MARGARET ROBERTS THATCHER - UNITED KINGDOM

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06239530
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: March 16, 2022
• Document Release Date: January 11, 2016
• Case Number: F-2014-01469
• Publication Date: March 20, 1980

Approved for Release: 2014/10/24 006239530
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Margaret Roberts THATCHER
Prime Minister (since May
1979)
Addressed as:
Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher,
the Conservative Party's
self-proclaimed crusader
for the economic revival
of Great Britain, is the
first woman to become
British Prime Minister;
she is also the first
European woman to reach
the top national posi-
tion. Thatcher earned that distinction after the
elections of 3 May 1979, in which her party gained a
comfortable 43-seat majority in Parliament; she has
been party leader since February 1975. During her
first 10 months as Prime Minister, she has fulfilled
several of her campaign promises: she has made
substantial reductions in personal income taxes,
prepared plans to sell some of Britain's national-
ized industries, had some success in reforming the
trade unions, and begun a pruning of the bureaucracy
and of government involvement in the economy.
UNITED KINGDOM
Thatcher visited the United States in 1967 as a
Foreign Leader Grantee. On a return visit in 1975
she met with then President Gerald Ford in Washing-
ton, and in 1977 and 1979 she met with President
Jimmy Carter. Since becoming Prime Minister, she
has taken several trips abroad.
After graduating from Oxford with honors in
chemistry, Margaret Roberts studied law, specializ-
ing in tax legislation and patents. She enjoys
listening to music by Bach, Beethoven and Chopin and
reading detective stories, historical novels and
biographies. She does not smoke. The Prime Minis-
ter, 54, has been married since 1951 to Denis
Thatcher, who retired as executive director of the
Burmah Oil Company in May 1975. The Thatchers have
26-year-old twins, Mark and Carol.
CR M 80-11309
20 March 1980
Approved for Release: 2014/10/24 006239530