Editing Margaret Thatcher (section)

===Challenges to leadership and resignation===
{{Main|1989 Conservative Party leadership election|1990 Conservative Party leadership election}}
[[File:Thatcher reviews troops.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Thatcher in a blue suit and hat, walking in front of troops|Reviewing the [[Royal Bermuda Regiment]] in 1990]]

During her premiership, Thatcher had the second-lowest average approval rating (40%) of any post-war prime minister. Since Nigel Lawson's resignation as chancellor in October 1989,{{sfnp|Crewe|1991}} polls consistently showed that she was less popular than her party.<ref name="ridley">{{Cite news |last=Ridley |first=Matt |author-link=Matt Ridley |date=25 November 1990 |title=Et Tu, Heseltine?; Unpopularity Was a Grievous Fault, and Thatcher Hath Answered for It |url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1160505.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831000325/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1160505.html |archive-date=31 August 2017 |access-date=5 July 2017 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> A self-described conviction politician, Thatcher always insisted that she did not care about her poll ratings and pointed instead to her unbeaten election record.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The poll tax incubus |date=24 November 1990 |page=13 |issue=63872 |department=Editorials/Leaders}}</ref>

In December 1989, Thatcher was challenged for the leadership of the Conservative Party by the little-known backbench MP [[Sir Anthony Meyer]].<ref name="89election">{{Cite news |title=5 December 1989: Thatcher beats off leadership rival |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/5/newsid_2528000/2528339.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307113658/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/5/newsid_2528000/2528339.stm |archive-date=7 March 2008 |access-date=1 November 2008 |work=On This Day 1950–2005 |via=BBC News Online}}</ref> Of the 374 Conservative MPs eligible to vote, 314 voted for Thatcher and 33 for Meyer. Her supporters in the party viewed the result as a success and rejected suggestions that there was discontent within the party.{{r|89election}}

Opinion polls in September 1990 reported that Labour had established a 14% lead over the Conservatives,{{r|howe}} and by November, the Conservatives had been trailing Labour for 18&nbsp;months.{{r|ridley}} These ratings, together with Thatcher's combative personality and tendency to override collegiate opinion, contributed to further discontent within her party.{{r|resign-nyt}}

In July 1989, Thatcher removed Geoffrey Howe as [[Foreign secretary (United Kingdom)|foreign secretary]] after he and Lawson had forced her to agree to a plan for Britain to join the [[European Exchange Rate Mechanism]] (ERM). Britain joined the ERM in October 1990.

On 1&nbsp;November 1990, Howe, by then the last remaining member of Thatcher's original 1979 cabinet, resigned as [[Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|deputy prime minister]], ostensibly over her open hostility to moves towards [[European monetary union]].<ref name="howe">{{Cite news |title=1 November 1990: Howe resigns over Europe policy |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/1/newsid_2513000/2513953.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307114118/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/1/newsid_2513000/2513953.stm |archive-date=7 March 2008 |access-date=1 November 2008 |work=On This Day 1950–2005 |via=BBC News Online}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Millership |first=Peter |date=1 November 1990 |title=Thatcher's Deputy Quits in Row over Europe |agency=Reuters}}</ref> In his resignation speech on 13&nbsp;November, which was instrumental in Thatcher's downfall,<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Sir Geoffrey Howe's resignation was fatal blow in Mrs Thatcher's political assassination |date=5 December 1990 |page=12 |issue=63881 |department=News |last=Walters |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Walters}}</ref> Howe attacked Thatcher's openly dismissive attitude to the government's proposal for a new European currency competing against existing currencies (a "[[hard ECU]]"):

{{blockquote|How on earth are the Chancellor and the Governor of the Bank of England, commending the hard ECU as they strive to, to be taken as serious participants in the debate against that kind of background noise? I believe that both the Chancellor and the Governor are cricketing enthusiasts, so I hope that there is no monopoly of cricketing metaphors. It is rather like sending your opening batsmen to the crease only for them to find, the moment the first balls are bowled, that their bats have been broken before the game by the team captain.<ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=Personal Statement |house=House of Commons |date=13 November 1990 |volume=180 |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1990/nov/13/personal-statement |column_start=461 |column_end=465 |access-date=22 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Sir Geoffrey Howe savages Prime Minister over European stance in resignation speech |date=14 November 1990 |page=3 |issue=63863 |department=Politics and Parliament}}</ref>}}

On 14&nbsp;November, Michael Heseltine mounted a challenge for the leadership of the Conservative Party.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Frankel |first=Glenn |author-link=Glenn Frankel |date=15 November 1990 |title=Heseltine challenges Thatcher for her job |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/11/15/heseltine-challenges-thatcher-for-her-job/13f1b56b-2db0-44c8-b75d-8b2a31a16a07 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810172436/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/11/15/heseltine-challenges-thatcher-for-her-job/13f1b56b-2db0-44c8-b75d-8b2a31a16a07/ |archive-date=10 August 2017 |access-date=2 August 2017 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>{{sfnp|Marr|2007|p=473}} Opinion polls had indicated that he would give the Conservatives a national lead over Labour.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Poll swing followed downturn by Tories; Conservative Party leadership |date=21 November 1990 |page=2 |issue=63869 |department=News |last=Lipsey |first=David |author-link=David Lipsey, Baron Lipsey}}</ref> Although Thatcher led on the first ballot with the votes of 204 Conservative MPs (54.8%) to 152 votes (40.9%) for Heseltine, with 16 abstentions, she was four votes short of the required 15% majority. A second ballot was therefore necessary.{{sfnp|Williams|1998|page=66}} Thatcher initially declared her intention to "fight on and fight to win" the second ballot, but consultation with her cabinet persuaded her to withdraw.<ref name="resign-nyt">{{Cite news |last=Whitney |first=Craig R. |date=23 November 1990 |title=Change in Britain; Thatcher Says She'll Quit; 11½ Years as Prime Minister Ended by Party Challenge |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE6DB1438F930A15752C1A966958260&sec=&spon= |access-date=1 November 2008 |work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref name="resign-bbc">{{Cite news |title=22 November 1990: Thatcher quits as prime minister |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/22/newsid_2549000/2549189.stm |url-status=live |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 |access-date=1 November 2008 |work=On This Day 1950–2005 |via=BBC News Online}}</ref> After holding an audience with the Queen, calling other world leaders, and making one final Commons speech,<ref>{{Cite web |date=22 November 1990 |title=HC S: [Confidence in Her Majesty's Government] |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/108256 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170407102050/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/108256 |archive-date=7 April 2017 |access-date=21 March 2017 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref> on 28&nbsp;November she left Downing Street in tears. She reportedly regarded her ousting as a betrayal.{{sfnp|Marr|2007|p=474}} Her resignation was a shock to many outside Britain, with such foreign observers as [[Henry Kissinger]] and Gorbachev expressing private consternation.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Travis |first=Alan |date=30 December 2016 |title=Margaret Thatcher's resignation shocked politicians in US and USSR, files show |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/dec/30/margaret-thatcher-resignation-shocked-us-ussr-files |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108115705/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/dec/30/margaret-thatcher-resignation-shocked-us-ussr-files |archive-date=8 November 2020 |access-date=22 October 2020 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>

Chancellor John Major replaced Thatcher as head of government and party leader, whose lead over Heseltine in the second ballot was sufficient for Heseltine to drop out. Major oversaw an upturn in Conservative support in the 17&nbsp;months leading to the [[1992 United Kingdom general election|1992 general election]] and led the party to a fourth successive victory on 9&nbsp;April 1992.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kettle |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Kettle |date=4 April 2005 |title=Pollsters taxed |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/apr/04/electionspast.past3 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109160116/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/apr/04/electionspast.past3 |archive-date=9 November 2013 |access-date=23 January 2011 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> Thatcher had lobbied for Major in the leadership contest against Heseltine, but her support for him waned in later years.<ref>{{Cite news |date=3 October 1999 |title=Major attacks 'warrior' Thatcher |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/463873.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031011111013/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/463873.stm |archive-date=11 October 2003 |access-date=1 November 2008 |work=BBC News}}</ref>