The 1979 UK general election was arguably the most significant since 1945, and saw Margaret Thatcher become Britain’s first female Prime Minister, running on a radical Conservative economic platform.
 "Britain's landmark postwar election: 1979, when Thatcher became the first female prime minister")
AP London
Britain’s upcoming general election is widely expected to lead to a change of government for the first time in 14 years, and many analysts consider it to be one of the most important elections the UK has had since the end of World War II.
Ahead of the July 4 vote, The Associated Press looks back at other key British post-war elections.
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The 1979 UK general election was arguably the most important since 1945, as Margaret Thatcher became the UK’s first female Prime Minister, running on a radical Conservative economic platform.
Thatcherism essentially represented a complete rethinking of the role of the state.
[SinceLabour’slandslidevictoryin1945aso-calledpost-warconsensusontheeconomyhadexistedbetweenthetwomajorpartiesLabourandtheConservativesDespitealternatinggovernmentsthetwoparties’economicpolicieswereconsistentGovernmentsaimedforfullemploymentandintervenedintheeconomytopursuethatgoalthroughtaxandspendingpolicies[1945年に労働党が大勝して以来、経済に関するいわゆる戦後コンセンサスが労働党と保守党の2大政党の間に存在していた。政権交代にもかかわらず、両党の経済政策は一致していた。政府は完全雇用を目標とし、税制や支出政策を通じてその目標を追求するために経済に介入した。
Throughout the 1970s, this consensus gradually eroded as Britain went into economic decline, inflation reached its highest post-war level, and trade unions became more militant in pursuing wage demands.
The May 1979 election came after the so-called “Winter of Discontent”, a wave of major strikes across industry and the public service. The mood within Jim Callaghan’s Labour government was gloomy.
Thatcher, keen to play up her image as the “Iron Lady,” said things could not continue as they were. She won a significant number of votes and stayed in power for more than 11 years, during which she cut income tax, especially for the wealthy, and privatised many industries, including energy and communications.
On the international stage, Thatcher developed a close political relationship with her close friend, US President Ronald Reagan. Both leaders took a tough stance against the Soviet Union, and they also became vocal opponents of what was then called the European Economic Community (now the European Union), which ultimately led to Thatcher’s downfall.
Thatcher’s term as prime minister until she was effectively ousted by her own party members in 1990 was one of Britain’s most controversial in post-war Britain.
Her admirers include current Chancellor Rishi Sunak and many senior Conservatives who cite Thatcher as their political inspiration, but to her opponents she was a divisive figure whose free-market economic liberalism destroyed communities and whose growing euroscepticism stoked opposition to European integration and ultimately led to Britain’s vote to leave the EU in 2016.
