The Thatcher Era (1979–1990)
Margaret Thatcher's election as Prime Minister on 4 May 1979 — the first woman to hold the office in British history — began an eleven-year period that transformed British political economy and influenced conservative politics globally. Thatcher came to power with a specific ideological programme drawing on the economic thought of Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman: the problem with Britain was not insufficient government but excessive government — an overextended welfare state, nationalised industries producing at uneconomic costs, trade union power suppressing labour market flexibility, and high taxation suppressing enterprise. Thatcher's economic programme had several phases. In 1979–82, despite high unemployment (rising to 3 million) and a deep recession, she maintained high interest rates and refused the 'U-turn' her predecessors had made under similar circumstances ('The lady's not for turning'). Privatisation began cautiously with British Telecom (1984) and accelerated: British Gas (1986), British Airways (1987), British Steel (1988), water (1989), electricity (1990). These were among the first major privatisations of public utilities in a Western democracy and became a template globally. The Falklands War (April–June 1982) transformed Thatcher's political standing. Argentina's occupation of the Falkland Islands was met with a British naval task force sent 8,000 miles; the islands were recaptured in ten weeks. The military success — and Thatcher's decisive leadership — produced a surge in approval and contributed to the 1983 election landslide. The miners' strike (March 1984 – March 1985) was the decisive confrontation with the trade union movement. Thatcher had prepared for it (stockpiling coal) and used police tactics on a national scale to prevent picketing from closing non-striking pits. The National Union of Mineworkers, led by Arthur Scargill, was defeated after a year; the strike was the end of the post-war union power that had regularly brought down governments. Thatcher's foreign policy was defined by her relationship with Ronald Reagan — the 'special relationship' operated at a personal as well as strategic level — and her opposition to German reunification (which she feared would destabilise Europe) and to European integration (culminating in her Bruges speech opposing a European superstate in 1988 and eventually contributing to her removal by her own party in November 1990 over the European question).
- Year: 1979 CE
- Category: Political
