| |
| 1978–79 |
| |
| Winter of discontent: six weeks of widespread labor strikes led to defeat of Callaghan's Labour government in the May 1979 general elections. | 1 |
| |
| 1979, May 3 |
| |
| Margaret Thatcher, leader of the Conservative Party, became the first female prime minister in the history of England and Europe. As prime minister (until 1990), Thatcher initiated radical conservative policies and became one of the most influential political figures of the late twentieth century. “Thatcherism,” as her policies were dubbed, represented a sharp move away from Britain's mixed economy of private capitalism and government planning. It was also an effort to curtail the welfare state, and included cuts in government spending, the sale of nationalized industries, a curb on the power of trade unions, and strict monetarist policies. Though Thatcher succeeded in bringing the inflation rate down to 5 percent in her first term, unemployment rose to nearly 14 percent. In foreign policy, Thatcher was both vehemently anticommunist and nationalistic. She was highly critical of the EC but also displayed a streak of pragmatism—evident, for example, in the fact that she was the first Western leader to meet with Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev. | 2 |
| |
| 1980s |
| |
| Recurrent, sometimes vicious riots by spectators at professional football matches. | 3 |
| |
| 1980, Oct |
| |
| The number of unemployed in England rose to more than 2 million. | 4 |
| |
| 1981, April |
| |
| Race riots in South London resulted in 191 arrests. | 5 |
| |
| May 5 |
| |
| In Belfast's Maze Prison, IRA gunman and member of Parliament Bobby Sands died as a result of a hunger strike; nine other fasters died later. | 6 |
| |
| Oct. 24 |
| |
| In one of a series of mass demonstrations occurring across Europe, 50,000 marched for nuclear disarmament in London. | 7 |
| |
| |
