Thatcher, Margaret (1925 - 2013)
- Margaret Thatcher (Photo: thesetides.com)
British Prime Minister from 1979 - 1990 who negotiated the British rebate at the Fontainebleau Summit in 1984.
Reluctantly gave her consent for the UK to join the Exchange Rate Mechanism in October 1990. Thatcher had initially refused to join the ERM, against the advice of her chancellor, Nigel Lawson. When ERM membership was undertaken it was at an exchange rate against the Deutschmark which was to prove ruinously high.
Thatcher also signed the Single European Act, in 1987, the landmark treaty from which much of the EU's future integration has stemmed. She late protested that she was misled as to its meaning.
Notes
Made a famous speech in Bruges that was critical of the EU and encouraged the establishment of the Euro-sceptical Bruges group in Britain.
Links
http://www.margaretthatcher.com/
