First Thatcher ministry took place. Members of the Cabinet are in bold face. First Thatcher ministry Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 4 May 1979 to 28 November 1990, during which time she led a Conservative government. She was the first woman to hold that office. During her premiership, Thatcher moved to liberalise the British economy through deregulation, privatisation, and the promotion of entrepreneurialism. This article details the first government Thatcher led at the invitation of Queen Elizabeth II from 1979 to 1983. Following the vote of no confidence against the Labour government and prime minister James Callaghan on
Premiership of Margaret Thatcher Meyer. As Meyer was a virtually unknown backbench MP, he was viewed as a "stalking horse" candidate for more prominent members of the party. Thatcher easily defeated Meyer's challenge, but there were sixty ballot papers either cast for Meyer or abstaining, a surprisingly large number for a sitting Prime Minister. Her supporters in the Party, however, viewed the results as a success, claiming that after ten years as Prime Minister and with approximately 370 Conservative MPs voting, the opposition was surprisingly small. Thatcher was fiercely committed to a new tax—commonly called the "poll tax"—that would apply in equal amounts to