Time_23Mar2020

1982 | IRON LADY

MARGARET

THATCHER

BY BILLY PERRIGO

The decades afTer The second

World War were a chastening time for the

U.K. The once mighty British Empire lost

most of its colonies, and despite steadily

rising living standards, the British econ-

omy was no longer the global steam en-

gine it had once been.

So in 1982, when Prime Minister Mar-

garet Thatcher led a successful military

campaign to defend one of the last of Brit-

ain’s overseas outposts, the Falkland Is-

lands, from an Argentine attack, it stirred

a swell of patriotism, reigniting the war-

time spirit, especially for her Conserva-

tive Party’s elderly voters. The following

year those voters rewarded Thatcher with

a massive parliamentary majority, which

she used to unleash a free- market revo-

lution. She slashed the size of the Brit-

ish state, deregulated the economy, sold

off dozens of state-owned industries and

cut taxes with the proceeds. Many be-

came rich as a result of her reforms, but

inequality increased substantially too.

The rift she created in British society

still cuts deep. But nobody disputes her

position as one of Britain’s most influen-

tial Prime Ministers of the 20th century.

THATCHER ABOARD H.M.S. HERMES

AFTER ITS RETURN FROM THE

FALKLANDS WAR IN 1982

WALENTYNOWICZ: SIMON/WILDENBERG/GAMMA-RAPHO/GETTY IMAGES/POOL; EL SAADAWI: ANTHONY LEWIS—FAIRFAX MEDIA/GETTY IMAGES; THATCHER: TED BLACKBROW—ASSOCIATED NEWSPAPERS^73