page_title: Political history of the United Kingdom (1979–present)
section_title: Margaret Thatcher (1979–90)
hierarchical_section_title: Political history of the United Kingdom (1979–present) / Conservative Government, 1979–97 / Margaret Thatcher (1979–90)
caption_attribution_description: English&#x3a;&#32; Prime Minister ThatcherNederlands&#x3a;&#32; Premier Thatcher 19 september 1983
context_page_description: Margaret Thatcher gained power in 1979 and began 18 years of Conservative government. Victory in the Falklands War and the government's strong opposition to trade unions helped lead the Conservative Party to another three terms in government. Thatcher initially pursued monetarist policies and went on to privatise many of Britain's nationalised companies such as British Telecom, British Gas Corporation, British Airways and British Steel Corporation. She kept the National Health Service. The controversial Community Charge, used to fund local government was unpopular and the Conservatives removed Thatcher as Prime Minister in 1990.
  Thatcher's successor John Major replaced the Poll Tax with the Council Tax and oversaw successful British involvement in the Gulf War. Despite a recession, Major led the Conservatives to a surprise victory in 1992. The events of Black Wednesday in 1992, party disunity over the European Union and several scandals involving Conservative politicians led to Labour under Tony Blair winning a landslide election victory in 1997. Labour had shifted its policies closer to the political centre, under the new slogan 'New Labour'.
context_section_description: Thatcher formed a government on 4 May 1979, with a mandate to reverse the UK's economic decline and to reduce the role of the state in the economy. Thatcher was incensed by one contemporary view within the Civil Service that its job was to manage the UK's decline from the days of Empire, and wanted the country to punch above its weight in international affairs. She was a philosophic soulmate with Ronald Reagan, elected in 1980 in the United States, and to a lesser extent, Brian Mulroney, who was elected in 1984 in Canada. It seemed for a time that conservatism might be the dominant political philosophy in the major English-speaking nations for the era.
caption: Margaret Thatcher
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