Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) was Britain's first woman prime minister, serving from 1979 to 1990. Born in Grantham, she studied chemistry at Oxford, qualified as a barrister and entered Parliament as the Conservative MP for Finchley in 1959. She became education secretary in 1970 and Conservative leader in 1975.

Her governments pursued privatisation, deregulation and restrictions on trade-union power, reshaping Britain's economy and public institutions. Her premiership also encompassed the Falklands War and close relations with US president Ronald Reagan. Disputes within her party, particularly over Europe, contributed to her resignation in 1990. She entered the House of Lords in 1992.