How Far was the Poll Tax the most important reason for

Margaret Thatchers fall from power in 1990?

Margaret Thatcher won the 1979 election as head of the

conservative party. She was in office for eleven and a half years
having also won the elections in 1983 and 1987. She resigned
in 1990 having lost the support of her cabinet supposedly over
her stance on Europe. However the reasons for the loss of
support of her cabinet are many and varied and I am going to
explain and describe them with a focus on the importance of
the Poll Tax. I am going to argue that rather than her downfall
being caused simply by this very unpopular tax, followed by her
staunch views on Europe that it was her increasing
stubbornness, single-mindedness and autocratic nature that
ultimately lead to her downfall although the outward most
important factor appeared to be the Poll Tax.
In 1979 the conservative party won the election from Labour at
a time when the country was suffering from lots of strikes;
rubbish went uncollected and the dead were left unburied. She
went about gathering a very loyal and strong cabinet that had
very similar ideas on how to change the country for the better
and they set about to reform the law so that the unions had
less power. They also developed strategies and policies to deal
with the state of the economy, lower inflation and the UKs
need to reform and modernise.
In 1980 the Iranian embassy was seized by terrorists. She
dictated how the siege was to be dealt with and this was
carried out by *****. However when one of the hostages, the
embassy attach, was killed she very quickly decided to send in
the SAS. Her reaction to this crisis marked her out in the eyes
of the world as a decisive, bold and strong leader. This
appearance of decisiveness christened the resolute approach
by the prime minister herself became Thatchers trademark
and a source of her popularity.

In ***** Margaret Thatcher enabled people to buy the council

house they lived in in what was known as The Right to Buy
scheme. This was a very popular scheme that transformed
huge housing estates and engendered in people a desire to
better themselves and their homes.
In **** there was very high unemployment and the country was
in recession. However she had a cabinet that was solidly with
her through this difficult time. The cabinet decided to cut
spending and this policy lead to her being seen as uncaring.
She had also begun to be seen as a leader who was not
interested in consensus and was very firm in her beliefs. This
trait was shown to great effect in her speech where she
declared, You turn (u-turn) if you want to; the lady is not for
turning.
In March 1981 some IRA prisoners went on hunger strike to
insist that they were seen and treated as politically prisoners.
Margaret Thatcher refused which resulted in first Bobby Sands
starving to death followed by 9 more deaths. This is important
as it shows that in some quarters she was seen as steadfast in
the face of terrorism and in others as uncaring. Her personal
popularity plummeted to 25%.
At this time the Labour party was split right down the middle
(ultimately leading to the creation of the Social Democratic
Party) and so there was no effective, united opposition to the
conservatives at this time.
On the 2nd April 1982 the Falkland Islands were invaded by
Argentina. Margaret Thatcher again was very decisive and swift
in her response to the invasion and sent a naval task to the
islands. Thatcher backed military action stating force should be
met with force and so the conflict escalated. On June 14th
Argentina surrendered. Victory brought a wave of patriotic
enthusiasm and increased support for the Thatcher
government. This buoyed her reputation as a tough,
determined leader who was prepared to use force. This is
important because Margaret Thatcher gained a very favourable

reputation at home and abroad for her strong leadership which

reinforced the belief in herself that she was correct to be single
minded. The Falklands Factor along with the resumption of
economic growth by the end of 1982 bolstered the
governments popularity further and in June 1983 they won the
general election with 42.4% of the vote.
Thatcher was committed to reducing the power of the trade
unions and her party brought in significant measures focused
on preventing the recurrence of the large scale industrial
actions of the 1970s. The government also made preparations
to counter a strike by the National Union of Miners (NUM) to
ensure that cuts in the electricity supply would not be made.
However the miners did strike in April 1984 in opposition to
proposals to close a large number of unprofitable mines. Police
tactics during the strikes came under criticism and when the
mounting desperation and poverty of the striking families was
known Thatcher was perceived in some quarters as completely
uncaring. The miners strike lasted a full year and the
Conservative government proceeded to close 15 pits. Nigel
Lawson, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, later recalled: The
miners strike was the central political event of the second
Thatcher Administration. The eventual defeat of the NUM
etched in the public mind the end of militant trade unionism
which had wrecked the economy and twice played a major part
in driving elected governments from office. In terms of the
recovery of the economy this was a major turning point and for
many Thatcher was seen as a strong leader who was willing to
carry through unto the bitter end in something that she
strongly believed in, even if it was unpopular at the time.
On the 12th October 1984 the Conservative Party were staying
at The Grand hotel in Brighton during their party conference.
The hotel was bombed by the IRA and 5 people were killed.
Thatcher was calm during the evacuation and said that the
business of government must go on. She insisted that the
conference open on time the next day and made her speech as

planned in defiance of the bombers, a gesture which won

widespread approval across the political spectrum.
Thatchers political and economic philosophy emphasised
reduced state intervention, free markets and
entrepreneurialism. She had already experimented with selling
off the National Freight Company and as the response was
positive she sold off most of the large utilities which had been
in public ownership since the 1940s. Wider share ownership
and council house sales became known as popular capitalism
to its supporters.
During the 1980s there was a great improvement in the UKs
productivity growth rate relative to other capitalist countries.
Unemployment had peaked at nearly 3,300,000 in 1984 but
had fallen below 3,000,000 by June 1987 and in early 1989 it
fell below 2,000,000 and by December it stood at just over
1,600,000.
By leading her party to victory in the 1987 general election she
became the longest continuously serving British prime minister
since Lord Liverpool (1812-1827) and the first to win three
consecutive elections since Lord Palmerston in 1865. Despite
her third straight victory she remained a polarising figure; she
was very well respected by many and for others she was seen
as someone who was deeply uncaring and single minded.
In 1988 Thatcher made a speech