Margaret Hilda Thatcher Essay Example For Students

Margaret Hilda Thatcher Essay Margaret Hilda Thatcher is the first woman to have held the office of prime minister in Great Britain. She was born Margaret Hilda Roberts in Grantham, Lincolnshire and educated at the University of Oxford, where she earned degrees in chemistry. After graduation she worked as a research chemist from 1947 to 1951. She married Denis Thatcher in 1951, and in 1953, having studied for the bar, she became a tax lawyer. Thatcher joined the Conservative party, and was elected to the House of Commons in 1959. She defeated Edward Heath for the minority leadership of the party in 1974, and then led the Conservative party to victory in 1979. Thatcher is the only British prime minister in the twentieth century to serve three consecutive terms. In 1990, controversy over Thatchers tax policy and her reluctance to commit Great Britain to full economic integration with Europe inspired a strong challenge to her leadership. Ms. Thatcher was ousted from leadership, and resigned in November 1990 and was succeeded as party leader and prime minister by her protà ©gà ©e, John Major: who, consequently, only served one short term. Margaret Hilda Roberts was born October 13, 1925 to Beatrice and Alfred Roberts in the flat above her parents small grocery store. Margarets father was the greatest influence in Margarets life, politically as well as religiously and socially. Alfred Roberts came to Grantham during the First World War where he met and married Beatrice Stevenson. The young couple worked hard and saved money with a passion. Before long Alfred opened his own grocery shop, and eventually he came to own two. (Mayer,1979) Alfred often discussed current events with his two daughters, and also his keenly-held political beliefs. Margarets father had a considerable effect on her political beliefs. Although he had once been a member of the Liberal party, he won a place on the local town council as an independent, which essentially meant conservative. He served in this position for twenty-five years, and later became the chair of its finance committee. In the 1940s, he was selected for the largely honorary but still prestigious post of Mayor of Grantham. (Mayer, 1979) When asked about the part her father had played in her life Margaret replied that of course, I just owe almost everything to my . . father, and the things which I learned in a small town, in a very modest home. . . . (Mayer, 1979) At the age of fifteen, Margaret had to start thinking seriously about what she wanted to do with her life. The British education system required young people at that age to choose between two totally separate curriculums which they would follow for the remainder of their secondary school career. One was an arts and humanities course, and the other was science. Margaret had little trouble making up her mind. Though she had always been interested in politics, the idea of a political career seemed out of the question. At the time Members of Parliament were paid only 600 Pounds a year and were given no allowances for secretarial or office expenses. That deliberately limited professional politics mainly to successful businessmen, lawyers, and the rich. At the same time, science seemed to be the coming thing; research was booming, and a science degree appeared to provide a passport to assured employment. Margaret chose science specifically, chemistry. At the age of seventeen, a year younger than most candidates, she took the examinations one had to pass to gain admittance to Oxfords Sommerville College. She did well and scored high marks in all categories, she tied for first in the competitive exam. This exam was given to candidates to decide which would win the one scholarship the college had to offer. But Somerville officials decided to give the scholarship to the other top-scoring candidate, an older girl who had been waiting a year longer than Margaret to get into Oxford. Margaret was to be admitted to Oxford, however she would not go there on scholarship. The Deadly Social Cloud (Satire) EssayMrs. Thatcher continued her law studies even after she became pregnant early in 1953, and was five months along when she took and passed her intermediate bar exam that spring. In August, she gave birth prematurely to twins, a boy and girl who were named Mark and Carol. The birth of her children changed Mrs. Thatchers life somewhat, but not nearly as much as it did many women of that time. She decided not to seek elective office again until the twins were old enough for school. But, with the help of a nanny, she continued to work, and just four months after they were born, she passed her final and was called to the bar. When her children were at the age to go to school Margaret Thatcher decided to return to politics. She decided to restrict her search for a constituency to the London area, the metropolis itself and the immediately surrounding counties. Her reasoning was simple: if she were to represent a constituency farther away, she would on occasion be forced to leave the twins overnight, and that she refused to do. (Mayer, 1979) The first seat for which she tried to gain the nomination was an infuriating experience for her. The committee made it clear that it considered her talented, bright, and able, but that it also felt she really should be at home with the children. The same thing happened when she applied at the next location. Then Mrs. Thatcher heard that a veteran Tory MP for the north London constituency of Finchley was retiring. She along with nearly two hundred other would-be MPs submitted her name to the selection committee. The committee then, after interviews, was able to narrow the mob of 200 applicants down to four finalists, Mrs.. Thatcher included. The finalists were to appear before the local partys divisional council, a group of fifty rank and filers who represented all the Tory party workers in the district. The day before the final interview, one of the four finalists dropped out, and only the three candidates remained, but as far as the group selection committee was concerned, there was no real choice. (Mayer, 1979) A council member John Tiplady recalls I know it may seem like hindsight, but when we interviewed the candidates, we asked ourselves, Is this a future Prime Minister? And Margaret clearly was and everyone thought so. (Mayer, 1979) Margaret was selected as the Tory candidate for the Finchley constituency, and was elected to the House of Commons as a Member of Parliament in October 1959. Mrs. Thatcher rose quickly through the ranks of Commons, and by 1967, with the Tories in the minority, she was selected as the shadow cabinets minister of power, eighteen months later, she got the transport portfolio, and a year after that she got education. (Mayer, 1979) According to Mrs. Thatchers biographer Allen Mayer, the reasons for her rapid rise are not immediately discernable. Tory journalist Ferdinand Mount has suggested that she might be regarded as the Evita of the Tory party. Mrs. Thatcher, he wrote recently moved up so quickly not despite but because of her sex. It was not so much her own brilliance as the chronic shortage of Conservative women MPs that insured her rapid promotion. (Mayer, 1979) But according to one of Mrs. Thatchers speaches given at the time to