Margaret Thatcher become a generic descriptor for strong-willed female politicians. Thatcher became Prime Minister on 4 May 1979. Arriving at Downing Street she said, paraphrasing the misattributed Prayer of Saint Francis: Thatcher was to remain in office throughout the 1980s. For most of her premiership, she was described as the most powerful woman in the world. Thatcher was Leader of the Opposition and Prime Minister at a time of increased racial tension in Britain. Commenting on the local elections of 1977, "The Economist" noted "The Tory tide swamped the smaller parties. That specifically includes the National Front (NF), which suffered a clear
Roger Thatcher Population Censuses and Surveys in 1978. He worked on the 1981 census in the United Kingdom and reported directly to Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher, who had him remove three questions from the census to trim it down. He became interested in research into centenarians in this role, and found in 1981 that their numbers in the United Kingdom had increased significantly from prior 1971 data. He served as director at the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys until 1986. Thatcher compiled research into population data and centenarians and contributed a significant body of scholarly work in