ABSTRACT
Margaret Thatcher (nee Roberts) became one of Britain's most influential and controversial prime ministers. She entered Oxford University as a chemistry major in 1943. At Oxford, she discovered politics and joined the Conservative Association, a branch of the Conservative Party, and has remained active in that party ever since. In 1959, Thatcher won a seat in parliament from Finchley, near London. Between 1959 and 1970, Thatcher held a series of junior posts in various Conservative governments. With the election of Edward Heath as prime minister in 1970, Thatcher became minister of education, a post she held until 1974. In 1979, Thatcher was elected prime minister on a wave of middle-class disgust over labor troubles, economic sluggishness, and a controversial plan by the Labour Party to devolve Scotland and Wales into autonomous regions. She was highly unpopular at first with many Britons, but the 1982 Falklands War boosted her popularity, as did a firm stance against the Soviet Union.
