Margaret thatcher why is she famous

And it has been said on numerous occasions that structural transformation in Africa needs strong, visionary and determined leadership — perhaps not too distant from a contemporary version of the one Thatcher provided to Britain more two decades ago.

Perhaps what the continent needs today is "Thatcherism" that is inclusive and shows the people of Africa its human face. In much of the west, the post-second world war economic boom began sputtering even in the s. The emergence of "stop and go" economics suggested that, sooner or later, choices would have to made, not just in Britain but around the world. The tragedy of the s and s was that many countries proved unwilling, or unable, to make the necessary choices. The precise shape of the trap differed from country to country.

Britain continued to strive for the impossible: to have, simultaneously, low unemployment, low inflation, a high and stable pound, and a positive balance of trade. The effort to "have it all" inevitably involved more and more state intervention in the economy, which many on the left prized as being somehow more fair than relying on the market. Not coincidentally, it also allowed them to pay off their political base.

The net result was to give greater power to the takers in the state and less to the makers in the private sector. There was never any reason to believe that governments — which are just small collections of individuals — would have the necessary wisdom to make better decisions than the market — a much larger collection of individuals.

But the greater fallacy was in using the state as a crutch to avoid prioritising some good things over others. In the end, as Thatcher pointed out, the problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money. There are numerous ways to ruin an economy, but the essence of any top-down system is that it promotes inflexibility, which is the antithesis of growth.

At its worst, this gives you the Soviet Union. At its best, in the west, this gives you a system steadily smothered by its own vested interests, a problem that was even worse in the developing world which too often lacked the legal protection of property rights that we take for granted.

Thatcher's achievement was to challenge this increasingly stagnant status quo by making decisions about what to prioritise, thus rejecting the belief in the state as the enabler of all good things. Predictably, it earned her the hatred of the left. As Thatcher liked to say, "There is no alternative. Since her death, many eulogies of Thatcher have spoken of her as a revolutionary. Well, once the panic is over, colleagues can get disgruntled if their opinions and ideas are being ignored.

While I may not entirely agree with Thatcher's autocratic leadership style I personally prefer partnerships and collaboration! Maggie's unwavering resolve in the face of trade union demands in the early s solidified her reputation as a fearless and determined leader. Or as she herself said in a famous Conservative Party Conference speech: "The lady is not for turning! When Thatcher took office in early , UK services had ground to a halt due to ongoing trade union strikes over pay.

Media outlets described the period as the Winter of Discontent because of the awful weather and growing socio-economic pressures from industrial action. Rather than bow to worker demands, Thatcher introduced legislation that reduced the power of unions.

The situation came to a head when she began closing down a number of unprofitable mines. The miners' strike of , headed by the National Union of Mineworkers NUM , was eventually broken through Thatcher's refusal to give in to demands and clever stockpiling of coal prior to the dispute.

The result has had a lasting effect on the influence of unions in the country that is still felt today. Despite her reputation, it's perhaps unfair to say Thatcher was completely autocratic. Privatisation was coupled with deregulation of key industries leading to greater competition within industries which were formerly monopolies. Privatisation and greater competition led to lower prices for telecoms, airlines, electricity etc. There was also huge improvement in efficiency and quality of service.

In the s, days lost to trade union strikes were at all-time highs. The number of stoppages across the UK peaked at 4, in leading to the loss of 29 million working days.

Margaret Thatcher was committed to reducing the power of the trade unions. She introduced a number of legislation to accomplish this including making secondary industrial action illegal ; forcing union leadership to first win a ballot of the union membership before calling a strike ; and abolishing the closed shop , which is a workplace where all employees must belong to an agreed trade union. The strike was ruled illegal in September and called off on 3 rd March It is regarded as a defining moment in British industrial relations and a major victory for Thatcher.

Stoppages due to strikes fell steadily throughout the rest of her premiership. In , there were only with fewer than 2 million working days being lost. Thatcher thus ended militant trade unionism in U. When Thatcher took office, it was at In economics, Monetarism is the practice of controlling the amount of money in circulation as the chief method of stabilizing the economy. Thatcher followed the policy of Monetarism to control the money supply in order to control inflation.

She increased interest rates and indirect taxes to slow the growth of the money supply, thereby lowering inflation. However, at the end of her premiership, it was 9. She divided the country deeply — and still does. She made some serious mistakes — the poll tax, opposition to German unification, insisting that Nelson Mandela was a terrorist — but few doubt she altered her country permanently, re-establishing the core basics of a free society and a free economy that Britain had intellectually bequeathed to the world and yet somehow lost in its own class-ridden, envy-choked socialist detour to immiseration.

For a more 'thorough' review you can read a detailed analysis from the Centre for Business Research on the History of British Industrial Performance from , or The impact of Government policies on UK manufacturing since She did. This Guardian article and the linked Google Spreadsheet has a number for excellent interactive charts where you can plot various economic indicators over the course of the Thatcher Government and beyond.

More important than simply being in office during the time of such rates were the consequences and the measures taken to control them. This Parliamentary Briefing Paper shows one of the biggest - repossessions. Ordinary home owners, many of whom had bought their homes as a direct result of the Right to Buy scheme, found themselves losing their homes due to spiraling mortgage payments.

However, it must be said that the bulk of repossessions happened directly after Thatcher left office , though no doubt many rightly attribute their defaults to the period of high interest rates that preceded her departure. Though the control of inflation was ultimately achieved, this further damage to ordinary people, millions of whom had already lost their jobs thanks to the impact on manufacturing, lead to a deep rooted personal hatred of Thatcher and Thatcherism.

She did, but the Bill passed anyway. As ever, things are more complicated. Thatcher, the new Secretary of State for Education at the time, was ordered to make cuts in four areas:.

Concerned over the effect of the cuts to milk, she said :. She proposed a compromise, that would later be accepted , to remove milk provision for those aged 7 to 11 but retain it for primary school pupils for nutritional purposes. In , the then Labour Education Secretary Edward Short removed free milk from secondary schools , 3 years before Thatcher continued the phased removal for primary school pupils over 7.

It is therefore prudent to ask at what point responsibility for the current situation switches to successive Governments who have failed to correct this imbalance. The Poll Tax is the stand-out, unequivocal disaster of the Thatcher Government. Though, that's a somewhat contested claim. Many believed that changing the way the tax was calculated, from the estimated market value of a property to the number of people living in it, was a backwards step. It disproportionately hit large families living in relatively small accommodation and was universally hated for being unfair on ordinary working people.

The Community Charge caused intense distrust and deep wounds in the political psyche of millions of voters, many of whom never forgave Thatcher for her actions as we see from the anger released following her death. The changes generated seething public anger , mass protests , public disobedience, mass refusal to pay , legal challenges and some of the worst rioting ever seen in England.

Yorkshire Police even made preparations to refuse to arrest anyone as thanks to the problems of implementing the tax , the force believed it lacked the resources to deal with such wide-scale civil disobedience. John Major won the resultant leadership contest and immediately abolished the Community Charge.

It was based on the essentially identical Rates system used prior to the Community Charge. Such is the strength of feeling still felt in Britain about the Community Charge, politicians have consistently steered clear of adjusting it for over 20 years, save for minor alterations aimed primarily at increasing discounts for certain households and individuals.

As ever, things are more subtle.