MARGARET ROBERTS THATCHER - UNITED KINGDOM

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06239543
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: March 16, 2022
• Document Release Date: January 11, 2016
• Case Number: F-2014-01469
• Publication Date: October 27, 1988

Approved for Release: 2014/10/24 006239543
Margaret Roberts THATCHER
Prime Minister (since May 1979)
Addressed as: Prime Minister
conservative Party leader since 1975,
Margaret Thatcher dominates British politics. In
June 1987 her party won another overwhelming
majority in the House of Commons, ushering in her
third consecutive term. In January 1988 she
became this century's longest serving British .prime
minister, and she has publicly said that she looks
forward to a fourth term (her current one ends in
1992). she rules
her Cabinet with an iron hand and, in the words of
one media observer, verbally "bashes" colleagues
whose ideas run counter to hers. Her command of
the political landscape has also undercut her
opposition in Parliament and bolstered the Tories already
UNITED KINGDO
strong position in opinion polls.
Thatcher considers any willingness to
compromise to be weakness and views herself as the West's strongest, most politically secure
leader. Although she has often expressed her faith in US leadership in foreign affairs, she
has said that she considers herself better positioned than officials in Washington to
consolidate the West's relations with Moscow. She regards her government's tenure and
policy continuity as strengths that enable her to handle an increasingly sophisticated Soviet
challenge. Her respectful yet forthright relationship with Soviet Communist Party General
Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev also bolsters her view that she has a special understanding of
Moscow and its evolving policy agenda. Even so, when the Prime Minister disalr)ees with
Washington on security policy issues,
reserve a
strong public image of Alliance unity.
Thatcher has given no hint of slowing down or resting on her laurels. She is looking
forward to 1989 with eagerness and a touch of apprehension. She will celebrate the new year
as the West's most tenured and experienced leader�strengths that she is likely to capitalize
on to exert greater influence on the course of key foreign policy issues. At the same time, she
has expressed concern about the departure of President Reagan, whose leadership she has
considered central to maintaining a strong NATO Alliance through the 1980s and to
preserving a close US-UK special relationship. In addition, despite her good relationship
with Gorbachev and praise for his reform efforts, Thatcher remains the West's leading voice
counseling caution in NATO's response to Soviet security policy initiatives and Gorbachev's
foreign policy in general. Accordingly, during the next year we expect her to step up her
warnings to other Allied leaders�especially those in Bonn and Washington�against being
enticed into dropping their guard concerning Moscow. Thatcher also fears a lull in East-
West arms control efforts while the new US administration settles in, and she will probably
try to nudge Washington officials in her preferred direction on disarmament issues. We
expect her to push during 1989 for cuts in conventional and US-Soviet strategic systems
(cont.)
LDA M 88-15779
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ffe=avoiding reductions
Thatcher's
On the Home Front
rankemuctear weapons. Despite her intentions, we believe
influenc:e on Alliance matters could lead to increased
eaden, ,those leaden are likely to resent further pressure or
on on oti policy matters.
...,
To further alter Britain's economic and social fabric along her self-described "radical"
lines,'Thatcher has outlined an aggressive legislative agenda for her third administration.
She has publicly vowed to continue expanding the enterprise culture and eliminating
socialism in Britain. Accordingly, her government has implemented measures to lower taxes,
expand private ownership of homes and stocks, and further restrict trade unions and Labor-
dominated local governments. Despite her commanding position, however, Thatcher is not
without problems, and her armor has already suffered some dents. For example, popular
concern over her eovernment's reform, funding, and administration of the National Health
Service the "most sacred cow" of the welfare state) has forced her
to hike social spending and initiate a Cabinet-level review of the NHS to forestall further
erosion of public confidence in her handling of health care issues.
Foreign Policy Views
Concerned about the long-term implications of expanded Franco-German defense
cooperation, Thatcher has publicly urged the two countries to reduce the intensity of their
bilateral relationship. She suspects that Paris may be trying to forge a European defense
regime that would exclude the United States; accordingly, she has said that greater defense
cooperation between France and West Germany must be strictly within a NATO context
and avoid alienating opinion in the United States.
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Concerning the EC, Thatcher is intrigued with the Community's decision to establish a
barrier-free internal market by 1992. Determined that British firms should do well by the
internal market plan, she will try to exert a strong influence on how that policy is
implemented and will resist any measures she believes might impair British economic
activity or industrial competitiveness. Although Thatcher is willing to grant the EC some
additional decisionmaking authority, she is strongly nationalistic and controlling and will
resist any measures that erode national sovereignty. As she has said in numerous recent
public statements, she wants to see the EC remain a pragmatic economic union of
independent states free from strong socialist influences. We expect her to resist some aspects
of the new EC internal market plan, which will anger nearly every other Community leader
and add to her image in continental capitals of being only halfhearted in her commitment to
the Community.
Personal Data
Thatcher was born on 13 October 1925. She has degrees in chemistry and law from
Oxford. She has served in Parliament since 1959. She is widely known as a scathing debater,
hard worker, and fast learner who has little patience for bureaucratic delay. Her poise,
charm, and feminine manner when out of the spotlight, however, contrast sharply with her
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assassination
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27 October 1988
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