ABSTRACT
During her long prime ministership, Margaret Thatcherʼs political demise was frequently prophesied and, by her many critics, eagerly awaited. It was widely felt that she could not survive the desperate economic depression of 1980-1, for which her governmentʼs economic management was directly responsible. Many in her own party hoped that she would not. Her recovery after the Falklands campaign and her substantial election victory in 1983 silenced Tory doubters for a while. However, it is reasonable to date the background to her eventual fall not to 1990 but to 1986, the year of the Westland affair and the consequential resignation of Michael Heseltine.
