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The Poll Tax, the E.R.M., & Exit Margaret Thatcher
1990 was the year of violent protests against the Government's plan for the revised rating system. This became known as the Poll Tax after the hated 13th century Poll Tax, which in the 14th Century was a major cause of the Peasants' Revolt. The political result in the late 20th Century was a large anti-Government vote in local and by-elections.
By now, Thatcherism was discredited and there was every sign that she no longer controlled her cabinet. The previous year (1989) Thatcher had sacked Sir Geoffrey Howe from the Foreign Office and given the job to John Major. Howe became Lord President - but it was a non-job for someone she now regarded as a non-person. A few weeks later (October 1989) her Chancellor, Nigel Lawson had resigned. Once more she moved her only pawn, John Major, to the Treasury. Now in 1990, the Tory knives were sharpened. On November 1st 1990, Howe resigned and his 'good-bye' speech was devastating to Thatcher's authority. Three weeks later, the Tories held a leadership election and although the PM had a majority in the first ballot, it wasn't big enough. Most of her colleagues turned on her and she went. John Major (largely with the support of the Stop Heseltine movement) became Prime Minister, just eleven years after entering Parliament..
Queen Mother |
Queen Mother - Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (born 1900)- Born at St Paul's Walden Bury in Hertfordshire.
- Where she was four her father became the Earl of Strathmore.
- She has great affection for Glamis Castle, Scotland where she spent much of her childhood.
- She married the Duke of York in 1923.
- They had two daughters, Princess Elizabeth was born in 1926 and Princess Margaret in 1930.
- On Edward VIII's abdication the Duke of York became King George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Queen.
- They became very popular particularly during the war years when they remained at Buckingham Palace and visited bomb sites.
- On George VI's death she became known as Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and continued to work relentlessly for the monarchy.
Margaret Thatcher was the longest continuous serving Prime Minister in British history.
 
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| 1979 | Margaret Thatcher PM (Conservative)
Rhodesian settlement at Lancaster House
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| 1980 | Southern Rhodesia becomes Zimbabwe
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| 1981 | Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer
Ronald Reagan President of the USA
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| 1982 | Britain wins the Falklands War
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| 1983 | Margaret Thatcher wins landslide victory
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| 1984 | Indira Gandhi of India assassinated
Death of poet, John Betjeman
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| 1985 | Mikhail Gorbachev succeeds Chernenko as Soviet leader
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| 1986 | Elizabeth II first British monarch to visit China
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| 1987 | Worst storm of the century rages over Great Britain
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| 1988 | George Bush wins US Presidential election
Bruges speech
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| 1989 | Tiananmen Square massacre
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| 1990 | Tories oust Margaret Thatcher
John Major new leader
Iraqi invasion of Kuwait
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| 1991 | The Second Gulf War
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| 1993 | The Maastricht Treaty comes into force
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| 1994 | Channel Tunnel inaugurated
Mandela President of South Africa
Death of Labour leader, John Smith
Bosnians reject Owen-Vance peace plan
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| 1995 | Tony Blair drops Clause IV from Party Manifesto
UN 50th anniversary
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| Conservative Party Leadership Candidates 1990 | | • | Margaret Thatcher (First Ballot) |
| • | Michael Heseltine |
| • | John Major |
| • | Douglas Hurd |
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