7 The 100 Most Influential World Leaders of All Time 7

Margaret Thatcher

(b. Oct. 13, 1925, Grantham, Lincolnshire, Eng.)

I

n 1979 Margaret Thatcher became Europe’s first woman

prime minister, serving as prime minister of the United

Kingdom until 1990. The “Iron Lady,” as she was com-

monly known, gave her name to an era (Thatcherism) and

was the only British prime minister in the 20th century to

win three consecutive terms.

Early Years

The daughter of Alfred Roberts, a grocer and local alder-

man (and later mayor of Grantham), and Beatrice Ethel

Stephenson, Margaret Thatcher (born Margaret Hilda

Roberts) formed an early desire to be a politician. Her

intellectual ability led her to the University of Oxford,

where she studied chemistry and was immediately active

in politics, becoming one of the first woman presidents of

the Oxford University Conservative Association. After

graduating in 1946, she worked as a research chemist.

After her marriage to Denis Thatcher in 1951, she read for

the bar and specialized in tax law.

Thatcher was elected to Parliament in 1959 and served

as secretary of state for education and science from 1970

to 1974. As a member of the Conservative Party’s newly

energetic right wing, she succeeded Edward Heath as

party leader in 1975.

Prime Minister

Thatcher led the Conservatives to a decisive electoral victory

in 1979. As a prime minister representing the Conservative

Party, Thatcher advocated greater independence of the