OPPapers.com

A Brief Study Of Margaret Thatcher's Leadership

Introduction

"Where there is discord, may we bring harmony;
Where there is error, may we bring truth;
Where there is doubt, may we bring faith;
And where there is despair may we bring hope." 1

This was the St Francis's prayers recited by a woman before moving into her would be new home/office for the next decade and a year on 1979.

Little did the world and her country anticipated the impact she would bring about to them during her occupation there. In the next decade and a year, with striking energy and determination, her administration would radically transform every aspect of the politics, economy model, social structure, foreign policies and international status of the country she was serving. In the process, she became one of the most influential and respected political leaders of the world. Her almost brutal approach to the transformations and their long lasting effects (of many of those changes) until today has created a great controversial legacy of hers that people still debate over today.

That new home was on 10, Downing Street, London. The woman was Margaret H. Thatcher, the first woman Prime Minister of United Kingdom, a.k.a., The Iron Lady.

Brought up and early years

Mrs. Thatcher was born Margaret Hilda Roberts, daughter to Alfred Roberts, a grocery shop owner in the town of Grantham in Lincolnshire, east England. Alfred was a Methodist lay preacher and a councilor in the local government. Margaret grew up in a strict religious family and exposed to conservative politics from a very young age, as her father would talk through with her the issues of the day. As she later recalled:

"You were taught to work jolly hard, you were taught to improve yourself, you were taught self-reliance, you were taught to live within your income, you were taught that cleanliness was next to godliness, you were taught self respect, you were taught always to give a hand to your neighbor, you were taught tremendous pride in your country, you...