Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, (née Roberts, 13 October 1925 – 8 April 2013) was a British politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and the Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British Prime Minister of the 20th century and is the only woman to have held the office. A Soviet journalist called her the "Iron Lady", a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. As Prime Minister, she implemented policies that have come to be known as Thatcherism.
Originally a research chemist before becoming a barrister, Thatcher was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Finchley in 1959. Edward Heath appointed her Secretary of State for Education and Science in his 1970 government. In 1975, Thatcher defeated Heath in the Conservative Party leadership election to become Leader of the Opposition and became the first woman to lead a major political party in the United Kingdom. She became Prime Minister after winning the 1979 general election.
Upon moving into 10 Downing Street, Thatcher introduced a series of political and economic i
nitiatives intended to reverse high unemployment and Britain's struggles in the wake of the Winter of Discontent and an ongoing recession.
【卉翻译】玛格丽特·希尔达·撒切尔，撒切尔夫人（姓罗伯茨，1925年10月13日 - 2013年4月8日）是一位英国政治家,自1979年至1990年任英国首相，自1975年到1990年任保守党领袖，她是20世纪任职时间最长的英国首相，是党派领袖中唯一一名女性。一个苏联记者称她为“铁娘子”，这个绰号与她不妥协的政治领导风格有关。作为首相，她实施的政策被称为撒切尔主义政策。
林肯简介撒切尔在成为一名律师之前原本是研究化学领域，撒切尔在1959年当选芬奇利的国会议员，1970年她被任命为爱德华希斯内阁的教育及科学大臣。1975年，撒切尔在保守党党魁选举中击败希斯成为反对党党魁，并且成为英国第一个领导主要政党的女人，她于1979年赢得大选并成为首相。
在搬入唐宁街10号，撒切尔推出了一系列政策措施和经济计划试图来扭转在不满的冬天之后的高失业率、英国人民的反抗以及持续的经济衰退。
Her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised deregulation (particularly of the financial sector), flexible labour markets, the privatisation of state-owned companies, and reducing the power and influence of trade unions. Thatcher's popularity during her first years in office waned amid recession and high unemployment until the 1982 Falklands War brought a resurgence of support, resulting in her re-election in 1983.
她在政治理念和经济政策上，主张解除管制规定（尤其是金融业），使劳动力市场更具弹性，国有企业私有化，并减少工会的权利和影响。撒切尔夫人在她任职的第一年里由于经济衰退和高失业率而声望衰退，直到1982年的马岛战争带来的复苏，这给她在1983年连任首相提供了支持。
Thatcher was re-elected for a third term in 1987. During this period her support for a Community Charge (popularly referred to as "poll tax") was widely unpopular and her views on the European Community were not shared by others in her Cabinet. She resigned as Prime Minister and party leader in November 1990, after Michael Heseltine launched a challenge to her leadership. After retiring from the Commons in 1992, she was given a life
peerage as Baroness Thatcher, of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire, which entitled her to sit in the House of Lords. After a series of small strokes in 2002 she was advised to withdraw from public speaking, and in 2013 she died of another stroke in London at the age of 87.
撒切尔夫人在1987年的首相大选再次胜出，在她第三个任期期间，她对人头税的支持并不得人心，她对欧洲共同体的看法也不被她内阁中人支持。在迈克尔·赫塞尔廷宣布挑战撒切尔夫人的领导地位之后，她于1990年11月辞去首相和党魁。于1992年从英国国会下院退休后，撒切尔夫人被册封为终身贵族，作为林肯郡克斯蒂文的女爵，她有权坐在上议院。2002年撒切尔夫人遭受几次轻微的中风困扰，经医生劝告后，她宣布不再发表任何公开演讲，并且她在又一次中风中于2013年在伦敦去世，享年87岁。