Thatcher from the perspective of the right

Thatcher from the perspective of the right

Margaret Thatcher is quite a controversial topic when it comes to politics, and this short text will summarize how she would look politically from a right wing perspective, meaning in this context the perspective of the British Conservative Party based on the fundamentals of their idealism (as there is no universal set of policies considered to be conservative). This text only concerns Thatcherism as when it comes the domestic economy.

In short the Conservative Party for British Unionism (meaning it favours the union of Great Britain). Before Thatcher they would be best described as just “Conservative”, meaning typical traditionalists favouring monarchy and social hierarchy (in which we can find the typical conservative thought, namely that every individual has a duty to fulfil in the society). Hence society would consist several social groups which had different tasks to do in order to have continuity and stability. Eventually the ideology became more modernized, focusing more on capitalism, especially when Thatcher came about.

Under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher the course of the Conservative Party changed quite a bit. During her time as leader of her party and PM, the course was set for a free-market heavily influenced by the economic policies in USA. She believed that too much influence from social democracy would in time decline the British market, and her government pushed for bringing a more liberal programme for the economy in Britain, where public industries were sold out from state control and the power of the trade union was drastically decreased. The trade union set the stakes too high and were of too much support of keeping industries up for the workers’ sake (which also meant supporting strikes that were devastating when it comes to macroeconomics) even though the industries concerned weren’t always profitable, according to Thatcher.

Her new line of politics led to an economic boost in England as ordinary people got a chance to buy the previously state-owned industries and stocks and that way grow rich. In other words common people had a shot at getting wealthier. She was a strong supporter on monetarism, meaning that the state should only focus on keeping a stability in prices but otherwise let the market expand on its own without the state setting limits for it. As in the US people could and did become very successful in such a liberal environment.

Her politics were soon to be called Thatcherism, and in a conservative point of view she was rather radical, since conservatism usually prefers a set state of social order (originally we would be speaking of social classes) instead of having a changing one (as the society would change depending on the market). We can see today that the Conservative Party (often called Tories) sets its political position as center-right, and this would have its origins in Thatcherism. So from a liberal view this would be quite suitable, but from a conservative view it might be too radical. Though Thatcher can only be called  a right wing politician as letting up so much state property and being such a strong follower of monetarism, not to mention closing all the industries she did in the north of England, would never be made by a socialist.

Text: Primus Holm Linder

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_inequality
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party_(UK)#Origins_in_the_Whig_Party
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism#Great_Britain
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism_in_the_United_Kingdom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thatcherism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premiership_of_Margaret_Thatcher
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher#Foreign_affairs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_the_United_Kingdom#Conservatives_.28Tories.29

”Margaret Thatcher is not a woman”

These words were spoken by a male historian as a reaction to Thatcher’s so called “unfemininity” during her time as Prime Minister. However, it wasn’t just men who shared this opinion. When asked about what it was that defined Margaret Thatcher as “unfeminine”, women also made quite unflattering comments.

But were these kind of comments justified? Should they really have slandered a woman who had such an extraordinary power of will? But as UK’s first female Prime Minister, shouldn’t she have fought more for women’s rights in society?

After all, the people of Britain complained about this and said:

 “We want women’s rights, not a right-wing woman.”

Patricia Hewitt, who most recently served as Secretary of State for Health, also commented on the fact that Thatcher was wasting her opportunity to improve the rights and equality for women by saying:

“It's a tragedy that, having become the UK's first female Prime Minister, she did so much to undermine the position of women in society."

In conclusion, Margaret Thatcher ruled Britain like a man would, but since she was a woman, the people of Britain saw it from another perspective. Their opinion of her was influenced by the fact that she was female, which made it hard for her to actually be taken seriously in her saying. People had already made up their mind about her, so even though she did something good, her actions weren’t appreciated because of her gender. If she would have been a man, her way of ruling would have been more accepted.

Despite the negativity, she stuck to her ways and never gave in.

"In politics, if you want anything said, ask men. If you want anything done, ask women." - Margaret Thatcher

By: Emelie Östbring, Rebecca Weiger, Paulina Persson and Hanna Glover

Margaret Thatcher and the European Union

EU in the 70’s (Pre-Thatcher)

Before understanding the rift between Thatcher and the EU, it is best to know what was the situation of the EU was before Thatcher came into the picture:

In the early 70’s, there were only a few member states in the EU: Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. In 1973, three new states joined: Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom.

In 1970, the EU came up with a plan that had to do with a single currency. This was to maintain monetary stability, and the first thing they did was that they decided that the different currencies of the member states in the EU would only fluctuate against each other within narrow limits. The exchange rate mechanism would be shortened to ERM, and it became official in 1972. This was the first step towards a single currency, the euro, which would be introduced 30 years later.

In the 70’s the fight against pollution intensified, as the world got a lot more aware of the environmental problems. The EU’s response to this was to adopt laws to protect the environment, such as the notion of “the pollution pays”. Greenpeace, along with other pressure groups were founded around this time too.

In October 1973 there was an Arab-Israeli war, causing the Middle East oil-producing nations to impose big price increases and also restrict sales to certain European countries. This created economic problems in the EU.

In 1974, the European Regional Development Fund was set up. This was done by the EU leaders so that they could show their solidarity. The purpose of this was to transfer money from the richer regions to the poor ones so that the poor regions could improve roads and communications, attract investment in the regions and also create jobs. This would later become a third of all the EU spending.

In the middle of the 70’s, the last right-wing dictatorships ended, due to the death of General Franco, dictator in Spain, and the overthrow of the Salazar regime in Portugal. This was a step closer to being members of the EU for those countries, as the EU does not, and has never, accepted dictatorships.

In the later 70’s, 1978, the former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro was murdered. This was one of many acts of terrorism that was carried out during the 70’s. Other victims of terrorism were leading lawyers, businessmen, politicians along with 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972.

In 1979, EU citizens were able to elect the members of the European Parliament for the very first time. Before this the delegates were chosen from National Parliaments. They would not sit in national delegations, but in pan-European political groups, being Socialists, Conservative, Liberal, Greens etc.

Thatcher’s contribution to the EU and Europe

During her time as Prime Minister of the UK, she made her mark on the EU, both good and bad.

In 1986, British Commissioner Lord Cockfield, with the approval by Thatcher, pushed forward to reform the Treaty of Rome. The EU took this into consideration and later agreed to the Single European Act. With the Treaty of Rome as a foundation, the Single European Act established a single market where there would be free movement of goods, capital, and people within the EU.

Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative party returned to power in 1979 and her critical view on the EU made a mark in 1985 with the UK Rebate. In the rebate, Thatcher demanded the repayment of the UK’s contribution to the EU budget, as at that time, it was being spent on the Common Agricultural Policy which did not benefit the UK as much as the other countries did, as the UK has a small farming sector. The repayment was high in amount, but in the end Thatcher got the money back and the EU had to suffer the consequences.

In 1990, the UK joined the EU’s newest project, the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), with approval from Thatcher. The aim of the ERM was to reduce the exchange rate variability and improve the stability of the currencies in the EU. Unfortunately the UK was forced to leave in 1992 because they were unable to keep the pound sterling above the agreed lower limit which caused an economic crash.

Not only did Thatcher work within the EU, but also around Europe by helping to end the Cold War. She did so by integrating the Soviet bloc of Eastern Europe with the rest of Europe; 

"We must never forget that east of the Iron Curtain, people who once enjoyed a full share of European culture, freedom and identity have been cut off from their roots...we shall always look on Warsaw, Prague and Budapest as great European cities" 

This was also the time when a journalist in the Soviet Union called her the ‘Iron lady’ which was supposed to be mocking considering how some people thought that she ‘ruled’ the UK with an iron fist, but instead she took this as a compliment that she was strong willed.

The Maastricht Treaty, or formally the Treaty of the European Union was the treaty that led to the creation of the single European currency, the Euro. Thatcher was against the idea of the Euro and wanted the UK to keep the Pound. During the signing of the treaty, Britain got an ‘opt out’ clause which meant that Britain would continue to be a part of the European Union but not participate in the Euro, thus maintaining the Pound.

Thatcher and The Euro - back in the 20th century and now:

Thatcher’s firm belief was that the Euro would ruin the EU. It would prove to be fatal to poorer countries, “devastate their inefficient economies”. She thought that the poorer countries would in the end need bailouts because of their uncompetitiveness and it will also be that Germany and France would take the largest hits from these bailouts. 

Thatcher thought the Euro was a bad idea; in her book ‘Statecraft’ she stated that the Euro would fail "economically, politically and socially". According to her, Britain would be better served keeping control over it’s own financial affairs, but because of her critical thought on the EU she was met with a big resistance in the lower house of the parliament. Her point of view made her lose her left hand, Geoffrey Howe. He later stated “I wanted to change the policies, not the leader. But if that meant the leader had to go, then so it had to be.”

The Euro proved Thatcher right as it has caused a major crisis in the Euro-zone, countries are falling apart because they can’t handle the Euro. Germany and France are taking huge blows to their economy to save the poor countries and even Italy may need a bailout if things continue this way

Thatcher the Euro-skeptic?

Without a doubt Thatcher was a prime example of a Euro-skeptic, but she had her reasons for seeing the EU in her way.

During the United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum in 1975, Thatcher actually voted ‘yes’ for the UK stay in the then European Community. But at this time, she was a Europhile along with many her party members as the dream everyone shared then was to bring peace and stability to Europe and the UK. It was only later in her years as Prime Minister that she became suspicious that the EU stood more for political and ideological ambition rather than bringing together an economical and democratic Europe.

Slowly her impression of the EU changed to that of a centralized bureaucratic super state that would extinguish democracy and take away sovereign power from the European countries ; or in her own words, 

“That such an unnecessary and irrational project as building a European super state ever embarked on will seem in future years to be perhaps the greatest folly of the modern era. And that Britain, with traditional strengths and global destiny, should ever become part of it will appear a political error of the first magnitude” 

(in her book, Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World, published in 2002)

Looking back at the Single European Act and the ERM, Thatcher wasn’t actually too keen on these ideas and only agreed to them to keep her party, cabinet, and people afloat, as there was a rift between Euro-skeptics like her and Europhiles like Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe. While the Single European Act was a major contribution to European growth and integration, the ERM was a total flop that resulted in an economic failure and the eventual defeat of the Conservative government.

Many of her views on the EU, both love and hate, were expressed in her famous Bruges Speech at the College of Europe 1988. In this speech she shared her vision of an EU that was 

“...united and with greater sense of common purpose. But it must be in a way which preserves the different traditions, parliamentary powers and sense of national pride in one’s own country, for these have been the source of Europe’s vitality through the centuries”

She basically wanted the EU to be more of a union of countries that continued to hold on to their sovereignty and worked together independently.

In fact there are parts in her speech that sounded more pro-European than what many would have thought;

“Let Europe be a family of nations, understanding each other better, appreciating each other more, doing more together but relishing our national identity no less than our common European endeavour. Let us have a Europe which plays its full part in the wider world, which looks outward not inward, and which preserves that Atlantic community—that Europe on both sides of the Atlantic—which is our noblest inheritance and our greatest strength”

“Europe will be stronger because it has France as France, Spain as Spain, Britain and Britain, each with its own customs, traditions and identity. It would be folly to try to fit them into some sort of identikit European personality”

“Europe is not the creation of the Treaty of Rome. Nor is the European idea the property of any group or institution. We British are as much heirs to the legacy of European culture as any other nation. Our links to the rest of Europe, the continent of Europe, have been the dominant factor in our history…"

Furthermore, she also put out her thoughts on how the EU could work better if it was not a centralised bureaucratic superstate;

“But working more closely together does not require power to be centralized in Brussels or decisions to be taken by an appointed bureaucracy”

“We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state of Britain, only to see them re-imposed at a European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels”

 And to sum all of that up in her own words ;

“To try to suppress nationhood and concentrate power as the centre of a European conglomerate would be highly damaging and would jeopardize the objectives we seek to achieve”

She did try to defend Britain’s isolation from Europe as “Britain does not dream of some cozy, isolated existence on the fringes of the European Community” , but many saw this as ironic since she had for some time given that exact impression (UK not joining the Euro is one example) for the rest of Europe to see.

The rift between her and the rest of cabinet and party continue to worsen, and by the time her right hand man and Euro-phile, Geoffrey Howe resigned after Thatcher's speech at the European Council meeting in Rome 1990 (her famous statement being “No,No,No” to the House of Commons), the plot for her ‘political assassination’ began.

While Margaret Thatcher had her reasons for not trusting the EU and was very skeptical with their projects, she did have her own vision on how the EU should have been, could have been, and would have been.

Authors: Izabella Karlsson, Alexsandra Buachoom, Agnes Ek, Emilia Baunach

Margareth Thatcher and Ireland

It is well known that Margaret Thatcher disliked Ireland. There are several events that led up to this dispute. Some events played a bigger role than others. Here are some of them:

One of the first events was about a month before she was elected to become Prime Minister. It was the assasination of Airey Neave, her spokesman in Northern Ireland that was possibly going to become Secretery of State in Northern Ireland. It was revealed that INLA (the Irish National Liberation Army) that was behind the car bomb that killed Airey Neave. This made Thatcher focus more on ensuring the security forces in Northern Ireland than creating lasting peace.

Another key event was the hunger strike. This was in 1981. A group of prisoners that had murdered the Queen's cousin for IRA in the Maze said they should be given prisoners-of-war status. Thatcher strongly rejected their request. She said "Crime is crime is crime. It is not political, it is crime", which shows in a clear way her opinion on this. The prisoners decided to go on a hunger strike until they were approved of their prisoners-of-war title. This ended with 10 prisoners dying. This made the hatred towards Thatcher to increase among republicans, especially because it is suspected that she was given an offer to end the hunger strike before anyone died.

Thatcher's relation to Ireland worsened. In 1984 the IRA tried to kill Thatcher by bombing the hotel she was staying at during the Conservative Party conference in Brighton. Five people were killed (among those was a Conservative MP) and dozens injured but Thatcher got away without a scratch. The IRA claimed the responisbility and Thatcher was even more motivated to crack down the IRA and republican terrorism. The sitaution between Thatcher and Ireland was once again worsening.

In 1985 the Anglo-Irish Agreement was signed. The agreement gave the Irish Government an advisory role in the North's government but there would be no change in the constitutional position of the North until the majority of people in the North wanted it. Now Thatcher was criticized by unionist who thought that the agreement would give the Republicans a way to reunify with the North. This now made nationalists and unionalists hate Thatcher.

Thatcher never stopped being tough on republicans and their terrorism. She put in a broadcasting ban up until IRA's ceaserfire in 1994 to stop republicans from getting publicity.

Her actions in the issue between her and Ireland and Northern Ireland played a big part after she left 10 Downing Street, for example in the Good Friday Agreement.

Thatcher will always be remembered as hated by republicans, much because of her action in the hunger strike. Even now after her death she is seen in an unfavourable way by the republicans and many irsihmen and maybe she always will.

Margaret Thatcher the saviour of Great Britain

Strikes were everyday life; the state had Europe’s both largestdeficit and inflation. Some workers were only able to work 4 days per week due to the coal strikes in the north which lead to power failures in big parts of Britain. The British industry was both out dated and moving overseas. Undeceive politicians failed to do the reforms that were needed. In 1979 Margaret Thatcher was elected Europe’s first female PM. When she entered 10 Downing Street she was facing one of the worst economies in Europe.

Margaret Thatcher reformed the British school system; she implemented a national curriculum and allowed the schools to manage their own economy. She brought in regular school inspections, and her reforms made the school more effective.

A part of Thatcherism is that the state should be limited and only provide the country with the vital needs to sustain modern society, such as defence, health care and security. Before Thatcher and under the Labour government many companieswere bought up by the state due to that the companies wereoutdated and malfunctioning this made the state inflexible. Under Thatcher over 50 out dated state run companies were sold and privatised.  Competiveness between the companies then grew stronger and the out dated industries were either moved abroad or went bankrupt. This boosted the service sector which leads to a modernised British economy. A consequence of the privatisation was that many people from the former old industries were unemployed. This leads to critique against Thatcher. But these reforms were needed to tackle the British economy and it resulted in a stable British economy and in the long run unemployment decreased.

One of the biggest problems Thatcher faced was the record high inflation of 20% in the UK at the time. Money was losing its value and salaries did not increase at the same pace as the coast of living. There was simply too much money on the market. What Thatcher did was to implement higher taxes and the interest rates increased, this made the inflation decrease from the 20% down to 5%.

In 1982 British soil was invaded by the dictatorship of Argentina. Margaret Thatcher’s response was to send a task force to save the innocent British citizens of the Falkland Islands. The task force succeeded in its mission of liberating the islands from the Argentinian invaders and the people of Britain saw Thatcher’s achievement as a great deed for the British Empire and re-elected her to four more years as the British Prime Minister. She now maintained a position, both domestic and international, as a strong and firm leader.

Margaret Thatcher played a key role in the ending of the cold war due to her good relations with both the US president Ronald Regan and the Soviet president Gorbachev. Thatcher was a symbol of liberty to the soviet people and also a representant of the western world.

Margaret Thatcher pledged a great scepticism towards the EU. A British membership did lead to an increased political impact from other countries according to Thatcher.

/Evelina, Jakob, Carl, Viktoria L & Rebecca

Sources:

http://www.theweek.co.uk/politics/margaret-thatcher/52391/margaret-thatcher-legacy-pros-cons

http://www.theweek.co.uk/politics/margaret-thatcher/24403/how-margaret-thatcher-made-britain-great-again

Thatcher and the EU

Thatcher and the EU

While Thatcher has always been known as an outspoken Eurosceptic, she was not all against Europe and the European Union, always advocating a united Europe against communism, which she despised.

Britain had joined the EU six years before Thatcher came to power and while she did not seem to be too fond of the EU, she had no choice but to accept the situation. Thatcher was very much a proud British remembering the great days of the empire and the policies exercised back then.  To be tied up with the continental countries, which she also blamed for both the world wars, was not what she wanted. This and her hatred for bureaucracy, something she had tried to reduce in the UK, which she said was way too extensive in EU, made her very resistant to any EU policies other than the free market. Among others she heavily criticized the defense and the agricultural policies.

Apart from the free market she also liked the idea of a strong united Europe against the communistic Eastern Europe which she saw as the biggest threat against peace and democracy. With a different European Union she might have been a leading force. Her views of the European Union became rather clear during her very famous “Bruges speech” showing of both her feverish attempts of showing Britain as the liberator of Europe and also her opinions on the EU bureaucracy and policies:

“But we British have in a very special way contributed to Europe. Over the centuries we have fought to prevent Europe from falling under the dominance of a single power.”

“We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain, only to see them re-imposed at a European level with a European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels.”

“If we cannot reform those Community policies which are patently wrong or ineffective and which are rightly causing public disquiet, then we shall not get the public support for the Community's future development.”

Thatcher’s views on the European Union were as firm and definite as her opinions on any other matter. She is credited for much of the euroscepticism that is still very prevalent in today’s Britain. As late as the beginning of the millennia she once again expressed very harsh opinions against the EU, urging the UK to leave it.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/391111/Margaret-Thatcher-to-blame-for-way-Britain-deals-with-EU-says-ex-German-Chancellor

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2013/04/17/margaret-thatcher-relationship-with-europe-euroscepticism-figurehead-iain-begg/

http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/107332

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-105481/Time-ditch-EU-says-Thatcher.html             

By: Isak Wernehov, Samuel Macario, Adam Ryde, Daniel Roslund

Margaret Thatcher – Biography

Margaret Hilda Thatcher (née Roberts) was born on 13 October 1925 in Grantham, England. She and her sister Muriel spent most of their childhood assisting their father with her family’s grocery store. Furthermore, her father, who was a member of the town’s council, taught her conservative politics from a young age.

Thatcher won a scholarship to Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School, where she was head girl in 1942-1943. Her school reports showed academic consistency and brilliance in a number of extra-curricular activities such as field hockey, swimming and playing the piano.

In 1946, Thatcher attended Oxford University. She was initially rejected from Oxford, but another person withdrew and she graduated from Oxford with a degree in chemistry. At the university, Thatcher was the president of the Conservative Association where she came to be inspired by the political works of Freidrich von Hayek. This can be noticed in her reforms and policies.

After graduation, Thatcher’s stubbornness and arrogance caused some trouble when she was looking for a job, but she later worked as a research chemist in Colchester and Dartford.

In 1950, Thatcher applied to be the conservative candidate for a parliamentary seat in Dartford, although she knew it would be impossible to defeat the Labour Party. However, her colleagues respected her for her speeches. The following year, she married Denis Thatcher, a rich businessman. In 1953, she gave birth to the twins Carol and Mark.

Thatcher studied law for a while, but she returned to politics and won a seat in the House of Commons in 1959. She also became a member of the Shadow Cabinet, a group of political leaders who would get posts in the Cabinet if their party was in power.

In 1970, Thatcher was the secretary of state for education and science, but she had a hard time getting Prime Minister Edward Heath to acknowledge her ideas. However, Thatcher was elected leader of the Conservative Party in 1975, since she became the dominant force of the party when it lost power 1974.

The economic and political chaos in England during this time helped the Conservatives to return to power in 1979, and Thatcher became Britain’s first female prime minister.

At first, Thatcher had a tough time with the military. In 1982, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, and Thatcher sent British troops that defeated the Argentines. After the Falklands War, Thatcher called election (which was a genius move) and was re-elected.

In 1984, there was an attempted assassination on Thatcher at the Conservative Conference in Brighton, but she was not harmed and continued with her speech the next day.

In 1987, Thatcher’s implementation of a fixed rate local tax made her lose a lot of support. Other problems arose, and her closest ministers turned against her. Her hatred against the rest of Europe caused problems within her own party, and in 1990, after eleven years, Thatcher was forced to resign.

Afterwards, Thatcher published several books about her views on politics and experiences as a world leader. Around this time, Thatcher suffered from several strokes and in 2003, she lost her husband Denis, followed by her old ally and friend, Ronald Reagan (former president of the US).

Thatcher stopped attending official events, including the wedding of Prince William in April 2011. She suffered from memory problems due to her strokes, and on 8 April 2013, Margaret Thatcher died at the age of 87.

By:

Viktoria

Muzhen

Aimeng

Nadir 

Margaret Thatcher and the Falklands war.

The Falklands war and Margaret Thatcher

Before the war Margaret Thatcher had been in alot of trouble. Her own party members began to dislike her more and more and there were even ongoing bets on how long she would survive in the parliament.

In 1982 a war between Argentina and Great Britain broke out, the conflict was over the small Falkland Islands that are located right outside the Argentinian coast. On the 2:nd of April Argentinian troops occupied the Islands which resulted in thatcher sending a big naval force to defend the Falklanders. 72 days later, the Argentinians resigned after loosing 649 men on the Falklandian beaches. That may not sound much, but compared to the 255 brittish casualties it is kind of a big number. Thatcher was acclaimed as a great leader since she had won the war for the brittish empire and that she did it big, with the so small losses compared to the argentinian ones. As you may now understand, the Falkland war was a really lucky war for her. Now Thatcher looked like a hero, a real leader of the Brittish empire.

But, she was not good to everyone. She was a good leader for the brittish people, but she was a real devil for the Argentinians. Some started to question her leadership in the war in the end of April, on the 2nd of may she replied to this when she sent the nuclear submarine HMS Conquerer to the Falklands with the order to sink an Argentinian cruiser. It completed its mission and the tragedy ended with over 400 Argentinian sailors lost their lives in the sinking.

But she gambled a lot when she sent such a great force to the Falklands. If the Argentinians, who had a great advantage because of the location of the islands, would have won over the brittish force, the britts would not only have lost a lot of money, but would also look weak in the eyes of other countries. If this defeat would have occurred, Margaret would surely had been fired and kicked out of the parliament immediately.

The Falkland war a really lucky coincidence for Margaret. She managed to win both the islands and the brittish people back, but as with all great leaders, she had a backside. For the Argentinians, Margaret and the war will never be forgotten...

Sources:

• http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/200775/Falkland-Islands-War
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/9980046/Margaret-Thatcher-and-the-Falklands-War-doubts-and-fears-in-a-far-off-conflict-that-changed-Britain.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falklands_War
  
  
  
  By: Mattias, Pontus, Tim and Theo
  PDPA

Thatcher and the Falklands War

There is no doubt that the Falklands War was one of the single greatest event that boosted her political career. On April 2 when the Argentine navy stepped on to the beaches of the islands, Margeret Thatcher amazed when she decide to take a drastic response to the situation. One day later, on April 3, approval was given to let a naval task force sail down to the islands and take care of the problem

Thatcher's Response 

 After the first attack from the Argentineans, Thatcher was determined to get the Falkland Islands back and thus she decided to send the British naval force to defend the territory. The decision to sink the Argentinean cruiser was made even though that very decision would make Britain look like “aggressors in war”. The sinking of the General Belgrano was the ignition spark needed for the war to begin.Thatcher felt responsible for the deaths brought on by the war so she wrote letters by hand to all the British families that had lost someone; thanking the soldiers for their brave input and expressing her condolences.Thatcher decided that Britain was to go to war even though the country was on the brink of collapse and despite of the struggle Britain won the 74 days long war. Since Thatcher and the government believed that Britain had been ambushed they had the right to act in defence. There was no negotiation between the two sides due to Thatcher’s refusal to negotiate with “criminals” and her fierce determination to finish the war that the opposing side had started. 
     

    Thatcher before and after      

Margaret Thatcher’s war, perhaps better known as the Falklands war, was a war that changed Thatcher in different ways. To what extent is it correct to say that the Falklands war was really Thatcher’s war? Also, how strongly did the war affect Thatcher?

In 1978, Thatcher became prime minister of England. Thatcher was the first female prime minister in England, which made her very popular. Something else that made her famous was that she managed to carry the British economy through times of crisis. Thatcher succeeded in reducing inflation, but unemployment dramatically increased. People reacted both in a positive way and a negative way. However, Thatcher’s popularity decreased slowly, and she was not very popular in 1981 anymore, according to polls. Then suddenly Argentine troops invaded the Falkland Islands on the second of April 1982. The Falkland Islands were under British control before. Most of the people saw this as a minor threat; however Thatcher wasn’t one of these people. Against all the people’s expectations Thatcher sent troops to the islands. Thatcher actually saw this as an opportunity to help the British economy. Though, that was not the only reason for sending British troops to the islands, but it was also a good method to regain popularity. The war lasted for two months and ended with England being victorious. Thatcher became the hero and regained her popularity. One year later, Thatcher decided to hold elections and became re-elected; this was a very clever move by Thatcher, because she was still considered a hero and she knew that lots of people would vote for her. Thatcher felt the public’s full support and started to refer to herself using the word “we”.  Calling yourself “we”, is usually used by royalties, not by prime ministers. Thatcher considered herself to be more than just a prime minister. A famous moment when Thatcher uses the word “we” is when she gets her first grandchild, she says: “We have become a grandmother”. Regaining popularity is one thing that the Falklands war changed Thatcher. Another change is the role that Thatcher played in saving the economy. Thatcher got also re-elected due to the war, which might not have happened if the war had not happened.  

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During the Falklands War Mrs. Thatcher was the leader of the recently put together War Cabinet. In the Official History of the Falklands Campaign she is described to be very dominating of the cabinet, but she still  “did not ignore opposition or fail to consult others. However, once a decision was reached she "did not look back", as the author Lawrance Freedman puts it. It was the head of the navy, Sir Henry Leach who was her military advisor and not the cautious Admiral Terence Lewin, who was away. Leach was her lifeline, for he also wanted to recapture the islands, and she needed all the support she could get.

Yes, Thatcher was steadfast in her politics and was at times critisised by other leaders and politicians. When the Falklands had come under Argentinian control, both the parliament and the public were surprised by her decision to send a task force to recapture the islands. Among these people was the American president Ronald Reagan, who had been backing the Argentinian junta before but now supported Britain with vital logistics, making the Anglo-American relationship complicated. But, since Thatcher had made strong connections between Britain and the U.S., by also being anti-communist the situation resolved. The U.S. was opposed to the war but kept small forces on standby, in case the war turned into a disaster.

One of the major decisions made by Thatcher during the war was the sinking of the the Argentinian cruiser ARA General Belgrano, which led to the Argentinian retreat. This decision, however, was harshly critisised by the Labour MP Tam Dalyell in the parliament, but Thatcher stood her ground, claiming that the naval threat of the Belgrano was imminent.

Public Reactions to the Falklands War

When the Argentinian military invaded the Falklands, most Brits had to get up and check their atlas of where the islands really are. However, the astonishment really hit the public later, when it was announced that Thatcher was going to send a taskforce to ‘sort out the problem’. Surprisingly enough, Thatcher’s ruthless approach really hit home with the public. The cover of the magazine 'Newsweek' the following week had the title 'The Empire Strikes Back', the factor that Thatcher was deploying the navy gave people the sense that once again it was ‘Britannia rules the waves’ and that the navy was protecting its land in all corners of the world.

The Falklands war appeared extensively in media and in literature. There were TV-series made, books and poems, most of the focused on the negative impact of the war. An Argentine poet named Jorge Luis Borges depicted the war in one of his poems as “two bald men fighting over a comb”. The war dramatically increased rivalry in sports competitions. Argentine football players playing in Britain left the country; international events where England played Argentina were particularly intense encounters.

Authors: Linnea Warnemyr, Daniel Barnes, Robert Monster, Kristina Salén and Elizabeth Fomon

Margaret Thatcher from a gender perspective

-break through the sex discrimination

It had been stuck in people’s mind that politics was only a stage for men, but never for women, especially in the conservative party. It wasn't until 1975 that the Equal Pay Act, passed in 1970, came into force. Until this time, women and men could be paid different amounts for the same work. The Sex Discrimination Act, which made it illegal to discriminate on the grounds of gender or marital status in recruitment, promotion and training, was passed in the same year.

At time when Margaret Thatcher was still on the limelight of her political career, the discrimination in western countries particularly in United Kingdom was rampant to a woman who participates in the political world where men dominantly held. This is quite true to the fact that women in most part are vulnerable to failure and personal weaknesses. But despite of all these negative accusations branded and inculcated to women in her time, Margaret Thatcher never held single hesitations to attain her ample determination to be on top of her dream.

In such a tough situation for women to participate in politics, nobody believed that a female who was supposed to take care of her family, could ever be an MP. However, Margaret Thatcher overcame all these difficulties. She believed that one’s life must matter, beyond all the cooking, cleaning and the children; one’s life must be more than that. With her determination and conviction, Thatcher eventually became the first female prime minister in Britain. As she said,” Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country.”, she has made many achievements during eleven and a half years that she was serving as prime minister.

She normalized female success. She showed that although female power and masculine power may have different languages, different metaphors, different gestures, different traditions, different ways of being glamorous or nasty, they are equally strong, equally valid … No one can ever question whether women are capable of single-minded vigour, of efficient leadership, after Margaret Thatcher.

-sacrifice her joy with family

However, as a mother, Thatcher has had to make big sacrifices in her life to get where she is. She had to sacrifice her children. She entered Parliament when her twin children were only two years old. Those who know her well say that privately she has a deep and strong sense of guilt and regret about them. Politics and young children combine particularly badly in Britain, where the House of Commons sit from 3 p.m. until midnight most days, and often later.

Whether it's their mother's fault or not (she feels it is), her children have become a slightly pathetic national spectacle, which is rare in Britain where prime ministers' children have usually remained quite private and unknown. People hardly knew the names of Harold Wilson's sons. But Margaret Thatcher's children’s' careers and public image bear little relation to the kind of values she promotes, nor much resemblance to her own rigorous upbringing as a small town shopkeeper's daughter. Their public image is too public and mostly unattractive and unsuccessful. Mark made a bad start as a racing driver. He is now married to a Texas millionaire and makes his living out of business consultancies. Carol is making an embarrassing career in journalism where her name is her main asset.

Mrs Thatcher, as a woman has had to sacrifice many of the joys of a happy family to get where she is--just the way top men do. She got where she is by climbing up the men's ladder, behaving like a man, sacrificing like a man, and being ten times tougher than all the men around her. In a meeting with Lord Spicer in April 1995, she told him: 'If I had my time again, I wouldn't go into politics because of what it does to your family.'

-Thatcher’s advantages

Margaret Thatcher appears as a woman whose ideas were unshakeable but who, in reclaiming the Falklands and, before that winning the party leadership, was willing to go to surprising lengths to achieve her ends.

Being a woman did have advantages. Thatcher used her toughness to surprise her (male) colleagues, who were not sure how to react because she was a woman. On the other hand, she also used her feminine charms when she needed to. The historian Eric Evans quotes one of Thatcher’s advisors: "He believes that her 'perplexing charm' enabled her to 'be getting away with' political ploys and stratagems which a man would not."

As the first British female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher enables women to access to better jobs. Women saw her as a model. Thanks to her political achievements she proved that the fact that women could not be skilled politicians was false. In the Britain of the 1990s many women were appointed to high positions, (especially in the sphere of justice, the House of Commons and in publishing houses). Furthermore, women in the West acquired more political influence than ever in the latter part of the twentieth century. In the 1990s almost 30 percent of cabinet ministers were female in ten important European nations. Even though this proportion was still far from being equal, it was higher than ever. The development of the welfare state, better educational opportunities and new social movements such as second-wave feminism in the 1970s and 1980s helped women to work with politic and challenged the notion of female incompetence.

The positive image of her marriage and family played an important part in Thatcher’s media presentation as a successful Prime Minister. Part of the Thatcherism focused on family and personal life. She thought that: “The family is the building block of society. It is a nursery, a school, a hospital, a leisure centre, a place of refuge and a place of rest. It encompasses the whole of society. It fashions our beliefs. It is the preparation for the rest of our life. And women run it. "

Quotations:

"One of the things being in politics has taught is that men are not a reasoned or reasonable sex."

"In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman."

Was Thatcher a feminist?

Margaret Thatcher was a feminist not for what she said but for what she did. During her time as Prime Minister, she never advocated women’s rights for the believed that it is an innate nature of every women to rise and lead even to the greatest responsibility as long as she has the sheer optimism to do so.

Compare and Contrast

-Angela Merkel

Another famous female politician, Angela Merkel, who is the first woman to be the Chancellor of Germany since 2005, is described as “the iron lady in Europe”, due to their similar impact on the conservative party which has always “belonged to the men”.

Angela Merkel was born in Hamburg, West Germany. She was initially trained as a physicist, but then entered politics after the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall. Rising to the position of Chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union party, Merkel became Germany’s first female chancellor, and one of the leading figures of the European Union, following the 2005 national elections.

Merkel has a similar background to Thatcher’s as a woman, and she dominated the European stage as no woman has done since Margaret Thatcher. However, these two could hardly differ more, either in personality or politics. In the perpetual negotiation machine that is the European Union, Merkel excels at getting her way while treating the male egos around her as gently as possible, which would never happen in Thatcher’s uncompromising politics and leadership style. Merkel does not relish humiliating her more improvident relations, but she is determined not to be the rich aunt left with the bill at the end of the meal.

Nevertheless, the presence of these two distinguished female politician, has shown to the whole world that women can absolutely do what men can do. And hopefully, more “Iron Ladies” inspired by Thatcher would be seen on the stage of politics.