Margaret Thatcher has been one of the most influen Essays

Margaret Thatcher has been one of the most influential figures of the British politics. Not only she was the first and only elected female British prime minister, she was also the longest continuously serving British prime minister of the 20th century. As a British leader she transformed the political scene in many ways and set the tone , not only for the years of her government, but her legacy can be observed in the British politics until this very day. Margaret Thatcher was born on October 13, 1925 as Margaret Hilda Roberts into a family of grocer Alfred Roberts. She studied chemistry in Oxford, however when the Labour Party won the post-war general election and established the Welfare State, it was an impulse for her to pursue her political interests. In 1951 she married a businessman Denis Thatcher, which enabled her to fully focus on succeeding in her political career. Thatcher ' s way into the House of Commons was complicated. She tried to enter th e parliament already in 1950 and 1951 yet she did not succeed. It was only when Conservatives under Harold Macmillan won the election in 1959 when she won the seat as member of parliament in traditionally conservative constituency: Finchley. After several years serving in low position in the Conservative party, she acquired the position of Minister of Education in 1970, when Conservatives under Edward Heath won the election. Willie Whitelaw, Leader of the House of Commons, warned Heath: Once she's there we'll never get rid of her " . Back in the day he probably did not know how right he actually was. Thatcher was never a fan of the political rule of Edward Heath, mainly due to his indecisiveness and weakness when dealing with the trade unions. Once he lost the election she used the opportunity to her advantage and challenged him for the leadership of the Conservative party and succeeded. In 1979 she led Tories to a decisive victory and became the first British female Prime Minister. Her success was is attributed to the period before election labeled as " Winter of Discontent " . As the name implies the population of the United Kingdom was not content as their Labour government failed to make such needed changes in Britain, while the feeling of failed prevailed. Thatcher coming into power ended a long time of British political consensus which started already in the Second World War. This policy of unwritten agreement on the centrist approach of the two British main political parties was, according to Thatcher, the reason that hold Britain from utilising its full potential. Thatcher growing during the Second World War was very much influenced by Churchill speeches which saw Britain still as a great power. This was the view on Britain Thatcher cherished and tried to preserved which explains a significant amount of measures taken by her. Another element which was greatly reflected in her policies, was the influence of her father and h is business. He was the perfect example of an individual being economically or otherwise responsible for his own happiness and life, which created one of the main pillars of her policy. There were several ways how Thatcher changed the British political outlook. Firstly she brought the Conservatives back to the right side of the political spectre by introducing several traditional rightist policies. These policies involved the privatization of the state-owned businesses, closing unprofitable mines, selling public houses, drastic cuts on the state expenditure, curbing the power of Trade Unions and general shift of the British economy towards principles of monetarism. Despite the fact, that in long term these economic measures are seen as beneficiary for the British economy, in that time they made her deeply unpopular among the British citizens. The closing down of mines and privatisation brought enormous wave of unemployment which by 1986 reached more than three millions. This public opinion however changed before her second term and she won the election by a landslide. Traditionally, it is credited to two main events: The Falkland War and the issue of a new radical manifesto of the Labour Party. The Falklands War, not only brought the Thatcher the merits for making people in Britain feel like winners,