THE THATCHER DECADE

In the seventies Britain suddenly began to slip rapidly behind its European neighbours economically.

As unemployment grew, the relationship between black immigrants and the white population of Britain was not easy. The country was troubled with a series of strikes, biggest since the years of depression.

In the elections of April 1979 the Conservatives won. Margaret Thatcher became the first woman prime minister in British or European history. She was to remain in office for the next 11 years, making hers the longest continuous prime ministership since the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

Margaret Thatcher had come to power calling on the nation for hard work, patriotism and self-help.

The years between 1982 and 1988 were economic boom years in Britain. The living standards of most Britons rose and the rate of unemployment gradually ebbed.

The most serious accusation against the Thatcher government by the middle of the 1980s was that it had created a more unequal society, a society of "two nations", one wealthy, and the other poor.

THE “NEW LABOUR”

Thatcher was succeeded as Conservative Party leader and prime minister by John Major, who received the lowest approval rating, 14 percent, of any prime minister in British history.

In national elections in 1997 Labour leader Tony Blair became prime minister. At 43 years old, Blair was the youngest man to become British prime minister since Lord Liverpool in 1812.

The new government introduced a package of reforms. The reformation of Parliament began; all but 92 hereditary peers were removed from the House of Lords in the first stage of its reform.

Tony Blair was re-elected in the 2001 General Election.

But Blair’s persistence in the support of Bush’s policy in Iraq and ignoring the opinion of most British citizens on Britain’s participation in the war cost him his career.

Throughout the course of the Iraqi war Blair was often the target of harsh criticism. All around Britain there were numerous anti-war protests. On February 15, 2003 there were over 10 million people in the streets all over the world. But Blair’s persistence in the support of Bush’s policy in Iraq cost him his caree. He gave his position to his party-member Gordon Brown.

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 1349