Editing Margaret Thatcher (section)

==Early political career==
In the [[1950 United Kingdom general election|1950]] and [[1951 United Kingdom general election|1951]] general elections, Roberts was the Conservative candidate for the Labour seat of [[Dartford (UK Parliament constituency)|Dartford]]. The local party selected her as its candidate because, though not a dynamic public speaker, Roberts was well-prepared and fearless in her answers. A prospective candidate, [[Bill Deedes]], recalled: "Once she opened her mouth, the rest of us began to look rather second-rate."{{r|runciman20130606}} She attracted media attention as the youngest and the only female candidate;{{sfnmp|1a1=Beckett|1y=2006|1pp=23–24|2a1=Blundell|2y=2008|2p=37}} in 1950, she was the youngest Conservative candidate in the country.{{sfnp|Jackson|Saunders|2012|p=3}} She lost on both occasions to [[Norman Dodds]] but reduced the Labour majority by 6,000 and then a further 1,000.{{sfnp|Beckett|2006|pp=23–24}} During the campaigns, she was supported by her parents and by her future husband Denis Thatcher, whom she married in December 1951.{{sfnp|Beckett|2006|pp=23–24}}<ref name="Denis Thatcher">{{Cite news |date=27 June 2003 |title=Sir Denis Thatcher, Bt |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/1434154/Sir-Denis-Thatcher-Bt.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114083041/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/1434154/Sir-Denis-Thatcher-Bt.html |archive-date=14 January 2012 |access-date=6 January 2012 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref> She trained at the [[Inns of Court School of Law]] (now part of The City Law School)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2001-08-24 |title=Law school to merge with City |url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/law-school-to-merge-with-city/164514.article |url-access=registration |access-date=17 February 2025 |website=[[Times Higher Education]]}}</ref> and qualified as a [[Barristers in England and Wales|barrister]] in 1953 (specialising in taxation).{{sfnp|Blundell|2008|p=35}} Denis funded his wife's studies for the [[bar association|bar]].{{sfnp|Beckett|2006|p=25}} Later that same year, their twins [[Carol Thatcher|Carol]] and [[Mark Thatcher|Mark]] were born, delivered prematurely by Caesarean section.{{sfnmp|1a1=Ogden|1y=1990|1p=70|2a1=Beckett|2y=2006|2p=26|3a1=Aitken|3y=2013|3p=74}}

===Member of Parliament (1959–1970)===
In 1954, Thatcher was defeated when she sought selection to be the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] candidate for the [[1955 Orpington by-election|Orpington by-election]] of January 1955. She chose not to stand as a candidate in the [[1955 United Kingdom general election|1955 general election]], in later years, stating: "I really just felt the twins were [...] only two, I really felt that it was too soon. I couldn't do that."{{sfnp|Campbell|2000|p=100}} Afterwards, Thatcher began looking for a Conservative safe seat and was selected as the candidate for [[Finchley (UK Parliament constituency)|Finchley]] in April 1958 (narrowly beating [[Ian Montagu Fraser]]). She was elected as MP for the seat after a hard campaign in the [[1959 United Kingdom general election|1959 election]].{{sfnp|Beckett|2006|p=27}}<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=41842 |date=13 October 1959 |page=6433}}</ref> Benefiting from her fortunate result in a lottery for [[backbencher]]s to propose new legislation,{{r|runciman20130606}} Thatcher's maiden speech was, unusually, in support of her [[private member's bill]], the [[Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960]], requiring local authorities to hold their council meetings in public; the bill was successful and became law.<ref>{{Cite web |date=5 February 1960 |title=HC S 2R [Public Bodies (Admission of the Press to Meetings) Bill] (Maiden Speech) |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/101055 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109151758/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/101055 |archive-date=9 November 2013 |access-date=8 April 2013 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref>{{sfnp|Aitken|2013|p=91}} In 1961 she went against the Conservative Party's official position by voting for the restoration of [[birching]] as a [[judicial corporal punishment]].{{sfnp|Campbell|2000|p=134}}

====On the frontbenches====
Thatcher's talent and drive caused her to be mentioned as a future prime minister in her early 20s{{r|runciman20130606}} although she herself was more pessimistic, stating as late as 1970: "There will not be a woman prime minister in my lifetime – the male population is too prejudiced."<ref name="sandbrook20130409">{{Cite news |last=Sandbrook |first=Dominic |author-link=Dominic Sandbrook |date=9 April 2013 |title=Viewpoint: What if Margaret Thatcher had never been? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22076886 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130608091711/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22076886 |archive-date=8 June 2013 |access-date=16 June 2013 |work=BBC News Magazine}}</ref> In October 1961 she was promoted to the [[frontbench]] as [[Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry for Pensions]] by [[Harold Macmillan]].{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|p=4}} Thatcher was the youngest woman in history to receive such a post, and among the first [[List of MPs elected in the 1959 United Kingdom general election|MPs elected in 1959]] to be promoted.{{sfnp|Scott-Smith|2003}} After the Conservatives lost the [[1964 United Kingdom general election|1964 election]], she became spokeswoman on housing and land. In that position, she advocated her party's policy of giving tenants the [[right to buy]] their [[council house]]s.{{sfnp|Wapshott|2007|p=64}} She moved to the [[Shadow Treasury]] team in 1966 and, as Treasury spokeswoman, opposed Labour's mandatory price and income controls, arguing they would unintentionally produce effects that would distort the economy.{{sfnp|Wapshott|2007|p=64}}

[[Jim Prior]] suggested Thatcher as a [[Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom)|Shadow Cabinet]] member after the Conservatives' [[1966 United Kingdom general election|1966 defeat]], but party leader [[Edward Heath]] and Chief Whip [[William Whitelaw]] eventually chose [[Mervyn Pike]] as the [[First Shadow Cabinet of Edward Heath|Conservative shadow cabinet]]'s sole woman member.{{sfnp|Scott-Smith|2003}} At the 1966 Conservative Party conference, Thatcher criticised the high-tax policies of the [[Labour government, 1964–1970|Labour government]] as being steps "not only towards Socialism, but towards Communism", arguing that lower taxes served as an incentive to hard work.{{sfnp|Wapshott|2007|p=64}} Thatcher was one of the few Conservative MPs to support [[Leo Abse]]'s bill to decriminalise male homosexuality.<ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=Sexual Offences (No. 2) |house=House of Commons |date=5 July 1966 |volume=731 |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1966/jul/05/sexual-offences-no-2 |page=267 |access-date=22 October 2020}}</ref> She voted in favour of [[David Steel]]'s bill to legalise abortion,{{sfnp|Thatcher|1995|p=150}}<ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=Medical Termination of Pregnancy Bill |house=House of Commons |date=22 July 1966 |volume=732 |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1966/jul/22/medical-termination-of-pregnancy-bill |page=1165 |access-date=22 October 2020}}</ref> as well as a ban on [[hare coursing]].<ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=Hare Coursing Bill |house=House of Commons |date=14 May 1970 |volume=801 |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1970/may/14/hare-coursing-bill |access-date=22 October 2020 |pages=1599–1603}}</ref> She supported the retention of capital punishment<ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=Capital Punishment |house=House of Commons |date=24 June 1969 |volume=785 |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1969/jun/24/capital-punishment |page=1235 |access-date=22 October 2020}}</ref> and voted against the relaxation of divorce laws.<ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=Divorce Reform Bill |house=House of Commons |date=9 February 1968 |volume=758 |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1968/feb/09/divorce-reform-bill |access-date=22 October 2020 |pages=904–907}}</ref>{{sfnp|Thatcher|1995|p=151}}

====In the Shadow Cabinet====
In 1967, the [[Embassy of the United States, London|United States Embassy]] chose Thatcher to take part in the [[International Visitor Leadership Program]] (then called the Foreign Leader Program), a professional exchange programme that allowed her to spend about six weeks visiting various US cities and political figures as well as institutions such as the [[International Monetary Fund]]. Although she was not yet a Shadow Cabinet member, the embassy reportedly described her to the [[State Department]] as a possible future prime minister. The description helped Thatcher meet with prominent people during a busy itinerary focused on economic issues, including [[Paul Samuelson]], [[Walt Rostow]], [[Pierre-Paul Schweitzer]] and [[Nelson Rockefeller]]. Following the visit, Heath appointed Thatcher to the Shadow Cabinet{{sfnp|Scott-Smith|2003}} as fuel and power spokeswoman.<ref>{{Cite news |date=8 April 2013 |title=Margaret Thatcher's timeline: From Grantham to the House of Lords, via Arthur Scargill and the Falklands War |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/margaret-thatchers-timeline-from-grantham-to-the-house-of-lords-via-arthur-scargill-and-the-8564555.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104013802/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/margaret-thatchers-timeline-from-grantham-to-the-house-of-lords-via-arthur-scargill-and-the-8564555.html |archive-date=4 November 2016 |access-date=2 November 2016 |work=[[The Independent]]}}</ref> Before the [[1970 United Kingdom general election|1970 general election]], she was promoted to shadow transport spokeswoman and later to education.{{sfnp|Wapshott|2007|p=65}}<ref>{{Cite news |date=15 November 1968 |title=Maudling leads Tory General Election drive |url={{GBurl|tX9AAAAAIBAJ|p=1&article_id=4653,2776284}} |work=[[The Glasgow Herald]] |page=1 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Warden |first=John |date=22 October 1969 |title=Shadow Cabinet's Three Changes |url={{GBurl|E5JAAAAAIBAJ|p=24&article_id=2828,4200705}} |work=The Glasgow Herald |page=24 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

In 1968, [[Enoch Powell]] delivered his [[Rivers of Blood speech|"Rivers of Blood" speech]] in which he strongly criticised [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] immigration to the United Kingdom and the then-proposed [[Race Relations Act 1968|Race Relations Bill]]. When Heath telephoned Thatcher to inform her that he would sack Powell from the Shadow Cabinet, she recalled that she "really thought that it was better to let things cool down for the present rather than heighten the crisis". She believed that his main points about Commonwealth immigration were correct and that the selected quotations from his speech had been taken out of context.{{sfnp|Aitken|2013|page=117}}  In a 1991 interview for ''[[Today (UK newspaper)|Today]]'', Thatcher stated that she thought Powell had "made a valid argument, if in sometimes regrettable terms".<ref name="Sandford">{{Cite magazine |last=Sandford |first=Christopher |author-link=Christopher Sandford (biographer) |date=4 December 2017 |orig-date=June 2012 issue |title=To See and to Speak |url=https://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/article/to-see-and-to-speak/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027040342/https://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/article/to-see-and-to-speak/ |archive-date=27 October 2020 |access-date=23 October 2020 |magazine=[[Chronicles (magazine)|Chronicles]]}}</ref>

Around this time, she gave her first Commons speech as a shadow transport minister and highlighted the need for investment in [[British Rail]]. She argued: "[{{ucfirst:i]f}} we build bigger and better roads, they would soon be saturated with more vehicles and we would be no nearer solving the problem."{{sfnp|Campbell|2000|p=189}}  Thatcher made her first visit to the [[Soviet Union]] in the summer of 1969 as the Opposition transport spokeswoman, and in October, delivered a speech celebrating her ten years in Parliament. In early 1970, she told ''The Finchley Press'' that she would like to see a "reversal of the permissive society".{{sfnp|Campbell|2000|pp=190–191}}

===Education Secretary (1970–1974)===
[[File:Girls at Baldock County Council School in Hertfordshire enjoy a drink of milk during a break in the school day in 1944. D20552.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Girls at Baldock County Council School in Hertfordshire enjoying a drink of milk during a break in the school day in 1944|Thatcher abolished free milk for children aged 7–11 (''pictured''{{--)}} in 1971 as [[Edward Short, Baron Glenamara|her predecessor]] had done for older children in 1968.]]
The Conservative Party, led by Edward Heath, won the 1970 general election, and Thatcher was appointed to the [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|Cabinet]] as [[Secretary of State for Education and Science]]. Thatcher caused controversy when, after only a few days in office, she withdrew Labour's [[Circular 10/65]], which attempted to force [[Comprehensive school (England and Wales)|comprehensivisation]], without going through a consultation process. She was highly criticised for the speed at which she carried this out.{{sfnp|Campbell|2000|p=222}} Consequently, she drafted her own new policy ([[Circular 10/70]]), which ensured that local authorities were not forced to go comprehensive. Her new policy was not meant to stop the development of new comprehensives; she said: "We shall [...] expect plans to be based on educational considerations rather than on the comprehensive principle."{{sfnp|Moore|2013|p=215}}

Thatcher supported [[Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild|Lord Rothschild]]'s 1971 proposal for market forces to affect government funding of research. Although many scientists opposed the proposal, her research background probably made her sceptical of their claim that outsiders should not interfere with funding.{{r|lecher20130408}} The department evaluated proposals for more local education authorities to close grammar schools and to adopt [[comprehensive school|comprehensive secondary education]]. Although Thatcher was committed to a tiered [[secondary modern]]-grammar school system of education and attempted to preserve grammar schools,{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|p=14}} during her tenure as education secretary, she turned down only 326 of 3,612&nbsp;proposals (roughly 9&nbsp;per&nbsp;cent){{sfnp|Campbell|2000|p=224}} for schools to become comprehensives; the proportion of pupils attending comprehensive schools consequently rose from 32&nbsp;per&nbsp;cent to 62&nbsp;per&nbsp;cent.{{sfnp|Marr|2007|pp=248–249}} Nevertheless, she managed to save 94 grammar schools.{{sfnp|Moore|2013|p=215}}

{{anchor|Milk Snatcher}}
During her first months in office, she attracted public attention due to the government's attempts to cut spending. She gave priority to academic needs in schools,{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|p=14}} while administering public expenditure cuts on the state education system, resulting in the abolition of [[Education Act 1944|free milk for schoolchildren]] aged seven to eleven.{{sfnp|Wapshott|2007|p=76}} She held that few children would suffer if schools were charged for milk but agreed to provide younger children with {{convert|0.3|imppt}} <!-- pint --> daily for nutritional purposes.{{sfnp|Wapshott|2007|p=76}} She also argued that she was simply carrying on with what the Labour government had started since they had stopped giving free milk to secondary schools.{{sfnp|Campbell|2000|p=231}} Milk would still be provided to those children that required it on medical grounds, and schools could still sell milk.{{sfnp|Campbell|2000|p=231}} The aftermath of the milk row hardened her determination; she told the editor-proprietor Harold Creighton of ''[[The Spectator]]'': "Don't underestimate me, I saw how they broke [[Keith Joseph|Keith {{interp|Joseph}}]], but they won't break me."{{sfnp|Campbell|2000|p=288}}

Cabinet papers later revealed that she opposed the policy but had been forced into it by the Treasury.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hickman |first=Martin |date=9 August 2010 |title=Tories move swiftly to avoid 'milk-snatcher' tag |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tories-move-swiftly-to-avoid-milksnatcher-tag-2047372.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517184554/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tories-move-swiftly-to-avoid-milksnatcher-tag-2047372.html |archive-date=17 May 2013 |access-date=9 April 2013 |work=The Independent}}</ref> Her decision provoked a storm of protest from Labour and the press,{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|p=15}} leading to her being notoriously nicknamed "Margaret Thatcher, Milk Snatcher".{{sfnp|Wapshott|2007|p=76}}<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Rebecca |date=8 August 2010 |title=How Margaret Thatcher became known as 'Milk Snatcher' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/7932963/How-Margaret-Thatcher-became-known-as-Milk-Snatcher.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118071518/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/7932963/How-Margaret-Thatcher-became-known-as-Milk-Snatcher.html |archive-date=18 January 2012 |access-date=9 April 2013 |work=The Sunday Telegraph}}</ref> She reportedly considered leaving politics in the aftermath and later wrote in her autobiography: "I learned a valuable lesson. I had incurred the maximum of political odium for the minimum of political benefit."{{sfnmp|1a1=Reitan|1y=2003|1p=15|2a1=Thatcher|2y=1995|2p=182}}

===Leader of the Opposition (1975–1979)===
{{See also|Shadow Cabinet of Margaret Thatcher}}
{{External media
| topic=1975 speech to the [[National Press Club (United States)|National Press Club]]
| headerimage=[[File:Thatcher-loc.jpg|frameless|upright=0.77 |border |Thatcher sitting in a black-and-white photograph]]
| caption=Thatcher in late 1975
| audio1={{Cite speech |title=National Press Club Luncheon Speakers: Margaret Thatcher |url=http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/pressclub/thatcher.html}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Press Club Luncheon Speakers: Margaret Thatcher (Recorded Sound Research Center, Library of Congress) |url=http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/pressclub/thatcher.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180927213633/http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/pressclub/thatcher.html |archive-date=27 September 2018 |publisher=[[Library of Congress]]}}</ref> (Starts at 7:39, finishes at 28:33.)<ref>{{Cite web |date=19 September 1975 |title=Speech to the National Press Club |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/102770 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161029044318/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/102770 |archive-date=29 October 2016 |access-date=28 October 2016 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref>
}}
The [[Heath government]] continued to experience difficulties with [[1973 oil crisis|oil embargoes]] and union demands for wage increases in 1973, subsequently losing the [[February 1974 United Kingdom general election|February 1974 general election]].{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|p=15}} Labour formed [[Labour government, 1974–1979|a minority government]] and went on to win a narrow majority in the [[October 1974 United Kingdom general election|October 1974 general election]]. Heath's leadership of the Conservative Party looked increasingly in doubt.<ref>{{Cite news |date=8 November 1974 |title=Heath agrees to change rules on leadership |url={{GBurl|NOw-AAAAIBAJ|p=1&article_id=4563,1637862}} |work=The Glasgow Herald |page=1 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Thatcher was not initially seen as the obvious replacement, but she eventually became the main challenger, promising a fresh start.{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|p=16}} Her main support came from the parliamentary [[1922 Committee]]{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|p=16}} and ''The Spectator'',<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cosgrave |first=Patrick |author-link=Patrick Cosgrave |date=25 January 1975 |title=Clear choice for the Tories |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2013/04/clear-choice-for-the-tories/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171025145009/https://www.spectator.co.uk/2013/04/clear-choice-for-the-tories/ |archive-date=25 October 2017 |access-date=13 July 2017 |publication-date=13 April 2013 |magazine=The Spectator}}</ref> but Thatcher's time in office gave her the reputation of a pragmatist rather than that of an ideologue.{{r|runciman20130606}} She [[1975 Conservative Party leadership election|defeated Heath]] on the first ballot, and he resigned from the leadership.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Naughton |first=Philippe |date=18 July 2005 |title=Thatcher leads tributes to Sir Edward Heath |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/thatcher-leads-tributes-to-sir-edward-heath-353gzwv3fdh |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210913173244/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/thatcher-leads-tributes-to-sir-edward-heath-353gzwv3fdh |archive-date=13 September 2021 |access-date=23 October 2020 |work=[[The Times]]}}</ref> In the second ballot she defeated Whitelaw, Heath's preferred successor. Thatcher's election had a polarising effect on the party; her support was stronger among MPs on the right, and also among those from southern England, and those who had not attended public schools or [[Oxbridge]].{{sfnp|Cowley|Bailey|2000}}

Thatcher became Conservative Party leader and [[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Leader of the Opposition]] on 11&nbsp;February 1975;<ref>{{Cite web |date=11 February 1975 |title=Press Conference after winning Conservative leadership (Grand Committee Room) |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=102452 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218065547/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=102452 |archive-date=18 February 2012 |access-date=29 September 2007 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref> she appointed Whitelaw as her [[Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party (UK)|deputy]]. Heath was never reconciled to Thatcher's leadership of the party.{{sfnp|Moore|2013|pages=394–395, 430}}

Television critic [[Clive James]], writing in ''[[The Observer]]'' prior to her election as Conservative Party leader, compared her voice of 1973 to "a cat sliding down a blackboard".{{refn|{{harvtxt|James|1977|pp=119–120}}: <q>The hang-up has always been the voice. Not the timbre so much as, well, the {{em|tone}} – the condescending explanatory whine which treats the squirming interlocutor as an eight-year-old child with personality deficiencies. It has been fascinating, recently, to watch her striving to eliminate this. BBC2 ''News Extra'' on Tuesday night rolled a clip from May 1973 demonstrating the Thatcher sneer at full pitch. (She was saying that she wouldn't {{em|dream}} of seeking the leadership.) She sounded like a cat sliding down a blackboard.</q><ref>{{Cite news |last=James |first=Clive |date=9 February 1975 |title=Getting Mrs T into focus |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52299047/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111173045/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52299047/2-c-mt-on-tv/ |archive-date=11 January 2021 |access-date=23 October 2020 |work=The Observer |page=26 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>|group=nb}} Thatcher had already begun to work on her presentation on the advice of [[Gordon Reece]], a former television producer. By chance, Reece met the actor [[Laurence Olivier]], who arranged lessons with the [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]]'s voice coach.{{sfnp|Thatcher|1995|p=267}}<ref name="Moore Vanity">{{Cite news |last=Moore |first=Charles |date=December 2011 |title=The Invincible Mrs. Thatcher |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2011/12/margaret-thatcher-201112 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218073039/http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2011/12/margaret-thatcher-201112 |archive-date=18 February 2012 |access-date=25 February 2012 |work=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]}}</ref>{{refn|Thatcher succeeded in completely suppressing her Lincolnshire dialect except when under stress, notably after provocation from [[Denis Healey]] in the Commons in 1983, when she accused the [[Shadow Cabinet of Michael Foot|Labour frontbench]] of being [[wikt:frit#Etymology 2|''frit'']].<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=A miracle recovery for Finchley mother of two |date=22 April 1983 |page=28 |issue=61513 |department=News |last=Johnson |first=Frank |author-link=Frank Johnson (journalist)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=20 April 1983 |title=PM taunts Labour over early election |work=The Guardian |page=5 |quote=Amid uproar from both sides of the house, Mrs Thatcher shouted: 'So you are afraid of an election are you? Afraid, Afraid, Afraid. Frightened, frit – couldn't take it. Couldn't stand it.'}}</ref>|group=nb}}

Thatcher began attending lunches regularly at the [[Institute of Economic Affairs]] (IEA), a think tank founded by {{wikt-lang|en|Hayekian|i=-}} poultry magnate [[Antony Fisher]]; she had been visiting the IEA and reading its publications since the early 1960s. There she was influenced by the ideas of [[Ralph Harris, Baron Harris of High Cross|Ralph Harris]] and [[Arthur Seldon]] and became the face of the ideological movement opposing the [[British welfare state]]. [[Keynesian economics]], they believed, was weakening Britain. The institute's pamphlets proposed less government, lower taxes, and more freedom for business and consumers.{{sfnp|Beckett|2010|loc=chpt. 11}}

{{multiple image
|direction=vertical
|image1=President Gerald Ford Meeting with Great Britain's Conservative Party Leader Margaret Thatcher in the Oval Office.jpg
|alt1=Thatcher sitting with Gerald Ford
|caption1=With President Ford in the [[Oval&nbsp;Office]], 1975
|image2=Shah and Margaret Thatcher.jpg
|alt2=Thatcher sitting with Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
|caption2=With the Shah in the [[Niavaran&nbsp;Complex]], 1978
}}
Thatcher intended to promote [[neoliberal]] economic ideas at home and abroad. Despite setting the direction of her foreign policy for a Conservative government, Thatcher was distressed by her repeated failure to shine in the House of Commons. Consequently, Thatcher decided that as "her voice was carrying little weight at home", she would "be heard in the wider world".{{sfnp|Campbell |2000|p=344}} Thatcher undertook visits across the Atlantic, establishing an international profile and promoting her economic and foreign policies. She toured the United States in 1975 and met President [[Gerald Ford]],<ref>{{Cite wikisource |title=President Ford–Margaret Thatcher memcon |date=18 September 1975 |wslink=President Ford–Margaret Thatcher memcon (18 September 1975)}}</ref> visiting again in 1977, when she met President [[Jimmy Carter]].{{sfnp|Cooper|2010|pp=25–26}} Among other foreign trips, she met Shah [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]] during a visit to [[Pahlavi Iran|Iran]] in 1978.<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Press Conference concluding visit to Iran |date=1 May 1978 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation |url=https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/103489 |access-date=13 April 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180414010627/https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/103489 |archive-date=14 April 2018}}</ref> Thatcher chose to travel without being accompanied by her [[shadow foreign secretary]], [[Reginald Maudling]], in an attempt to make a bolder personal impact.{{sfnp|Cooper|2010|pp=25–26}}

In domestic affairs, Thatcher opposed [[Scottish devolution]] ([[Home rule#Scotland|home rule]]) and the creation of a [[Scottish Assembly]]. She instructed Conservative MPs to vote against the Scotland and Wales Bill in December 1976, which was successfully defeated, and then when new Bills were proposed, she supported amending the legislation to allow the English to vote in the [[1979 Scottish devolution referendum|1979 referendum]] on Scottish devolution.<ref>{{Cite news |date=27 April 2008 |title=How Thatcher tried to thwart devolution |url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/how-thatcher-tried-to-thwart-devolution-1-1165673 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016012202/http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/how-thatcher-tried-to-thwart-devolution-1-1165673 |archive-date=16 October 2015 |access-date=20 April 2013 |work=The Scotsman}}</ref>

Britain's economy during the 1970s was so weak that then Foreign Secretary [[James Callaghan]] warned his fellow Labour Cabinet members in 1974 of the possibility of "a breakdown of democracy", telling them: "If I were a young man, I would emigrate."{{sfnp|Beckett|2010|loc=chpt. 7}} In mid-1978, the economy began to recover, and opinion polls showed Labour in the lead, with a general election being expected later that year and a Labour win a serious possibility. Now prime minister, Callaghan surprised many by announcing on 7&nbsp;September that there would be no general election that year and that he would wait until 1979 before going to the polls. Thatcher reacted to this by branding the Labour government "chickens", and Liberal Party leader David Steel joined in, criticising Labour for "running scared".<ref>{{Cite news |title=7 September 1978: Callaghan accused of running scared |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/7/newsid_2502000/2502781.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120410202005/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/7/newsid_2502000/2502781.stm |archive-date=10 April 2012 |access-date=13 January 2012 |work=On This Day 1950–2005 |via=[[BBC News Online]]}}</ref>

The Labour government then faced fresh public unease about the direction of the country and a damaging series of strikes during the winter of 1978–79, dubbed the "[[Winter of Discontent]]". The Conservatives attacked the Labour government's unemployment record, using advertising with the slogan "[[Labour Isn't Working]]". A [[1979 United Kingdom general election|general election]] was called after the Callaghan ministry [[1979 vote of no confidence in the Callaghan ministry|lost a motion of no confidence]] in early 1979. The Conservatives won a 44-seat majority in the House of Commons, and Thatcher became the first female British prime minister.{{sfnp|Butler|Kavanagh|1980|page=199}}

===="Iron Lady"====
{{Main|Britain Awake}}
{{External media |topic=1976 speech to Finchley Conservatives |video1={{Cite speech |title=Speech to Finchley Conservatives'' (admits to being an "Iron Lady")'' |url=https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/111324 |via=the Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}<ref name="Iron Lady" />}}
{{blockquote|I stand before you tonight in my ''Red Star'' chiffon evening gown, my face softly made up and my fair hair gently waved, the Iron Lady of the Western world.{{r|Iron Lady}}|Thatcher embracing her Soviet nickname in 1976}}

In 1976, Thatcher gave her "Britain Awake" foreign policy speech which lambasted the Soviet Union, saying it was "bent on world dominance".<ref name="britain-awake">{{Cite web |date=19 January 1976 |title=Speech at Kensington Town Hall ('Britain Awake') (The Iron Lady) |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/102939 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101017152319/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/102939 |archive-date=17 October 2010 |access-date=2 November 2008 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation |quote=[[Helsinki Accords|At Helsinki]] we endorsed the status quo in Eastern Europe. In return we had hoped for the freer movement of people and ideas across the Iron Curtain. So far we have got nothing of substance.}}</ref> The Soviet Army journal ''[[Krasnaya Zvezda|Red Star]]'' reported her stance in a piece headlined "Iron Lady Raises Fears",<ref name="Gavrilov">{{Cite news |last=Gavrilov |first=Yuri |date=24 January 1976 |title=The 'Iron Lady' Sounds the Alarm |work=Red Star |pages=3, 17 |volume=28 |issue=1–13 |translator={{text|''The Current Digest of the Soviet Press''}}}}</ref> alluding to her remarks on the [[Iron Curtain]].<ref name="britain-awake" /> ''[[The Sunday Times]]'' covered the ''Red Star'' article the next day,<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 January 1976 |title=Maggie, the 'Iron Lady' |url=http://gale.cengage.co.uk/images/upload/NewsVault/Thatcher/15-Maggie-the-Iron-Lady.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161029044402/http://gale.cengage.co.uk/images/upload/NewsVault/Thatcher/15-Maggie-the-Iron-Lady.pdf |archive-date=29 October 2016 |access-date=28 October 2016 |newspaper=The Sunday Times}}</ref> and Thatcher embraced the [[wikt:epithet|epithet]] a week later; in a speech to Finchley Conservatives she likened it to the [[Duke of Wellington]]'s nickname "{{title case|iron duke}}".<ref name="Iron Lady">{{Cite web |date=31 January 1976 |title=Speech to Finchley Conservatives (admits to being an 'Iron Lady') |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/102947 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924182918/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/102947 |archive-date=24 September 2016 |access-date=17 October 2016 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref> The [[Iron (metaphor)|"Iron" metaphor]] followed her throughout ever since,{{sfnmp|1a1=Atkinson|1y=1984|1p=115|2a1=Kaplan|2y=2000|2p=60}} and would become a generic [[sobriquet]] for other strong-willed female politicians.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Macpherson |first=Fiona |author-link=Fiona Macpherson |date=10 April 2013 |title=The Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher's linguistic legacy |url=https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2013/04/10/margaretthatcher |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616153939/https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2013/04/10/margaretthatcher/ |archive-date=16 June 2018 |access-date=20 May 2018 |website=[[OxfordDictionaries.com]] |quote=While it has been applied to other women since (from politicians to tennis players), the resonance with Margaret Thatcher remains the strongest.}}</ref>