Margaret Thatcher 1

The childhood and early career of Margaret Thatcher.

When Margaret Thatcher unexpectedly emerged to challenge Edward Heath for the Conservative leadership in 1975, the public knew her only as the archetypal Tory lady, more famous for her hats than for any outstanding talent. Yet, almost overnight, she reinvented herself. Within weeks of her becoming Tory leader an entirely new image was in place, based around the now-famous grocer’s shop in Grantham, the strict Methodist upbringing, and her father who taught her the “Victorian values” that were the foundations of her subsequent career.