The Downing Street Years
B55.2350 Final Exam
Overview
The Downing Street Years chronicles the life and decisions of Margaret Thatcher during
her lengthy tenure as Prime Minister (‘PM’) of Britain. In particular, the book covers the
period from her first victory in the general election in 1979 to her resignation as PM in
1990. The uplifting nature of her vision for Britain, her ability to not waiver her beliefs
when faced with adversity, and the proficiency that encouraged others to share her beliefs
are dominant themes that allowed for the transformational change that occurred during
her service. This paper will explore key defining moments in Ms. Thatcher’s career, the
skills that allowed Ms. Thatcher to drive transformational change, and ultimately, how the
personality that fueled such great success allowed her to underperform in a manner that
resulted in her resignation, brought down by her own party.
Leaders Take Advantage of Defining Moments to Advance Their Cause:
The career of Margaret Thatcher is filled with Defining Moments. I will explore three
critical episodes at various junctions of her career.
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The first Queen’s Speech where Ms. Thatcher outlined her policy
The Budget Battle of 1981
The Battle for the Falkland Islands (her best known moment)
Taking the role of Prime Minister in 1979, Margaret Thatcher inherited a Britain that was
experiencing a ‘winter of discontent’. Suffering from a lack of free markets and a lack of
public confidence, attempts to revive the economy through social programs were clearly
failing. Equally daunting to the economic realities of the time was the ideology of the
Tory Party rooted in compliant politics. Attempts for privatization and reductions in
subsidies were not seriously embraced by most politicians, with the inclination of the
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The Downing Street Years
B55.2350 Final Exam
Tory party aimed at slowing the ratcheting effect of Labour policy. Setting the tone for
her new government, Ms. Thatcher was determined to use her first address, the Queen’s
Speech, to send a strong signal of change. The importance of this speech is that faced
with an economy in recession, Ms. Thatcher did not retreat from a policy of cutting taxes
and removing price controls despite the clear volatility such actions would create. In
addition, Ms. Thatcher started her campaign for trade union reform. Sensing that she had
public support for her policies, she proposed limiting the right to picket and mandated
funds for postal ballots for union elections. Attacked by union leaders, it turned out that
she was in touch with the popular mood. The Queen’s speech was a defining moment for
Ms. Thatcher as she established a sense of urgency for her agenda and explicitly
communicated her vision of free market reform. Conviction over consensus was to be the
new prescription for Britain.
By 1981, the lack of popularity for Ms. Thatcher’s economic program was combining
with a lack of public confidence in its success.
Credibility was at stake as the financial
health of Britain continued to deteriorate. In an attempt to get interest rates down as a
way to re-ignite the economy, the 1981 budget took the unpopular stance of resisting
increased government borrowing. In March of 1981, 364 economists published a letter in
The Times (of London) condemning her fiscal policy as the path to recession and social
disturbance.
Dissenters in the Cabinet used the budget as political opportunity to
condemn the radical departure from traditional policy. Described as ‘the most unpopular
prime minister since polls began’ (p. 153) Ms. Thatcher used conviction and a will of iron
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The Downing Street Years
B55.2350 Final Exam
to stay the course. Choosing a speech to the Central Council of the Conservative Party in
Bournemouth as the arena for rallying the party to her policy, Ms Thatcher declared:
‘In the past our people have made sacrifices, only to find at the eleventh hour
their government had lost its nerve and the sacrifice had been in vain. It shall not
be in vain this time. This Conservative Government, not yet two years in office,
will hold fast until the future of our country is assured. I do not greatly care what
people say about me: I do greatly care what people think about our country …
This is the road I am resolved to follow. This is the path I must go. I ask all who
have the spirit – the bold, the steadfast and the young in heart – to stand and join
with me as we go forward. For there is no other company in which I would keep.’
(p. 139)
Her speech was received as a call to action for the Party faithful to rally in support of her
policy. Successful in forming a powerful guiding coalition, Ms. Thatcher was able to set
the stage for her spectacular resurgence the following year.
In the spring of 1982, Margaret Thatcher signaled to the world and her country that
Britain was not a diminished power. In achieving a military victory in the Falkland
Islands against Argentina, she demonstrated her ability to react with speed and conviction
against a Junta-led government. She also showed an adept skill in empowering the
military commanders to act as needed during the conflict. A much-noted scene was the
sinking of the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano, a decisive act that stalled peace talks
and sent the Argentine Navy back to port. More than just raising spirits domestically, the
Falkland victory showed the world a united national will, a showing that was of particular
importance in dealing with the Soviet Union. As she stated in a speech on July 3, 1982:
‘We have ceased to be a nation in retreat. We have instead a newfound
confidence – born in the economic battles at home and tested and found true 8000
miles away …We rejoice that Britain has rekindled that spirit which has fired her
for generations past and which today has begun to burn as brightly as before.
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The Downing Street Years
B55.2350 Final Exam
Britain found herself again in the South Atlantic and will not look back from the
victory she has won.’ (p. 235)
Following the success of the Falkland’s victory, Ms. Thatcher won the 1983 election in a
landslide victory. This served as her platform to institutionalize the set of government
policies based on privatization and empowerment of the individual that would ultimately
be called Thatcherism. Ms. Thatcher used the Falkland victory, and subsequent electoral
triumph, as a defining moment to lock in a value system that fundamentally changed
British politics. While many more significant moments occurred later in Ms. Thatcher’s
career, such as her battles with union leaders (steel strike, miners strike), multiple
bombings (Harrods, Brighton, Enniskillen, Lockerbie) and Foreign Policy (Gorbachev,
Europe, Reagan), it is Ms. Thatcher’s handling of these early situations that gave her the
leadership currency to achieve her grand reforms.
Transformational Leaders have a Portfolio of Skills to Drive Significant Change:
It is fitting for this section to begin with a tribute to the working stamina and inner fire of
Margaret Thatcher. Her modest background as the daughter of a grocer well prepared her
for a life based on a daily struggle of achieving a small surplus, and consolidating those
gains into a more tangible result. It also helped her adopt a philosophy of always being
on call, as she saw her father take care of his customers’ needs regardless of the hour. A
quote from her father she often refers to is telling:
It’s easy to be a starter, but are you a sticker too?
It’s easy enough to begin a job, it’s harder to see it through (p. 37)
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The Downing Street Years
B55.2350 Final Exam
This is the philosophy of ‘Life Over the Shop’, a reference to the values she learned as a
child living above the grocery store in her early years. Ms. Thatcher carried those same
values into the flat she occupied above 10 Downing Street during her tenure as Prime
Minister. The value system of ‘Life Over the Shop’ is clearly reflected in her leadership
style of hard work to generate achievements and consolidating results to produce larger
gains. A prime example of this system is her legendary preparation for the Questions to
the Prime Minister every Tuesday and Thursday. A brutal session where the PM is
subject to questions on any topic, Ms. Thatcher would spend long hours the night before
preparing for the Order Paper (a listed agenda) and the range of supplemental questions
she may have tossed at her. Her demonstrable competence as shown by her grip on
policy and facts was essential to her standing in the party, and was a primary driver of her
success.
In debate, she had no rival in preparation, frequently scoring victory by
command of fact while her opponents showed only rhetoric. Surviving on four hours of
sleep a night, her work habits have actually saved her life. Preparing for her speech at the
end of the 1984 Party Conference in Brighton, Ms. Thatcher was reviewing official
papers at three o’clock in the morning on October 12, 1984 when an IRA bomb exploded
through the hotel. Designed to attack Ms. Thatcher’s sleeping quarters, she was unhurt as
she was still working at the time of the explosion. However, there is much more to Ms.
Thatcher’s success than hard work and physical stamina. She has a zeal about her beliefs
that is tangible. Let’s call this skill ‘Not For Turning’, in a tribute to her conviction of
will and straightforward way of framing ideas. Ms. Thatcher did not water down her
belief in what needed to be done to revitalize Britain.
This is critical for a
transformational leader to have any impact. A principled and uncompromising leader
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The Downing Street Years
B55.2350 Final Exam
capable of building a coalition, she did not waiver to an easier or more popular path as is
the trend of so many purer politicians. She challenged the prevailing consensus and
entrenched interests to take a new direction. As is the case with most leaders, Ms.
Thatcher combined her intellectual capacity and integrity with a good dose of timing and
circumstances, riding the popular pulse of British discontent to reform the country.
Finally, it should be noted that Ms. Thatcher has a kind and thoughtful way. Her
countless handwritten notes to people from all walks of life shows a refined emotional
intelligence.
Leaders with Great Success in One Arena Under Perform in Different Situations:
Margaret Thatcher was able to create change in Britain by having a deep conviction in her
ideas. She adopted the zealotry of Us vs. Them, an effective tactic in the early stages of
her career when she was trying to change an institution. After the victory in the Falklands
and her landslide reelection in 1983, perhaps Ms. Thatcher erred in not fully appreciating
that a policy of zero tolerance to opposing views was no longer necessary as she had
clearly established her right to lead. Of the many difficult issues in leadership, perhaps
foremost is the recognition that the mannerisms that takes a person to a leadership
position should be softened once the leadership position has been attained.
The
association that occurred during her final years as PM where the views of Ms. Thatcher
were given as proxy for the opinions of the nation proved to be the force that ended her
career. While Ms. Thatcher was an adept listener, the issue is one of allowing debate and
reaching compromising viewpoints. Her iron will was a dominant reason why she was
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The Downing Street Years
B55.2350 Final Exam
such an excellent person to initiate and institutionalize change, but perhaps her
personality was not well suited to the day to day running of a political body not in crisis.
Facing a challenge from within her own party by Michael Heseltine that stemmed from
Ms. Thatcher’s rigid approach to the European Community negotiations, Ms. Thatcher’s
support team experienced a rapid disintegration.
She was viewed as grating and
unnecessarily hostile. A key moment was the resignation of Geoffrey Howe over a spat
regarding Britain’s stance towards a single euro currency. Ms. Thatcher had taken Mr.
Howe ‘to task, probably too sharply’ (p. 834) for indicating incorrectly that Ms. Thatcher
did not in fact oppose a single currency. In a memorable speech to the House about his
resignation, Mr. Howe attacked Ms. Thatcher’s team building skills, turning a cricket
metaphor used early by Ms. Thatcher against her by stating:
It is rather like sending your batsmen to the crease only for them to find, the
moment the first balls are bowled, that their bats have been broken before the
game by the team captain. (p. 839)
Faced with a twenty-point deficit in the polls to the Labour party, Michael Heseltine built
support for his candidacy as the way for the Tories to not lose the next general election.
After a first ballot, Ms. Thatcher had achieved a clear majority of the Parliamentary Party,
but had not recorded a margin sufficient enough to avoid a second ballot. The unraveling
had begun. Afterwards, her cabinet ministers came to her one-by-one to say that they
would back her but regretfully did not believe she could win. Rather than attempt to
reach a compromise to continue her campaign, Ms. Thatcher felt contempt at their weak
will and party-line chorus. A true transformational leader, she decided that stepping
down to clear the path for her protégé John Major would be the best way for her to ensure
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The Downing Street Years
B55.2350 Final Exam
her policy and advancements would continue.
Sure enough, John Major defeated
Michael Heseltine to gain the seat as PM.
Conclusions:
The first British Prime Minister in the twentieth century to win three consecutive terms,
Ms. Thatcher carved her name into history in such a way that the term Thatcherism was
coined to denote her belief in empowering individuals to be their best. Serving as a
transformational change agent, Ms. Thatcher tackled distorted public opinion and braved
daunting unpopularity to implement reform. Showing an adept touch at choosing her
issues carefully, and fighting battles that could be won, Ms. Thatcher established urgency,
formed a strong vision backed by a guiding coalition and planned for short-term wins.
She relied on her upbringing as a grocer’s daughter to take heart in small improvements
and work towards ever-greater levels of privatization and reduced government. Most
importantly, her greatest legacy is the degree to which she institutionalized her reform
policies. Subsequent leaders such as Tony Blair who assumed the leadership mantle
under the title of New Labour arguably ran a campaign on a core offering of Thatcherism
with a human face.
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The Downing Street Years
B55.2350 Final Exam
Ms. Thatcher represented such a unique leader in the total package of traits she offered:
an original decisive mind, an unflinching character, refined emotional intelligence, the
ability to capitalize on circumstances, and energy to reverse a political process that had
been in motion for over a century. It is fitting to close with an anagram of the ‘The
Downing Street Years’ that is relevant to Ms. Thatcher’s leadership style: ‘The Gods
answer: Eternity’1.
Ms. Thatcher’s leadership prowess has proved to be a critical
enduring force in the history of the free world.
1
The Anagram Genius Dictionary
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