention at
13081-521: The twins were [...] only two, I really felt that it was too soon. I couldn't do that." Afterwards, Thatcher began looking for a Conservative safe seat and was selected as the candidate for Finchley in April 1958 (narrowly beating Ian Montagu Fraser ). She was elected as MP for the seat after a hard campaign in the 1959 election . Benefiting from her fortunate result in a lottery for backbenchers to propose new legislation, Thatcher's maiden speech was, unusually, in support of her private member's bill ,
13208-482: The youngest and the only female candidate; in 1950, she was the youngest Conservative candidate in the country. She lost on both occasions to Norman Dodds but reduced the Labour majority by 6,000 and then a further 1,000. During the campaigns, she was supported by her parents and by her future husband Denis Thatcher, whom she married in December 1951. Denis funded his wife's studies for the bar ; she qualified as
13335-467: Was accepted for a scholarship to study chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford , a women's college, starting in 1944. After another candidate withdrew, Roberts entered Oxford in October 1943. Following her arrival at Oxford, Roberts began studies under X-ray crystallographer Dorothy Hodgkin , the tutor in chemistry for Somerville College since 1934. Hodgkin considered Roberts a "good" student, and later recalled: "One could always rely on her producing
13462-546: Was already contemplating an entry into law and politics. Her enthusiasm for politics as a girl made Bray think of her as "unusual" and her parents as "slightly austere" and "very proper". Roberts became President of the Oxford University Conservative Association in 1946. She was influenced at university by political works such as Friedrich Hayek 's The Road to Serfdom (1944), which condemned economic intervention by government as
13589-499: Was an alderman and a Methodist local preacher . He brought up his daughter as a strict Wesleyan Methodist , attending the Finkin Street Methodist Church , but Margaret was more sceptical; the future scientist told a friend that she could not believe in angels , having calculated that they needed a breastbone 6 feet (1.8 m) long to support wings. Alfred came from a Liberal family but stood (as
13716-562: Was appointed to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Education and Science . Thatcher caused controversy when, after only a few days in office, she withdrew Labour's Circular 10/65 , which attempted to force comprehensivisation , without going through a consultation process. She was highly criticised for the speed at which she carried this out. Consequently, she drafted her own new policy ( Circular 10/70 ), which ensured that local authorities were not forced to go comprehensive. Her new policy
13843-425: Was based on the rates register for "owned" houses, contained many irregularities from supplementary data sources such as housing benefit recipients. A significant collection issue was the 20 per cent /100 per cent split. People in employment had to pay 100 per cent, while students and the registered unemployed paid 20 per cent. The nature of the shared house market meant that not even the landlord knew exactly who
13970-579: Was born in County Kerry , Ireland . Roberts spent her childhood in Grantham, where her father owned a tobacconist 's and a grocery shop. In 1938, before the Second World War , the Roberts family briefly gave sanctuary to a teenage Jewish girl who had escaped Nazi Germany . With her pen-friending elder sister Muriel, Margaret saved pocket money to help pay for the teenager's journey. Alfred
14097-534: Was committed to a tiered secondary modern -grammar school system of education and attempted to preserve grammar schools, during her tenure as education secretary, she turned down only 326 of 3,612 proposals (roughly 9 per cent) for schools to become comprehensives; the proportion of pupils attending comprehensive schools consequently rose from 32 per cent to 62 per cent. Nevertheless, she managed to save 94 grammar schools. During her first months in office, she attracted public attention due to
14224-651: Was implemented first, the APTUs called for mass non-payment. As the tax neared its implementation in England, protests against it began to increase. That culminated in a number of poll tax riots . The most serious of those was on 31 March 1990 – a week before the implementation of the tax – when between 70,000 and 200,000 people demonstrated against the tax. The demonstration around Trafalgar Square left 113 people injured and 340 under arrest, with over 100 police officers needing treatment for injuries. There were further conflicts and protests, but none on
14351-472: Was influenced by the ideas of Ralph Harris and Arthur Seldon and became the face of the ideological movement opposing the British welfare state . Keynesian economics , they believed, was weakening Britain. The institute's pamphlets proposed less government, lower taxes, and more freedom for business and consumers. Thatcher intended to promote neoliberal economic ideas at home and abroad. Despite setting
14478-430: Was living there; tenants were replaced and may have shared a "single" room with their partner. Therefore, the local council did not know who was living where and when. Councils were burdened with the task of pursuing the large numbers of defaulters, many of whom were participating in organised resistance to the charge. There is also some evidence that the poll tax had a lasting effect of people not registering themselves on
14605-469: Was more pessimistic, stating as late as 1970: "There will not be a woman prime minister in my lifetime – the male population is too prejudiced." In October 1961 she was promoted to the frontbench as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry for Pensions by Harold Macmillan . Thatcher was the youngest woman in history to receive such a post, and among the first MPs elected in 1959 to be promoted. After
14732-632: Was not meant to stop the development of new comprehensives; she said: "We shall [...] expect plans to be based on educational considerations rather than on the comprehensive principle." Thatcher supported Lord Rothschild 's 1971 proposal for market forces to affect government funding of research. Although many scientists opposed the proposal, her research background probably made her sceptical of their claim that outsiders should not interfere with funding. The department evaluated proposals for more local education authorities to close grammar schools and to adopt comprehensive secondary education . Although Thatcher
14859-611: Was one of the few Conservative MPs to support Leo Abse 's bill to decriminalise male homosexuality. She voted in favour of David Steel 's bill to legalise abortion, as well as a ban on hare coursing . She supported the retention of capital punishment and voted against the relaxation of divorce laws. In 1967, the United States Embassy chose Thatcher to take part in the International Visitor Leadership Program (then called
14986-568: Was published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture , a recently launched publication of the Society of Chemical Industry , as "The saponification of α-monostearin in a monolayer". This would be Roberts's sole scientific publication. In 1979, following his former assistant's election as prime minister, Jellinek, by then a professor of physical chemistry at Clarkson University in
15113-470: Was reduced progressively during the course of Major's term in office due to defections of MPs to other parties, by-election defeats, and for a time in 1994–95 the suspension of the Conservative whip for some MPs who voted against the government on its European policy—by 1996, the Conservative majority had been reduced to just 1 seat, and they were in a minority going into 1997 until the 1997 general election . The Conservatives in 1992 received 14,093,007 votes,
15240-550: Was released on 15 April 1990. Over 40 people collaborated on Punk Aide's 1989 compilations Axe The Tax, Can't Pay Won't Pay and Fuck The Poll Tax . Oi Polloi and Chumbawamba released and toured an EP called Smash the Poll Tax . A compilation album, A Pox Upon The Poll Tax , was also released in 1989. The Orchids released "Defy The Law" in response to the Poll Tax. On their 22 March 1990 Top Of The Pops appearance, Orbital performed " Chime " while wearing hoodies with
15367-525: Was simply carrying on with what the Labour government had started since they had stopped giving free milk to secondary schools. Milk would still be provided to those children that required it on medical grounds, and schools could still sell milk. The aftermath of the milk row hardened her determination; she told the editor-proprietor Harold Creighton of The Spectator : "Don't underestimate me, I saw how they broke Keith [Joseph] , but they won't break me." Cabinet papers later revealed that she opposed
15494-413: Was still Prime Minister. Kinnock had vowed to abolish the poll tax if he won the next general election. For this, among other reasons, Thatcher was challenged by Michael Heseltine for the Conservative leadership in November 1990. Although she prevailed by a margin of fifty votes, she narrowly missed the threshold to avoid a second vote, and on 22 November 1990 she announced her resignation after more than
15621-684: Was succeeded by John Major , her chancellor of the Exchequer . After retiring from the Commons in 1992, she was given a life peerage as Baroness Thatcher (of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire ) which entitled her to sit in the House of Lords . In 2013, she died of a stroke at the Ritz Hotel, London , at the age of 87. A polarising figure in British politics, Thatcher is nonetheless viewed favourably in historical rankings and public opinion of British prime ministers. Her tenure constituted
15748-591: Was supposed to have regular revaluations to minimise discrepancies, the revaluations in England and Wales had been cancelled in 1978 and 1983. The Scottish revaluation of 1985/1986 led to a great deal of criticism and gave added urgency to rates reform or replacement. The green paper of 1986, Paying for Local Government , produced by the Department of the Environment from consultations between Lord Rothschild , William Waldegrave and Kenneth Baker , proposed
15875-412: Was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the first woman to hold the position. As prime minister, she implemented economic policies known as Thatcherism . A Soviet journalist dubbed her the " Iron Lady ", a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style . Thatcher studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford , and worked briefly as
16002-469: Was then customary in local government) as an Independent . He served as Mayor of Grantham from 1945 to 1946 and lost his position as alderman in 1952 after the Labour Party won its first majority on Grantham Council in 1950. Roberts attended Huntingtower Road Primary School and won a scholarship to Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School , a grammar school. Her school reports showed hard work and continual improvement; her extracurricular activities included
16129-553: Was widely expected, the day after Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont had delivered the Budget . The Conservatives maintained strong support in many newspapers, especially The Sun , which ran a series of anti-Labour articles that culminated on election day with a front-page headline which urged "the last person to leave Britain" to "turn out the lights" if Labour won the election. The 50th Parliament of
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