Word: thatcher
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Britain, Margaret Thatcher's Tory government was swept into Office in May on a tide of popular fury at the dismal results of Labor rule and is now rapidly unwinding much of the high-tax, nationalized welfare state. Income tax rates have been reduced from a top of 83%, to 60%; a third of Britain's nationalized North Sea oil industry has been put up for private sale; and the government now has plans to sell off its shares of other state industries, including British Airways...
...close of the Commonwealth Conference in Lusaka, Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda and his wife Betty dined with Margaret Thatcher and her husband Denis. As the evening ended in a glow of good feeling, Kaunda observed: "Let us hope God acts quick." Replied Thatcher, buoyant over her diplomatic successes: "I don't know about God, but the British Prime Minister will certainly act quick...
...colleague, Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere, said flatly: "The Patriotic Front [leaders] are going to a constitutional conference called by the decolonizing power." Nyerere suggested, however, that the British government might have a much harder time getting the Muzorewa-Smith bloc to the conference table. Snapped back Mrs. Thatcher: "If Julius Nyerere can deal with his problem," i.e., producing the guerrilla leaders, "I hope he will accept that I can deal with mine...
...also called for drastic revisions in the seven-month-old constitution of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, which gives whites a disproportionate share of seats in the legislature and effective control of the armed forces, police, civil service and judiciary for five years. To the surprise of many delegates present, Mrs. Thatcher matched the African proposals, declaring that Britain was determined to achieve genuine majority rule in Salisbury and would take the primary responsibility for bringing it about. In fact, she and her Cabinet colleagues had worked out the Tory government's African position before the conference began. But by publicly announcing...
...Thatcher's success was all the more remarkable in light of the animosity that had greeted her on arrival. Zambian reporters asked her rude questions and crowds booed her. During a reception at the British High Commission in Lusaka, a group of her expatriate countrymen advised her, "Don't be bullied, Prime Minister." She replied coolly, "I am not bulliable." But she realized that her earlier comments in support of the Salisbury government of Bishop Abel Muzorewa had been ill-advised and had offended many Africans. She has since accepted the view of colleagues, including her Foreign Secretary...