Queen Elizabeth II and Margaret Thatcher, the only Prime Minister to win three terms in office – two of the most important female figures in 20th century British history. The two women held weekly audiences, as is customary between the Queen and her Prime Minister, but how well did these two remarkable women get on?
Mrs Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher was Britain’s first female Prime Minister, elected in 1979 to a country with rampant inflation and mass unemployment. Her policies were drastic, increasing indirect taxes and reducing expenditure on public services: they caused much controversy, but were, at least in the short term, highly effective.
The introduction of the ‘right to buy’ scheme in 1980, which allowed up to 6 million people to buy their houses from the local authority, resulted in a massive transfer of public property into private ownership – some would argue for the better, others that it has helped fuel the council house crisis of the modern world.
Similarly, the Conservatives’ poll tax (a precursor in many respects to today’s council tax) resulted in the Poll Tax Riots in 1990.
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