Why Did Thatcher Win the 1979 Election?

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A factor that led to Thatcher’s victory was her upbringing and personality. Margaret Thatcher, commonly known as the ‘Iron Lady’ had always had conservative views from a young age, due to her Methodist upbringing and the individualist approach her father took in work (owning his own business). She was a prodigy of the Grammar School scheme, introduced by 1951 Labour, and believed hard work would get you ahead in life, and this was the approach she took in politics. Thatcher grew up in a concentrated area of strikes in the North, and this is likely to have made her bitter towards the Unions. Source 3 questions ‘whether the country was yet prepared to accept a woman’ however, it is likely that this helped her case, as men had failed Britain for too long. Thatcher provided someone for the British housewives, who had struggled through the winter of discontent, to vote for, and a majority of her votes did indeed come from women. As said in Source 3, Thatcher saw ‘her opportunity’ and called a vote of no confidence as she anticipated his defeat and consequential loss in the following general election; Thatcher ‘knew she was going to win’ (Source 1). The unexpectedly high voter turnout probably also aided her win, even if she did only win ‘43% of the vote’, it allowed her to ‘deliver a parliamentary majority’ (Source 3). Source 1 mentions her election manifesto, which she wrote herself. It was ‘light in political detail’ but this wasn’t needed to gain votes, as the public just desperately wanted a leader who had a strong direction and opinion that they would follow, after wishy-washy policy from Callaghan. This factor is quite important as if Thatcher had not been a determined, motivated and forward thinking candidate the outcome may have been different; but, Thatcher didn’t have a large majority, and this suggests that perhaps her personality was not as important as it was

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