The life and rise to power of Margaret Thatcher is a great example of how hard word and commitment are as instrumental to leadership as any other factor.Margaret Hilda Roberts was born in 1925 and spent her childhood in the market town of Grantham in Lincolnshire, England. Not a very brilliant student her early school days were marked by hard work. She got a scholarship merely by chance when the winning candidate dropped out for the scholarship for Somerville College as she was in second place. She went to Oxford in 1943 to study in Natural Sciences with a specialization in Chemistry. Thatcher graduated with a second class Bachelor of Arts degree and later studied crystallography to get a postgraduate Bachelor of Science degree in 1947.
Emulating her father who was an independent municipal councilor (Alderman) she was active in student politics and became president of Oxford University Conservative Association. She moved to Colchester in Essex to work as a research chemist where she joined the local Conservative Association and was also a member of the Association of Scientific Workers. After selection as a conservative candidate she moved to Dartford in Kent to stand for election as a Member of Parliament. She had to work to support her during this period and worked with a company for 500 pounds a year.
She lost the 1950 and 1951 election from Dartford and despite being a first time candidate she was the center of media attention due to her being the youngest ever female Conservative candidate. In 1951 she married Denis Thatcher, a wealthy divorced businessman, who funded her studies for the Bar. She became a barrister in 1953 and specialized in taxation.
Between 1950 and 1958 she was rejected several times in her pursuit of a safe Conservative seat, which she eventually gained for Finchley in April 1958. After a hard campaign she was able to win the seat and became a Member of Parliament. It was now time for Margaret Thatcher to show her talent and be assertive. She put up a Private Member’s Bill requiring local council meeting to be held in public and her first speech in its support was instrumental in getting it passed by the Parliament. By 1961 it became clear that she had the capacity to stand by her convictions when she voted against the Conservative party’s official stand and voted for restoration of birching.
When the Conservative party came in power in 1970, she was invited to take over the Ministry of Education in Edward Heath’s cabinet, where she instituted certain measures that brought her bouquets as well as brickbats, mostly because she had to toe the party’s official stands. At the same time she was vociferous and made sure that her protests were put on record.
In 1974 the Conservatives were defeated. After her party lost the second elections of 1974, she resolved to take charge of the party. She defeated both Heath and his preferred successor Whitelaw and became the leader of the opposition and Conservative Party leader. She had little power base within the party and to improve it she appointed Whitelaw has her deputy and included many of Heath’s supporters in her Shadow Cabinet.
Her scathing attack on Russia earned her the nickname of Iron Lady, which was soon translated as a reflection of her unwavering and steadfast character. By 1976, the Labour Party ran into trouble with industrial disputes and rising unemployment. She quickly grabbed this opportunity and her speech mentioning “people with a different culture” taking over the country, which gave satisfaction to xenophobic and reactionary public sentiment. This translated into increase in the popularity ratings and in 1979 the Labour government was defeated on the floor of the house.
Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister of England after her party won the 1979 election. She remained Prime Minister for eleven years, during which she initiated new economic policies, successfully managed the Irish crisis, recaptured the Falkland Islands from Argentina and reduced the power of trade unions. Thatcherism came to be associated with the reduced role of the state in economy. Her foreign policy initiatives brought her closer to the policies of US President Ronald Reagan and were instrumental in producing a transatlantic association. When Iraq invaded Kuwait, she was in the US and told President Bush in unequivocal terms that an aggressor should not benefit from his aggression and must be thrown out.
She also escaped an assassination attempt by the IRA when bombed her hotel where she was staying to attend the Conservative Party Conference. She refused to be cowed down by the act and insisted that the conference be held on schedule and at the same venue. Her scathing attack on terrorists brought her accolades from all over the world. Her combative personality and overriding opinions of colleagues gave rise to discontent against her within the party and she resigned in 1990.
Margaret Thatcher was Britain’s first woman Prime Minister and served three consecutive terms. She is one of the most dominant and popular women leaders of the 20th century. Her life and political career is a study in how leadership qualities of sheer hard work and perseverance can be directed to achieve objectives.
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