Margaret Thatcher

Résumé du document

In politics, if you want something said, ask a man ; if you want something done, ask a woman, Margaret Thatcher declared in a public interview, after being voted as the head of the Conservative Party in 1975. Well-known as the 'Iron Lady', she was to dominate her time in an imposing way, becoming the Britain's longest-ever-serving Prime Minister with an eleven-and-a-half-year term, apart from Lord Liverpool who served a fifteen-year term (between 1812 and 1827). Back in 1975, Margaret Thatcher became the leader of the Conservative party and four years later, she won the general elections ; she took office in 10 Downing Street after Her Majesty, the Queen appointed her Prime Minister. How did she manage to build up such a political and economic success ? Was it a social one ? We shall first come back on her early life and education ; we shall then know her works as Prime Minister. If her political and economic success is undeniable, we'll have to weigh the pros and the cons of its consequences on the British society and economy.

Extraits

[...] It is patently obvious that Maggie took advantages of this favourable atmosphere. And as her father was interested in local-politics, she was to become a nation-wide politician She decided to involve herself in politics and began to look for a safe Conservative seat. Nevertheless, she had several rejections before taking her seat in the House of Commons as an MP: she might have easily given up after these political defeats but God knows how determined she was. She may be remembered most of all for declaring: may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”. [...]

[...] That is why she was determined to give the British political life and British society a good shake. She clearly wanted to turn things round. In fact, the welfare-state had been launched and 1 established by labour governments in the wake of World War II: this was a system according to which people would be cared for by the state from cradle to grave. In this type of system, the working population has to ‘pay' for the non-working population, the ‘healthy' people have to pay for the people in poor health This type of social system in which people expected the state to give them everything and which was based on state-aids was surely not a type of society she agreed on. [...]

[...] This ever-widening career shows that, to a certain extent, he eventually succeeded in working his way up. “Like father, like as the old adage says. Maggie was to be brought up in this highachieving spirit and the healthy community-atmosphere in which she lived surely helped her. She enjoyed living in this close-knit community, in which everyone would help one another and would know each other. The social fabric was all the more narrowing ; the society was no better than ‘drawing in'. [...]

[...] How did she manage to build up such political and economic success ? Was it a social one ? We shall first come back on her early life and education ; we shall then touch on her work as Prime Minister. If her political and economic success is undeniable, we'll have to weigh the pro's and the con's of its consequences on the British society and economy From “Maggie Thatcher, the milk snatcher” . Margaret Thatcher grew up and was brought up in what we use to call the lower-middle class. [...]

[...] She wanted to commit herself to upgrading the critical state of the economy. Her policy had a two-fold purpose: she first wanted to embark the country on a privatization campaign. The key-sectors which are the growth-making and social-employing one and which had been nationalized were to be privatized (like the BBC, electricity or gas). Nonetheless, she wished her policy would have an impact on the British: her great wish was to build a society of share-holders. Moreover, as we know the British for being much attached to their sweat she decided that all state-owned houses should be sold to families who occupied the house: the British were turned into share-holders and homeowners. [...]