99-418: " Iron Lady " is a nickname of Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013), the first female prime minister of the United Kingdom. Iron Lady may also refer to: 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
198-547: 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
297-533: 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,
396-487: 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
495-474: 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
594-542: 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
693-571: 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
792-480: 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
891-477: 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
990-476: 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
1089-810: 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
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#17327826752341188-589: 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
1287-511: 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
1386-429: 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
1485-701: Is also scrutinised by the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson and the Treasury Select Committee . The current chancellor is Rachel Reeves . The holder of the office of chancellor of the exchequer is ex officio second lord of the Treasury as a member of the commission exercising the ancient office of treasurer of the exchequer . As second lord, her official residence is 11 Downing Street in London, next door to
1584-537: 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
1683-490: Is the chief secretary to the Treasury , a member of the Cabinet, to whom the negotiations with other government departments on the details of government spending are delegated, followed by the paymaster general , the financial secretary to the Treasury and the economic secretary to the Treasury . Whilst not continuously in use, there can also be appointed a commercial secretary to the Treasury and an exchequer secretary to
1782-418: Is the Treasury that sets Departmental Expenditure Limits. The amount of power this gives to an individual chancellor depends on their personal forcefulness, their status within their party and their relationship with the prime minister. Gordon Brown , who became chancellor when Labour came into Government in 1997, had a large personal power base in the party. Perhaps as a result, Tony Blair chose to keep him in
1881-448: Is traditionally made available to the chancellor, though it is the prime minister who ultimately decides who may use it. Gordon Brown , on becoming chancellor in 1997, refused to use it and the house, which is set in 215 acres (87 ha) of parkland, was allocated to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott . In 2007, it reverted to the then-chancellor, Alistair Darling . The chancellor traditionally carries his or her budget speech to
1980-537: 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
2079-552: 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
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#17327826752342178-612: 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
2277-607: The British Cabinet . Responsible for all economic and financial matters, the role is equivalent to that of a finance minister in other countries. The chancellor is now always second lord of the Treasury as one of at least six lords commissioners of the Treasury , responsible for executing the office of the Treasurer of the Exchequer – the others are the prime minister and Commons government whips. In
2376-663: 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
2475-746: The Privy Council , and thus is styled the Right Honourable (Rt. Hon.). Because the House of Lords is excluded from financial matters by tradition confirmed by the Parliament Acts , the office is effectively limited to members of the House of Commons; apart from the occasions when the lord chief justice of the King's Bench has acted as interim Chancellor. The last peer to hold the office
2574-500: 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
2673-528: 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
2772-642: The "U" turn, I have only one thing to say. "You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning ." Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer , often abbreviated to chancellor , is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom , and head of Treasury . As one of the four Great Offices of State , the chancellor is a high-ranking member of
2871-507: The 18th and early 19th centuries, it was common for the prime minister also to serve as Chancellor of the Exchequer if he sat in the Commons; the last Chancellor who was simultaneously prime minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer was Stanley Baldwin in 1923. Formerly, in cases when the chancellorship was vacant, the lord chief justice of the King's Bench would act as chancellor pro tempore . The last lord chief justice to serve in this way
2970-504: 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
3069-420: 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
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3168-604: 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
3267-720: The 1990s) have also worn it when attending the Trial of the Pyx as Master of the Mint. According to George Osborne, the robe (dating from Gladstone's time in office, and worn by the likes of Lloyd George and Churchill ) 'went missing' during Gordon Brown's time as chancellor. Although the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland had been united by the Acts of Union 1800 , the Exchequers of
3366-508: The Budget was in spring, preceded by an annual autumn statement. This was then called Pre-Budget Report . The Autumn Statement usually took place in November or December. The 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007 , 2008 , 2012 and 2016 budgets were all delivered on a Wednesday, summarised in a speech to the House of Commons . The budget is a state secret until the chancellor reveals it in
3465-491: 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,
3564-529: 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
3663-657: 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
3762-437: The House of Commons in a particular red despatch box . The so-called ‘Budget Box’ is identical to the cases used by all other government ministers (known as ministerial boxes or "despatch boxes") to transport their official papers, but is better known because the chancellor traditionally displays the box, containing the budget speech, to the press before leaving 11 Downing Street for the House of Commons. The original budget box
3861-477: 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 ,
3960-565: 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
4059-407: 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
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4158-551: The Royal cypher and crest and the chancellor's title. In his first Budget , in March 2008, Alistair Darling reverted to using the original budget box and his successor, George Osborne, continued this tradition for his first budget, before announcing that it would be retired due to its fragile condition. The key to the original budget box has been lost. By tradition, the chancellor has been allowed to drink whatever they wish while making
4257-539: The Spanish Ambassador, Bernardino de Mendoza , with a specially constructed red briefcase filled with black puddings . In July 1997, Gordon Brown became the second chancellor to use a new box for the Budget. Made by industrial trainees at Babcock Rosyth Defence Ltd ship and submarine dockyard in Fife, the new box is made of yellow pine, with a brass handle and lock, covered in scarlet leather and embossed with
4356-534: The Treasury . Two other officials are given the title of a secretary to the Treasury , although neither is a government minister in the Treasury: the parliamentary secretary to the Treasury is the Government Chief Whip in the House of Commons ; the permanent secretary to the Treasury is not a minister but the senior civil servant in the Treasury. The chancellor is obliged to be a member of
4455-512: The United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She 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
4554-453: 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
4653-521: 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
4752-431: 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
4851-686: 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
4950-554: The annual budget speech to Parliament. This includes alcohol, which is otherwise banned under parliamentary rules. Previous chancellors have opted for whisky ( Kenneth Clarke ), gin and tonic ( Geoffrey Howe ), brandy and water ( Benjamin Disraeli and John Major ), spritzer ( Nigel Lawson ) and sherry and beaten egg ( William Gladstone ). The chancellors after Clarke, Philip Hammond , George Osborne , Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown , opted for water. In fact Darling drank what
5049-481: The appointment of the two remaining MPC members from within the Bank. The Act also provides that the Government has the power to give instructions to the Bank on interest rates for a limited period in extreme circumstances. This power has never been officially used. At HM Treasury the chancellor is supported by a political team of four junior ministers and by permanent civil servants . The most important junior minister
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#17327826752345148-596: 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
5247-636: 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
5346-478: 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
5445-635: 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
5544-408: The exchequer, except at times the lord chief justice as interim holders, have been members of the House of Commons , with Lord Stanhope being the last chancellor from the House of Lords . The office holder works alongside the other Treasury ministers and the permanent secretary to the Treasury . The corresponding shadow minister is the shadow chancellor of the Exchequer , and the chancellor
5643-483: The framing of the annual year budget . As of 2017, the first is the Autumn Budget , also known as Budget Day which forecasts government spending in the next financial year and also announces new financial measures. The second is a Spring Statement , also known as a "mini-Budget". Britain's tax year has retained the old Julian end of year: 24 March (Old Style) / 5 April (New Style, i.e. Gregorian). From 1993,
5742-459: 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
5841-428: 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
5940-451: The inflation target which the Bank must set interest rates to meet. Under the Bank of England Act 1998 the chancellor has the power of appointment of four out of nine members of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee – the so-called 'external' members. They also have a high level of influence over the appointment of the Bank's Governor and Deputy Governors, and has the right of consultation over
6039-497: The office of second lord of the Treasury when that person has not also been the prime minister. A previous chancellor, Robert Lowe , described the office in the following terms in the House of Commons, on 11 April 1870: "The Chancellor of the Exchequer is a man whose duties make him more or less of a taxing machine. He is entrusted with a certain amount of misery which it is his duty to distribute as fairly as he can." The chancellor has considerable control over other departments as it
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#17327826752346138-476: 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
6237-495: 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
6336-569: 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
6435-456: 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
6534-466: 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
6633-584: 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
6732-490: 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
6831-408: The residence of the first lord of the Treasury (a title that has for many years been held by the prime minister ), who resides in 10 Downing Street . While in the past both houses were private residences, today they serve as interlinked offices, with the occupant living in an apartment made from attic rooms previously resided in by servants. Since 1827, the chancellor has always simultaneously held
6930-428: The results of the exchequer's audit date from 1129 to 1130 under King Henry I and show continuity from previous years. The chancellor has oversight of fiscal policy , therefore of taxation and public spending across government departments . It previously controlled monetary policy as well until 1997, when the Bank of England was granted independent control of its interest rates. Since 1718, all chancellors of
7029-417: 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
7128-492: The same position throughout his ten years as prime minister; making Brown an unusually dominant figure and the longest-serving chancellor since the Reform Act of 1832. This has strengthened a pre-existing trend towards the chancellor occupying a clear second position among government ministers, elevated above their traditional peers, the foreign secretary and home secretary . One part of the chancellor's key roles involves
7227-526: 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
7326-632: 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
7425-404: The speech given to Parliament. Hugh Dalton , on his way to giving the budget speech in 1947, inadvertently blurted out key details to a newspaper reporter, and they appeared in print before he made his speech. Dalton was forced to resign. Although the Bank of England is responsible for setting interest rates, the chancellor also plays an important part in the monetary policy structure. They set
7524-411: 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
7623-453: The then first and second Lords, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown respectively, swapped apartments, as the chancellor's larger apartment in No. 11 better accommodated Blair's substantial family (besides himself and his wife, he had three children under 18 upon taking office, and a fourth was born in 2000); meanwhile, Brown was then unmarried and had no children. Dorneywood is the summer residence that
7722-417: 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
7821-573: 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 ,
7920-532: The two Kingdoms were not consolidated until 1817 under the Consolidated Fund Act 1816 ( 56 Geo. 3 . c. 98). For the holders of the Irish office before this date, see Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland . Chancellorship Chancellorship Chancellorship Chancellorship Chancellorship Chancellorship Prime Minister Keir Starmer Chancellor of
8019-426: 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
8118-453: Was Henry Booth, 2nd Baron Delamer (created Earl of Warrington shortly after leaving office) from 9 April 1689 to 18 March 1690. The chancellor holds the formerly independent office of Master of the Mint as a subsidiary office. The chancellor of the Exchequer has no official London residence as such but since 1828 in their role as Second Lord of the Treasury they live in the second lord's official residence, No. 11 Downing Street . In 1997,
8217-519: Was Lord Denman in 1834. The chancellor is the third-oldest major state office in English and British history, and in recent times has come to be the most powerful office in British politics after the prime minister. It originally carried responsibility for the Exchequer , the medieval English institution for the collection and auditing of royal revenues. The earliest surviving records which are
8316-467: 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
8415-546: 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
8514-499: 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
8613-562: 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
8712-579: 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
8811-534: 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
8910-410: Was first used by William Ewart Gladstone in 1853 and continued in use until 1965 when James Callaghan was the first chancellor to break with tradition when he used a newer box. Prior to Gladstone, a generic red despatch box of varying design and specification was used. The practice is said to have begun in the late 16th century, when Queen Elizabeth I 's representative Francis Throckmorton presented
9009-472: 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
9108-469: 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
9207-526: Was named "Standard Water" in reference to, and support of, the London Evening Standard newspaper's campaign to have plain tap water available in restaurants at no charge to customers. The chancellor, as Master of the Mint , has a robe of office, similar to that of the lord chancellor (as seen in several of the portraits depicted below). In recent times, it has only regularly been worn at coronations , but some chancellors (at least until
9306-632: 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
9405-611: 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
9504-568: 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
9603-525: 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
9702-684: 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
9801-529: 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
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