ThatcherismHistory 337 / March 26, 2012

February 1975: Thatcher replaces Heath as head of the Tories(then in opposition)

Thatcher helps to rally the “yes” vote for continuing British membership in the EEC

Labour’s James Callaghan at 10 Downing Street in 1976

1978: Workers at a Ford plant in Britain vote to go on strike (and five weeks later, win a 17% pay hike)

Public-sector workers demand huge raises, too

Garbage goes uncollected as the “winter of discontent” deepens

Jan. 11, 1979: The Sun lampoons “Sunny Jim’s” efforts at optimism…borrowing from a 1975 album by Supertramp

The Conservatives (“Tories”) mount a slick

campaign

(produced by advertising giantSaatchi & Saatchi)

Thatcher derides inflation

May 1979: Margaret Thatcher prepares to enter 10 Downing Street

Raising the VAT; over time, lowering income taxes

Thatcher’s policies yield inflation & a recession in 1980-81 – but then a return to growth

Unemployment rises sharply in the early 1980s (TUC poster)

Reagan and Thatcher, 1981

April 2, 1982:Argentina’s Galtieri announces the

seizure of the Falkland Islands (a.k.a. the Malvinas)

Thatcher sends a “task force” to the Falklands, including the HMS Invincible

British soldiers stage an amphibious landing

Thatcher visits the Falklands, 1983…part of a successful reelection campaign

Thatcher takes on the miners, 1984-85

Scenes of intense bitterness

Thatcher demands a rebate (June 1984)

(click here for an editorial cartoon by Plantu)

Thatcher remains controversial in Britain…