As Margaret Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher served as British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990 and led the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990.  She is the first, and to date only, woman to hold either position.

First elected to the House of Commons in 1959, Mrs Thatcher was appointed Secretary of State for Education and Science in Edward Heath’s first Cabinet in 1970.  After the October 1974 General Election, she backed Sir Keith Joseph in the Conservative Party leadership contest.  When he withdrew from the race, Thatcher entered herself and became leader in January 1975.

Mrs Thatcher's tenure as Prime Minister was the longest since Lord Salisbury and was the longest continuous period in office since the tenure of Lord Liverpool, who was Prime Minister from 1812 to 1827.

The principles of her time in office – of low taxation, de-regulation, an enterprise economy and privatisation – are carried forward by Conservative Way Forward today.

She currently sits in the House of Lords as Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven.

She was married to Sir Denis Thatcher from 1951 until his death in 2003.  She has two children, Mark and Carol.