Summary: A Chronology of the Thatcher Era 1979-90
by
4th September 2015
A Chronology of the Thatcher Era 1979-90
1979-83: Prime Minister – first term
| 79 May 04 Fr: | MT appointed Prime Minister |
| 79 Jun 07 Th: | European Elections |
| 79 Jul 31 Tu: | Lusaka Commonwealth Meeting began (ended 8 Aug) |
| 79 Aug 27 Mo: | IRA murdered Mountbatten and 18 soldiers (Warrenpoint) |
| 79 Oct 23 Tu: | Exchange controls abolished |
| 79 Nov 29-30: | Dublin European Council: budget row beginning |
| 79 Dec 25 Tu: | USSR invaded Afghanistan |
| 80 Jan 02 We: | Steel strike began (ended 3 Apr) |
| 80 Jun 02 Mo: | Cabinet agreed European budget proposal; short-term settlement |
| 80 Sep 22 Mo: | Iran-Iraq war began |
| 80 Nov 04 Tu: | Reagan elected US President |
| 81 Feb 10 Tu: | NCB announced pit closures (abandoned 18 Feb) |
| 81 Mar 01 Su: | Second Republican hunger strike began (ended 3 Oct) |
| 81 Mar 10 Tu: | Budget: counter-Keynesian – increased taxes at bottom of depression |
| 81 Mar 26 Th: | Social Democratic Party (SDP) formed (‘Alliance’ of SDP & Liberals, 16 Jun) |
| 81 Nov 26 Th: | Crosby by-election: Shirley Williams won Conservative seat for SDP |
| 82 Apr 02 Fr: | Falklands: Argentina invaded |
| 82 Apr 03 Sa: | Falklands: UN SCR 502 demanding Argentine withdrawal; British Task Force sailed |
| 82 Apr 25 Su: | Falklands: South Georgia recaptured |
| 82 Apr 30 Fr: | Falklands: US ’tilt’ in favour of Britain; Total Exclusion Zone put in force |
| 82 May 02 Su: | Falklands: Argentine cruiser General Belgrano sunk by British sub HMS Conqueror |
| 82 May 04 Tu: | Falklands: HMS Sheffield hit by Argentine Exocet missile |
| 82 May 21 Fr: | Falklands: British Forces landed at San Carlos Bay |
| 82 Jun 14 Mo: | Falklands: Argentine surrender |
| 83 Mar 23 We: | Reagan announced ‘Star Wars’ (Strategic Defence Initiative); MT supports |
| 83 Jun 09 Th: | General Election: Conservative Government formed (144 majority) |
1983-87: Prime Minister – second term
| 83 Nov 25 Tu: | US invasion of Grenada |
| 84 Mar 12 Mo: | Miners’ strike began |
| 84 Jun 25-26: | Fontainebleau European Council; long-term European budget settlement |
| 84 Oct 12 Fr: | Brighton bomb: failed IRA attempt to assassinate MT and her cabinet |
| 84 Nov 06 Tu: | Reagan reelected US President |
| 84 Nov 20 Tu: | Flotation of British Telecom: key privatisation measure |
| 84 Dec 16 Su: | Gorbachev visited Chequers: MT described him as a man she could do business with |
| 84 Dec 19 We: | Hong Kong: MT signed Joint Agreement with China |
| 85 Mar 03 Su: | NUM voted to end coal strike |
| 85 Nov 15 Fr: | Anglo-Irish Agreement signed at Hillsborough: consultative role for Republic |
| 85 Dec 02 Mo: | Luxembourg European Council; Single European Act agreed (ended 3 Dec) |
| 86 Jan 09 Th: | Westland: Heseltine walked out of cabinet; replaced at Defence by George Younger |
| 86 Jan 24 Fr: | Westland: Brittan resigned; Channon replaced him at DTI |
| 86 Jan 27 Mo: | Westland: emergency debate, ending the crisis |
| 86 Apr 15 Tu: | US air raids on Libya, mainly from British bases; MT attacked for allowing them |
| 86 Oct 11-12: | Reykjavik (Reagan-Gorbachev) Summit; talk of abolishing nuclear weapons |
| 86 Nov 15 Sa: | Anglo-US Summit at Camp David: MT and Reagan issued arms control statement |
| 87 Feb 22 Su: | ‘Louvre Accord’ to halt decline in $; Lawson secretly began shadowing DM |
| 87 Mar 28 Sa: | MT visited USSR (ended 1 Apr) |
| 87 Jun 11 Th: | General Election: Conservative Government formed (101 majority) |
1987-90: Prime Minister – third term
| 87 Oct 19 Mo: | ‘Black Monday’: Dow Jones fell 23 per cent |
| 88 Feb 08 Mo: | Gorbachev announced Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan from May |
| 88 Mar 07 Mo: | Sterling ‘uncapped’ on MT’s insistence and rose above 3DM |
| 88 Mar 15 Tu: | Budget: highest rate of income tax cut to 40 per cent |
| 88 May 17 Tu: | Interest rates cut to 7.5 per cent (lowest 1979-90); MT publicly supported Lawson |
| 89 Jan 31 Tu: | NHS White Paper published (Working for Patients) |
| 89 Jun 03 Sa: | China: Tiananmen Square massacre |
| 89 Jun 20 Tu: | MT clash with Howe and Lawson on ERM line at Madrid Council (met again 25 Jun) |
| 89 Jun 26 Mo: | MT set conditions for ERM entry (‘Madrid conditions’); rejected Social Charter |
| 89 Oct 26 Th: | Lawson resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer; Major replaced him |
| 89 Dec 10 Su: | Czechoslovakia: end of Communist rule (Havel President 29 Dec) |
| 89 Dec 22 Fr: | Romania: dictator Ceausescu overthrown (killed 25 Dec) |
| 90 Feb 10 Sa: | Kohl in Moscow: Gorbachev agreed German reunification |
| 90 Mar 11 Su: | Lithuania declared independence of USSR |
| 90 Mar 31 Sa: | Trafalgar Square riot against Community Charge or ‘poll tax’ |
| 90 Apr 01 Su: | Strangeways prison siege (ended 25 Apr); disturbances in other gaols |
| 90 Jul 14 Sa: | Ridley resigned over comments on Germany |
| 90 Aug 02 Th: | Iraq invaded Kuwait; MT with Bush in Aspen |
| 90 Aug 09 Th: | UK announced commitment of forces to the Gulf |
| 90 Oct 03 We: | German reunification |
| 90 Oct 05 Fr: | Britain joined ERM; interest rates cut by one per cent to 14 per cent |
| 90 Nov 01 Th: | Howe resigned |
| 90 Nov 13 Tu: | HC: Howe’s resignation speech bitterly critical of MT |
| 90 Nov 14 We: | Heseltine stood for Conservative leadership |
| 90 Nov 20 Tu: | Conservative leadership election first ballot (MT 204:152 Heseltine) |
| 90 Nov 22 Th: | MT announced decision not to contest second ballot |
| 90 Nov 27 Tu: | Conservative leadership election second ballot; Major became leader |
| 90 Nov 28 We: | MT resigned as Prime Minister; John Major succeeded her |
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