Margaret Thatcher: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only one thing to say: You turn if you want to. [[Iron Lady|The lady's not for turning]]."''|'''Margaret Thatcher'''}}
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{{quote|''"She has the mouth of [[Marilyn Monroe]] and the eyes of [[Emperor Caligula|Caligula]]."''|'''François Mitterand''', then-President of France}}
British Prime Minister (and the
When she entered Number 10 it was with a mandate to reverse the UK's economic decline. She did this by reducing government spending, encouraging entrepreneurs, moving towards a more free market and selling off a lot of government-owned industries and enterprises, although all these measures pale in comparison to the biggest change of all: the central bank's very conservative monetary policy, which raised interest rates to extremely high levels. This single measure is the most responsible for both the low inflation and the large unemployment of the 1980s.
On the other hand, her economic policies came under fire - and not just from her opponents. Her policies had the initial effect of exacerbating the early 1980s recession. Unemployment rose to its highest level since the Great Depression. Three hundred and sixty-four leading economists released a statement in 1981, criticising her handling of the economy. Even when the economy began to recover, unemployment still hovered around the three million mark and the British heavy industrial sector took a major hit, with manufacturing output declining by 30% since 1978. If it was not for the outbreak of [[The Falklands War]], Thatcher probably wouldn't have been re-elected. It's worth noting, however, that the vast majority of these issues were inevitable, and the previous administrations had simply been delaying them (and thereby making them worse). Thatcher essentially was willing to risk taking the blame for putting the country in recession, as opposed to letting someone further down the line take the blame for complete economic ruin.
She ordered the (re)taking of [[British Frozen Rocks with Penguins and Landmines|The Falkland Islands]] from Argentina, weakened the power of British trade unions, survived an assassination attempt by the IRA (she'd left the room shortly before the bomb went off), forced the EU to give the UK a rebate due to the vast amounts of subsidies other nations got and was an ardent opponent of communism and the Soviet Union. Her 11 year term was the longest in over 150 years, but towards the end, her popularity began to plummet.
She was eventually forced to resign over her support of the unpopular "Poll Tax", which was intended to be levied on every adult in the country, (mostly) regardless of income. It was introduced in [[Scotland]] first,<ref>The tax replaced the property-based "Rates", which at the time were significantly higher in Scotland than the rest of the kingdom.</ref>) leading to accusations of hating the Scots, whose large industrial areas had already taken a hit. Over thirty years later, many people still refuse to vote Tory based on her [[Flame Bait|policies]], especially in Scotland.
She was notorious for claiming she was a follower of [[Political Ideologies|classically liberal]] economist Frederich von Hayek. However, unlike Hayek, she opposed the legalization of illicit drugs and denationalization of the money supply.
As you can imagine, she
Thatcher's nickname of "the [[Iron Lady]]" originated from the Soviet military newspaper ''Red Star'', bestowed on her for an anti-communist speech in 1976 and [[Appropriated Appellation|not intended as a compliment]].
Whatever you think of her, no one can deny that she was a strong leader, able to steer a cabinet of men - [[Political Stereotype#United Kingdom|Tory]] men at that - for 11 years. And, of course, she was not only the first
It is worth noting that, despite much of the country despising her, she
Also, she was a dear friend of [[Not Evil, Just Misunderstood|former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet]]. And then he died.
The subject of [[Margaret Thatcher/Margaret Thatcher in Fiction|Margaret Thatcher in Fiction]] is large enough to get a page to itself.
{{tropenamer}}
* [[Iron Lady]] (Technically, an [[Appropriated Appellation]] from the Soviet press, but...)
{{creatortropes}}
* [[Appropriated Appellation]]: The Iron Lady.
** The "Lady" part even became an official title when she was given a peership in 1992.
* [[Awesome Ego]]
* [[A God Am I]]: Even her supporters agree that the Iron Lady was a bit too power-hungry towards the end of her reign.
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**** To be fair, this may be a [[Seinfeld Is Unfunny]] situation.
** When Germany won the football world championship in 1990, she allegedly remarked "They might have beaten us at our national sport, but we managed to beat them at their national sport ''twice'' in the 20th century."
*** This may be related (one way or the other) to the tongue-in-cheek anti-German chant "Two world wars and one world Cup!", which was heard a few times in '90s UK.
* [[God Save Us From the Queen]]: How her detractors perceive her.
* [[Hilarious in Hindsight]] / [[It Will Never Catch On]]: Famously stated in an interview that she felt sure there would ''not'' be a female Prime Minister in her lifetime.
* [[Pet the Dog]]: She is reported to have fed and/or homed at least two stray cats in her time. Humphrey, one of the more famous "Chief Mousers" to live at Number 10, began his tenure while she was in office.
* [[Power Hair]]: There was a [[Running Gag]] that the swept-back flame that used to be part of the Conservative Party's logo was modelled after her hair.
* [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]]: Margaret Thatcher led the Tory party to three consecutive election landslide victories, all but destroyed the labour movement and the Labour Party, and dragged British politics permanently to the right. But once she became an electoral liability, the Tories themselves were the ones who defenestrated her.
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[[Category:The Men of Downing Street]]
[[Category:Margaret Thatcher]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:Historical Domain Character]]
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