Margaret
Thatcher arrived at her North London constituency early, in good time
for glad-handing and a last bit of publicity. But it was well into the
following morning when the last paper ballots from every village and
shire came in: the gutsy politician of the zealous right had routed
Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan and smashed the gender barrier to
become Britain's first female PM.
On the doorstep of her new home, 10
Downing Street, the new leader cited the compassionate litany of St.
Francis of Assisi: "Where there is discord, let there be harmony." It
would be the last conciliatory message from this aggressive, even
strident, Prime Minister, who boasted, "I am not a consensus politician,
I am a conviction politician!" Her conservative creed transformed
Britain: she broke the unions' stranglehold, flogged the business world
out of complacency, altered the welfare-state mentality and boldly
fought a war over the Falkland Islands, some 8,000 miles away. And she
did it all her way.
Angelo was the magazine's London bureau chief
from 1978 to 1985
TIME Cover
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