Editing Conservative Party (UK) (section)

===1975–1990: Margaret Thatcher===
{{Further|Premiership of Margaret Thatcher}}
[[File:Margaret Thatcher (1983).jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|[[Margaret Thatcher]]]]
Loss of power weakened Heath's control over the party and [[Margaret Thatcher]] deposed him in the [[1975 Conservative Party leadership election|1975 leadership election]]. Thatcher led her party to victory at the [[1979 United Kingdom general election|1979 general election]] with a manifesto which concentrated on the party's philosophy.<ref>[[David Butler (psephologist)|David Butler]] and Dennis Kavanagh, "The British General Election of 1979", Macmillan, 1979, p. 154.</ref>

As Prime Minister, Thatcher focused on rejecting the mild liberalism of the [[post-war consensus]] that tolerated or encouraged nationalisation, strong labour unions, heavy regulation, and high taxes.<ref>David Dutton, ''British Politics Since 1945: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of Consensus'' (2nd ed. Blackwell, 1997).</ref> She did not challenge the [[National Health Service]], and supported the Cold War policies of the consensus, but otherwise tried to dismantle and delegitimise it. She built a right-wing political ideology that became known as [[Thatcherism]], based on social and economic ideas from British and American intellectuals such as [[Friedrich Hayek]] and [[Milton Friedman]]. Thatcher believed that too much socially democratic-oriented government policy was leading to a long-term decline in the British economy. As a result, her government pursued a programme of [[economic liberalism]], adopting a free-market approach to public services based on the sale of publicly owned industries and utilities, as well as a reduction in trade union power.

One of Thatcher's largest and most successful policies assisted council house tenants in public housing to purchase their homes at favourable rates. The "Right to Buy" had emerged in the late 1940s but was too great a challenge to the post-war consensus to win Conservative endorsement. Thatcher favoured the idea because it would lead to a "property-owning democracy", an important idea that had emerged in the 1920s.<ref name="Matthew Francis 2011"/> Some local Conservative-run councils enacted profitable local sales schemes during the late 1960s. By the 1970s, many working-class people could afford to buy homes, and eagerly adopted Thatcher's invitation to purchase their homes at a sizable discount. The new owners were more likely to vote Conservative, as Thatcher had hoped.<ref>Aled Davies, "'Right to Buy': The Development of a Conservative Housing Policy, 1945–1980." ''Contemporary British History'' 27.4 (2013): 421–44.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283171436 |title=Stephen Farrall, et al. "Thatcherite Ideology, Housing Tenure, and Crime: The Socio-Spatial Consequences of the Right to Buy for Domestic Property Crime." ''British Journal of Criminology'' (2015) |access-date=3 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104002256/https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Will_Jennings2/publication/283171436_Thatcherite_Ideology_Housing_Tenure_and_Crime_The_Socio-Spatial_Consequences_of_the_Right_to_Buy_for_Domestic_Property_Crime/links/5643f42008aef646e6ca1355.pdf |archive-date=4 November 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Thatcher led the Conservatives to two further electoral victories in [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983]] and [[1987 United Kingdom general election|1987]]. She was deeply unpopular in certain sections of society due to high unemployment and her response to the [[UK miners' strike (1984–1985)|miners' strike]]. Unemployment had doubled between 1979 and 1982, largely due to Thatcher's [[monetarist]] battle against inflation.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/basics/4393313.stm|work=BBC News|title=1983: Thatcher triumphs again|date=5 April 2005|access-date=1 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422033837/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/basics/4393313.stm|archive-date=22 April 2009|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Stephanie Flanders|title=Were 364 economists all wrong?|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/4803858.stm|work=BBC News|access-date=13 January 2015|author-link=Stephanie Flanders|archive-date=29 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210929054132/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/4803858.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> At the time of the [[1979 United Kingdom general election|1979 general election]], inflation had been at 9% or under for the previous year, then increased to over 20% in the first two years of the Thatcher ministry, but it had fallen again to 5.8% by the start of 1983.<ref>{{cite web|title=Consumer Price Indices – RPI annual percentage change: 1948 to 2014|url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/datasets-and-tables/data-selector.html?cdid=CZBI&dataset=mm23&table-id=2.2|author=Office for National Statistics|publisher=UK Government|date=13 January 2015|access-date=13 January 2015|author-link=Office for National Statistics|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213013820/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/datasets-and-tables/data-selector.html?cdid=CZBI&dataset=mm23&table-id=2.2|archive-date=13 February 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

The period of unpopularity of the Conservatives in the early 1980s coincided with a crisis in the Labour Party, which then formed the main opposition. Victory in the [[Falklands War]] in June 1982, along with the recovering British economy, saw the Conservatives returning quickly to the top of the opinion polls and winning the 1983 general election with a landslide majority, due to a split opposition vote.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk" /> By the time of the general election in June 1987, the economy was stronger, with lower inflation and falling unemployment and Thatcher secured her third successive electoral victory.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/basics/4393315.stm|work=BBC News|title=1987: Thatcher's third victory|date=5 April 2005|access-date=1 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422033842/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/basics/4393315.stm|archive-date=22 April 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>

The introduction of the [[Community Charge]] (known by its opponents as the ''poll tax'') in 1989 is often cited as contributing to her political downfall. Internal party tensions led to a leadership challenge by the Conservative MP [[Michael Heseltine]] and she resigned on 28 November 1990.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/22/newsid_2549000/2549189.stm |work=BBC News |title=On This Day 1990: Thatcher quits as prime minister |date=22 November 1990 |access-date=1 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307114202/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/22/newsid_2549000/2549189.stm |archive-date=7 March 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref>