Margaret Thatcher remade modern Britain. Her list of achievements is as long as it is extraordinary. As US President Barack Obama observed on Monday, she shattered the last glass ceiling, rising to be the first woman to lead one of the major western democracies. Her legacy – taming trade unions, rolling back the state, standing tall against communism – made her a politician of global significance.
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As prime minister, Thatcher was the most remarkable peacetime leader since Gladstone. She reversed the sense of national decline, and remains the figure against whom all successive British politicians should be measured. She redefined leadership.
Three decades on, it is difficult to recall the dire state of Britain in 1979 when she took office. The winter of discontent and rising inflation had raised questions about the governability of the UK. Abroad, the Soviet Union cast a menacing shadow across the world. The west seemed enfeebled and trapped in self-doubt. Her transatlantic conservative double act with President Ronald Reagan helped reverse the tide as they liberalised at home and pursued peace through strength abroad.
