Charles Moore’s authorized biography of Margaret Thatcher illuminates her early life, rise to power and initial period as prime minister of the woman who transformed Britain and the world in the late twentieth century. 

Moore takes us back to Grantham where she lived over her parent grocery shop. As there was no hereditary money, she had to work very hard, even serving at the counter. She knew about perseverance and in attempting to become an MP she lost in two general elections, but did not give up until she secured a safe seat in Finchley. She became the Conservative Party leader in 1975, just after the Tories had lost two elections.

Thatcher’s relationship with her parent and early romantic attachments, including her courtship and marriage to Denis Thatcher – moving forward to the determination and boldness that marked even the very beginning of her political career  after her visit to Moscow, the Kermlin press  called her the “Iron lady”. In 1970s she had seen two prime ministers, Ted Heath and James Callaghan, brought down by trade union strikes- she was not going to be the third. She stopped the unions trooping into No 10 to tell prime minister what to do over beer and sandwiches, as she would not share No10 with those whose strikes had made Britain “Sick Man of Europe”. She won the 1979 election with a majority of 43, increasing to 104 in 1983 and 102 in 1987. She became the first prime minister to win three elections in a row – Heath had lost three. With looming unemployment and rising inflation in her first budgets, she cut government expenditure that led to the financial success of the 1980s.  She wanted to help the working class, and allowed council tenants to buy their home and in her first four years half a million became homeowners. She rewarded hard work by cutting taxes. She also denationalise the big state industries, including making British Telecom, British Gas, Electric, water and transport private companies. For the first time several ordinary working class people started owning shares for the first time in these great British industries. In 1984, Arthur Scargill began the miner’s strike to bring her down, which lasted six months with violence when police were attacked. She pressed to settle it, but kept her cool. She proved this Iron Lady is not for turning.  When Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, the world thought that would bring her down. She instead assembled a great fleet with an army to recapture the islands. She became a respected world figure- Willie Whitelaw said “I don’t think that anyone else but you could have done it”. She failed to win enough votes, and the cabinet told her that while they support her, she could not win. Moore’s account of her political relationship with Ronald Regan is absolutely revealing. Throughout Moore, the political columnist and editor of The Daily Telegraph, and editor of The Spectator (1984-1990),  explores in compelling dramatic detail the obstacles and indignities that Thatcher encountered as a woman during her tenure for more than a decade (1979-1990), in what was still overwhelmingly a man’s world.

Moore reveals Thatcher’s remarkable talents and infuriating qualities, recreating circumstances and experiences that shaped one of the most significant world leaders of the post-war era. 

Margaret Thatcher by Charles Moore, Penguin £40