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1990 Conservative Party Leadership Election
The 1990 Conservative Party leadership election was called on 14 November 1990 following the decision of Michael Heseltine, former defence and environment secretary, to challenge Margaret Thatcher, the incumbent Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, for leadership of the Conservative Party. In the months leading up to the election, Thatcher's position was slipping due to her increasingly divisive and confrontational approach in the United Kingdom. Her Community Charge had proven to be highly unpopular and resulted in widespread riots across the country, while her Euroscepticism had begun to become a detriment to the Conservatives. The economy, which was booming, had started to enter the early stages of a recession due to high inflation. The tipping point came in October when Thatcher infamously refused the European Community's plans for further integration, prompting her longest serving minister Geoffrey Howe to resign. Immediately following his resignation, Heseltine chal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Major
Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon, formerly Huntingdonshire, from 1979 to 2001. Prior to becoming prime minister, he served as Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer in the third Thatcher government. Having left school a day before turning sixteen, Major was elected to Lambeth London Borough Council in 1968, and a decade later to parliament, where he held several junior government positions, including Parliamentary Private Secretary and assistant whip. Following Margaret Thatcher's resignation in 1990, Major stood in the 1990 Conservative Party leadership election to replace her and emerged victorious, becoming prime minister. Two years into his premiership, Major went on to lead the Conservative Party to a fourth consecutive electoral victory, winning more than 14 mil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Third Thatcher Ministry
Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 4 May 1979 to 28 November 1990, during which time she led a Conservative majority government. She was the first woman to hold that office. During her premiership, Thatcher moved to liberalise the British economy through deregulation, privatisation, and the promotion of entrepreneurialism. This article details the third Thatcher ministry she led at the invitation of Queen Elizabeth II from 1987 to 1990. Election The Conservatives were elected for a third successive term in June 1987, with a majority of 102 seats. It enabled Margaret Thatcher to become the longest-serving Prime Minister of the 20th century, as Britain's economic recovery continued. Fate Then, on 1 November 1990, came the first of a series of events which would spell the end of Margaret Thatcher's years in power. Sir Geoffrey Howe, the Deputy Prime Minister, long resentful of being ousted as Foreign Secretary, resigned from the cabinet ov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1975 Conservative Party Leadership Election
The 1975 Conservative Party leadership election was held in February 1975. The party's sitting MPs voted Margaret Thatcher as party leader on the second ballot. Incumbent leader Edward Heath stood aside after the first ballot, in which he unexpectedly finished behind Thatcher. The Conservatives were the official Opposition to the Labour government, so Thatcher also became Leader of the Opposition. Background Edward Heath, leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister had called and unexpectedly lost the February 1974 general election. Although the Labour Party were able only to form a minority government, the following October 1974 general election saw them obtain a three-seat majority, and it was widely expected that Heath (who had led the party for the previous decade but lost three of the four general elections he contested) would not be leader of the party for much longer. At that time the rules for electing a party leader only applied when the post was vacant an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1989 Conservative Party Leadership Election
The 1989 Conservative Party leadership election took place on 5 December 1989. The incumbent Margaret Thatcher was opposed by the little-known 69-year-old backbencher MP Sir Anthony Meyer. It was the Conservative Party's first leadership election for nearly 15 years, when Thatcher had taken the party leadership. Whilst Thatcher comfortably won with 90% of the vote, the vote showed 60 MPs who didn't vote for her either by choosing Meyer, spoiling the ballots or abstaining. This can be contributed to her increasingly Eurosceptic views on European integration in the late 80s, despite the Conservatives still being pro Europe at the time. The outcome would ultimately undermine Thatcher as her leadership started to come into question. The following year would see Thatcher once again challenged and eventually resigning following further unrest and discontent with her party. Background During 1989 the Conservative government led by Thatcher had run into difficulties. In June Lab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Walters
Sir Alan Arthur Walters (17 June 1926 – 3 January 2009) was a British economist who was best known as the Chief Economic Adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher from 1981 to 1983 and (after his return from the United States) again for five months in 1989. Early life Walters was born in Leicester, and his father was a Communist and a grocer who sold goods from a van. He failed his 11-Plus and attended Alderman Newton's School in Leicester, leaving at fifteen to work as a machine operator in a shoe factory. During World War II, he was called up and joined the British Army as a private. Academic career Walters studied statistics at University College Leicester and then went to Nuffield College, Oxford, where he took an MA in economics. On leaving Nuffield in 1951, he took up a post to teach statistics at Birmingham University, later becoming professor of econometrics and statistics there in the early 1960s. He was one of the first British economists to argue that mone ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deutsche Mark
The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was typically called the "Deutschmark" (). One Deutsche Mark was divided into 100 pfennigs. It was first issued under Allied occupation in 1948 to replace the Reichsmark and served as the Federal Republic of Germany's official currency from its founding the following year. On 31 December 1998, the Council of the European Union fixed the irrevocable exchange rate, effective 1 January 1999, for German mark to euros as DM 1.95583 = €1. In 1999, the Deutsche Mark was replaced by the euro; its coins and banknotes remained in circulation, defined in terms of euros, until the introduction of euro notes and coins on 1 January 2002. The Deutsche Mark ceased to be legal tender immediately upon the introduction of the euro—in contras ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inflation
In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduction in the purchasing power of money. The opposite of inflation is deflation, a sustained decrease in the general price level of goods and services. The common measure of inflation is the inflation rate, the annualized percentage change in a general price index. As prices do not all increase at the same rate, the consumer price index (CPI) is often used for this purpose. The employment cost index is also used for wages in the United States. Most economists agree that high levels of inflation as well as hyperinflation—which have severely disruptive effects on the real economy—are caused by persistent excessive growth in the money supply. Views on low to moderate rates of inflation are more varied. Low or moderate inflation may be a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
