Margaret Thatcher: National Hero or National Disgrace?

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[00:00:00.000] - Oliver (Host)

Margaret Thatcher is one of the most divisive leaders in modern British history. Is, not was. She died in 2013, but emotions still run high whenever people in the UK discuss her. Many Britons admire her as a strong Prime Minister who changed the country for the better. Many others hate her, with plenty of communities throughout the country complaining that they suffered terribly under her policies throughout her time in power. I was alive for only a couple of years of Margaret Thatcher's period in power, so I didn't exactly have first-hand experience of her policies. But even within my own family, there is deep division. Some people loved her, others despised her. Sometimes, in British families, it's easier to avoid certain controversial topics, and Thatcher may be one.

[00:01:01.730] - Oliver (Host)

Welcome to English and Beyond: Intermediate English Podcast. My name is Oliver. I'm an English, Spanish, and Latin teacher from the UK. There is a free transcript and vocabulary flashcards available for this episode at morethanalanglish.com. Today, we're talking about Margaret Thatcher. This episode has been written for a non-native English-speaking audience to help them learn about one of the most significant significant leaders in British history. However, she's such a divisive leader that I almost dread publishing this.

[00:01:38.260] - Oliver (Host)

Even with the effort I've made to be neutral, I'm confident that some British listeners will find much to object to. But my aim is to allow you, listener, to learn a little bit about why she's so controversial in the UK, so that you can begin to make up your own mind about her and to learn more about her if you're interested.

[00:02:01.640] - Oliver (Host)

So, who was Margaret Thatcher? Well, she was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 until 1990. That made her the first woman to lead the country, and she stayed in power for more than 11 years, longer than any other British Prime Minister in the modern era. She was called the Iron Lady because of her tough style and her absolute refusal to change her mind once she had made a decision. She spoke with a great deal of authority. She dressed in a very traditional way, and she worked extremely hard to project an image of strength and control. Supporters saw her as determined and confident. Critics saw her as cold, cruel, and stubborn. Either way, she quickly became one of the most recognisable leaders in the world. As I mentioned before, she was just as divisive as she was well known.

[00:03:06.260] - Oliver (Host)

I'm going to begin to explore this analysis by discussing what her supporters praised her for. When Thatcher became Prime Minister, in 1979, Britain felt like a country in trouble. The 1970s had brought crisis after crisis. Prices were rising, jobs were disappearing, and the nation's old industries, like coal, steel, and shipbuilding, were struggling to survive. Strikes were so common in the year before Thatcher was elected that the period was nicknamed the Winter of Discontent, a strike being a refusal to work organised by the union of the Workers. In London, even Leicester Square, one of its most famous tourist sites, was covered with piles of rubbish, left uncollected because refuse workers had walked out. For many people, it seemed as if Britain was falling apart, both economically and socially. By the end of the decade, the country felt tired, directionless, and ready for someone who promised to take control. And that person turned out to be Margaret Thatcher. Against this background of strikes and decline, Thatcher led the conservative Party into the 1979 election. She promised order, discipline, and pride at a time when many people felt the country was falling apart. When the Conservatives won and she became the first woman Prime Minister, her supporters saw it as a turning point.

[00:04:43.140] - Oliver (Host)

In the early years, she took tough decisions to control inflation, even though it meant hardship for some. She also promoted the Right to Buy scheme, which allowed council tenants to buy their homes. Council tenants are people who rent their homes from the council, the local government, and usually enjoy lower rent and more secure housing rights than they would in private housing. This policy of allowing council tenants to buy their houses was especially popular with families who dreamed of becoming a home owners. For her admirers, Thatcher was therefore the leader who brought stability and confidence back to Britain. In 1982, a new test came. Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, a small British territory in the South Atlantic, which are called Las Malvinas in Spanish. Many people at home and abroad thought Britain was too weak to fight back. But Thatcher sent warships thousands of miles across the ocean to retake the islands. The war lasted only 10 weeks, and Britain won. For Thatcher's supporters, this was proof that she was a strong leader who would defend the nation's honour. Her popularity soared, and the victory helped her win a second term in office. But, critics saw it differently.

[00:06:04.580] - Oliver (Host)

They argued that the war was unnecessary and that she had used destructive warfare to strengthen her own political position. So, those are some of the reasons that some people strongly supported Margaret Thatcher. But while many people did admire her, many others despised her. One reason was her economic policies. In the 1980s, she believed that Britain's old industries, like coal, steel, and shipbuilding, were no longer efficient. This meant they produced goods at a higher cost than other countries, and so they often needed government money or subsidies to survive against this competition. Thatcher thought that constantly supporting these industries with public money was a waste, and that it stopped the economy from modernising. She wanted Britain to compete on the world stage with services, finance, and new technology, not with heavy industry from the past. To achieve this, her government reduced the subsidies and let unprofitable businesses close. The result was that hundreds of coal mines, steelworks, and factories shut down. Whole communities in the north of England, Wales, and Scotland lost their main source of jobs almost overnight. Unemployment rose to levels not seen in decades, and families that had worked in the same industries for generations suddenly faced poverty.

[00:07:36.340] - Oliver (Host)

The trade unions, organisations that protect workers rights and negotiate pay and conditions as a collective, argued that this was short sighted. Even if the industries were uncompetitive, closing them meant paying more money in unemployment benefits and destroying entire communities that could never be rebuilt. The Miners' Strike of 1984/1985, became the symbol of this conflict: bitter, divisive, and sometimes violent. For these critics, Thatcher was not the saviour of Britain, but the destroyer of working-class communities.

[00:08:15.620] - Oliver (Host)

The beginning of the end for Thatcher came in 1989, when Thatcher's government introduced the so-called Poll Tax in Scotland. This was a local tax, money that everyone had to pay to their local council. But unlike the old system, where people who lived in more expensive houses paid more and poorer people paid less, the poll tax was the same amount for every adult. So someone who worked as a cleaner earning a low wage paid exactly the same as a millionaire. Many people in the UK thought that this was unfair. The anger was even worse in Scotland because Scots had to start paying the poll tax a year before England and Wales. For many Scots, this felt like they were being treated unfairly as a testing ground for a bad idea.

[00:09:07.780] - Oliver (Host)

Huge protests followed and thousands of people refused to pay. When the tax was finally introduced in England, the opposition exploded into riots in London's Trafalgar Square, a riot being a violent public protest. The poll tax became one of the most unpopular measures in modern British history, and it played a big in Thatcher's fall from power in 1990. Thatcher was not only famous for her policies, but also for her personality. She was often called the Iron Lady, a name first used by a Soviet journalist and later repeated with pride in Britain. The title seemed to fit her. She spoke with a firm, clear voice and used strong body language. She wore her hair in the same recognisable style for decades. And her suits and pearls became part of her look. She also worked with advisors to change her speaking voice, making it lower and slower so she would sound more powerful. Supporters admired this image, saying she was strong, determined, and confident at a time when the country needed it. But critics saw the same qualities as negative, calling her stubborn, cold, and unwilling to listen. She was a leader who inspired both admiration and anger.

[00:10:33.140] - Oliver (Host)

And whether you loved her or loathed her, it was impossible to ignore her. By the 1980s, she had become one of the most recognisable political figures in the world. Thatcher finally left power in 1990, but her influence has remained in British politics for many years. Some people said she saved the country, making it more competitive and breaking the power of the trade unions. Others said that she had destroyed communities, created more inequality, and encouraged selfishness. The division was so deep that when she died in 2013, people reacted in very different ways. Some mourned her like a national hero, others held street parties, and sang songs celebrating her death. In London, at her funeral, some attendees turned their backs in silence as Thatcher's coffin passed as a mark of disrespect while others shouted, What a waste of money and Tory scum, that is, Conservative scum. Few British leaders could inspire such strong emotions, especially decades after leaving office. So how should we judge Margaret Thatcher today? Was she the leader who rescued Britain from decline or the politician who tore its communities apart? Perhaps she was both. But what is clear is that she left such a strong mark that she cannot be ignored, to the extent that my mere suggestion from the previous sentence that she could have simultaneously rescued and destroyed Britain, will make many people in the UK absolutely furious.

[00:12:13.260] - Oliver (Host)

She was admired, hated, feared, and celebrated in equal measure. But if we're analysing her record, she inspires some big questions. For example, can we consider a leader as truly great if half the country loves them, but the other half absolutely despises them? Then again, are there any great leaders who don't inspire such adoration and hatred simultaneously?

[00:12:40.610] - Oliver (Host)

Thank you for listening. I hope this served as an interesting introduction to one of the most divisive politicians in UK history, loved and loathed in equal measure. Please remember to subscribe, and until next time. Bye-bye.