Thatcher: From Zero to Iron Lady - Second Act: What Late Bloomers Can Tell You About Success and Reinventing Your Life

Okay, so, Margaret Thatcher, right? The Iron Lady. It's kind of wild to think that, you know, a lot of people didn't really see it coming. I mean, she became the leader of the Conservative Party at 50, which, yeah, it's about the average age, but a few weeks before, nobody thought it was gonna happen, including her!

Her biographer said, like, “Few expected greatness of her until she was nearly fifty.” Crazy, right? Even people who believed in her didn't think Prime Minister, let alone, you know, global stateswoman. She was seen as, like, a failure waiting to happen. But she totally proved everyone wrong.

So, get this. The Principal of her Oxford college, where she studied chemistry, remembered her as just "a perfectly good second-class chemist." That's it! And after losing a couple of elections, she had to wait ages just to get a seat in Parliament. It took fifteen years after that to become party leader.

She apparently never even dreamt of being Prime Minister as a kid! She was elected as an MP, but the possibility of one day being Prime Minister didn’t cross her mind, she just didn’t think there would ever be a woman Prime Minister in her lifetime. Even as Education Secretary, her biggest dream was just to be the first woman Chancellor. She never let on that she wanted to be Prime Minister, ever, not to her colleagues.

She was politically active, sure, but it wasn't like everyone was, you know, thinking, “Future Prime Minister right here!” After one election, the association described her as “an amazing young woman with experience and knowledge far beyond her years” and recommended she “not be lost sight of”. But they couldn’t pick her again because she was getting married.

But she WAS lost sight of. She actually wrote to the Conservative Central Office at one point saying she'd give up on a Parliamentary career for a while. She asked to be put back on the candidates list after like fifteen months, but just for, you know, “safe” seats. She didn't want to fail again. And, get this, women MPs were always getting stuck with hopeless seats.

And she was *always* described as a “woman candidate.” This tempered the praise she got. Even after being picked for Finchley, objections to having a woman were so strong they couldn't even have a unanimous vote. She even wrote that she had to wear an outfit that Donald Kaberry recommended. And she told him, “I seem to have done very little in thirty years.” Which is kinda bonkers when you think about it. She went to Oxford, worked as a chemist, ran for Parliament. She always expected more of herself.

Still, you can see glimpses of her later steeliness, you know? One report said the fact she even got selected when the association didn't *want* a woman, speaks volumes. But she wasn't *the* Iron Lady yet. That took time, you know? And after that, she understood that, to retreat from dominance would impossibilitate her dominance in the future. Being a woman always palliated what people expected of her. The *Sun* wrote about how “One day someone will achieve the unclimbed height of becoming Britain’s first woman Chancellor of the Exchequer. It might not be too outrageous for Mrs Thatcher to wonder whether she could be the one who does it.” Chancellor, yeah, maybe, but not Prime Minister.

She was really underrated. The *Sun* even called her the most unpopular woman in Britain because she stopped free milk for kids. And a lot of people thought she was just made Education Secretary because she was a woman. One biography said that Edward Heath was “more obliged to have a woman in his cabinet than if he had been a family man”. Heath thought about making her the “statutory woman” in the shadow cabinet in the 60s but didn't because “we’ll never be able to get rid of her”. She “refused Edward Heath’s offer of shadow social security secretary because it was a job stereotypically reserved for women” which is quite a statement! Thatcher did point out that women politicians were now experts on topics like finance and defence.

But there was this one guy at the US embassy, William J. Galloway, who actually recognized her talent. He thought she had a “very strong will,” “high standards of ethics,” and “tremendous self-confidence.” He saw her as someone not seeking personal advancement. He called her “the outstanding lady in the House of Commons." He didn't think of her as an intellectual, however. She was a person of beliefs, not ideas. She was always thinking, thinking, thinking. “What’s right here? What’s the best? What’s the problem? What’s the solution?” But she didn’t have the philosopher’s sceptical mind or pure intellectualism. She wanted results. It was her strong will, iron morals, and belief in the importance of getting results that steered her to the leadership.

There's this idea that great leaders aren't always the most educated. One psychologist found that the more education a leader has, the lower their eminence. Odd, huh? Presidents like Truman and Reagan didn't have tons of schooling but were, you know, pretty big deals. Thatcher herself didn't have formal political training but was a chemist and barrister.

In the 70s, when the government was trying to change how science was funded, Thatcher, who was in charge of science as Education Secretary, actually changed her mind during the discussion. She initially didn't want the system changed, but then she started to see the market as a way to allocate resources.

It was an early moment when Thatcher chose the market as an alternative to established models of resource allocation.

This shows her ability to think about the implementation of ideology; she was not a Friedman copycat or Hayekian mime. She approached problems individually. She was by no means the most ‘Thatcherite’ member of some of her cabinets. Second, her experience as a research scientist in a plastics company and at the food manufacturer J. Lyons & Co. honed her ability to marry the practical and the theoretical. ‘It was precisely because Thatcher knew what scientific research was like that made her impervious to claims that science was a special case, with special features and incapable of being understood by outsiders.’

While she was Leader of the Opposition, she wrote to Martin Gilbert, who was writing Churchill’s biography, about a detail she noticed in a footnote! That's the kind of eye she had for detail when she was Prime Minister. She had a sustained interest in what she was doing.

She governed through details by governing on paper. She was rigorous about reading and annotating the huge amounts of paperwork she received, with a system of underlinings and squiggles to denote approval or disapproval. She frequently challenged analysis, corrected messaging, demanded more information. She knew that she needed to make decisions to turn ideas into real-world change. Monetarism, free markets, and individual liberty were important concepts, but having those ideas actually change the world required a decider, not an intellectual. It was through her paperwork, her decisions, and her public communications – through work – that she made these ideas real. She had ‘a resourceful seriousness, which might not be intellectually original, but which was in a political sense, profound… There was simply nobody else in the first rank who was behaving and thinking that way.’

People like Coolidge, Truman, and Bonar Law had the same seriousness. They were earnest. Coolidge was super dedicated to shrinking government. Truman was quick to make decisions. Bonar Law managed national finances during World War One. You have to be able to look at the details and decide. You can't just govern with principles; you need practicalities.

And they all had moral earnestness too. Bonar Law believed strongly in the union with Ireland. Coolidge hated debt. Truman had small-town morals.

Thatcher saw her mission as moral, not just economic. She wanted to “restore standards of conduct and responsibility.” She apparently had a crazy work ethic and no small talk, which probably weirded out a lot of people. She didn’t talk in sentences so much as entire chapters and she’d be brilliant at that party game where you mustn’t reply “Yes” or “No” to anything. She was indifferent to most of the tricks of paradox, ambiguity, understatement, and saying the opposite of what you mean, which pepper the talk of almost everyone in the country. But you have to be super serious to do what she did, you know? She never let conformity distract or subdue her earnestness.

She even had this weird way of remembering things. One of her speechwriters said she remembered working with him way earlier than she actually did, and remembered him agreeing with her when he totally hadn't! Apparently, successful people need to “doctor the past” to keep going. It was always a moral vision of the world that kept Thatcher going.

Someone at the US embassy saw her qualities early. The Finchley Times said she was “no blue-stocking”, and “as her appearances on “Any questions” and her down-to-earth approach to politics confirm, she is no hide-bound academician”.

The embassy guy, Galloway, said she was the same woman in the 60s as when she was Prime Minister: never hesitated to voice her views. She wasn't particularly liked because of her personality and aggressiveness. One guy, Jim Prior, had to keep saving her from Heath because she irritated him so much.

Even she didn't expect to become leader. She wrote to Galloway after being elected and said, “I still do not know quite how it all happened! Six months ago I should have said it would be impossible.” Despite his enthusiasm, even Galloway didn’t quite realize who she was. ‘I have to confess, although I liked her very much, I never in the world thought she would become prime minister.’

Being able to get things done was part of her pitch. She said she'd tackled each job and gotten on top of it. She said she took the decision to challenge Heath quickly and never faltered. Her core beliefs were formed when she was, like, a teenager.

Her position as a middle-England housewife was actually an advantage.

In the 50s, food rationing was a huge deal. She asked every housewife, “does she want her sugar to increase in price and go down in quality?” In the 60s, she said women “have a wider understanding [than men] of problems affecting the family, and of matters such as health and welfare”. And in the 70s, she said that inflation was hurting pensioners and housewives. She also used to talk about giving up politics when her kids were young, to be relatable.

Her publicist was careful to get her on radio shows and in magazines that housewives liked. They even ran a Cosmo quiz asking who was more likely to know what it was like to do the family shopping, her opponent or Margaret Thatcher. She even said she wasn't "stockpiling" food, she was just being a "prudent housewife."

She said she used to suggest that committees have people who just retired because “unless we are going to use some of the talent and skill and experience of some of these people we are going to deprive ourselves of the advice they can give.”

So, she was an advocate for late bloomers!

Analogies and rhetoric drawn from her experience and identity as a working mother gave her an advantage over the men she was competing with.

Her beliefs, her experiences, her ethics, energy, decisiveness, and indifference to popularity are what you would have needed to see to spot her.

Ladbrokes had her at fifty-to-one against for being next Conservative leader, four months before she won! A biography said she was almost unknown before the election. The US didn't even care enough to "put itself out for her" when she visited.

Even the guy who ran her campaign, Airey Neave, only backed her because someone else didn't run. He said she had a "good chance" but was a difficult "sell." It wasn't obvious to anyone that she was talented.

Most people didn't think a woman could be Prime Minister. Jean Mann said there was very little chance of a woman even becoming Chancellor or Foreign Secretary. Bernard Levin said there had been women leaders in Sri Lanka, India, and Israel, and Thatcher had a "vivid and challenging public image" and would be able to use her sex to her advantage.

Even Thatcher supported Keith Joseph for leader. Three months before she won, she said, “The party isn’t ready for a woman and the press would crucify me.” She decided to run only after Keith Joseph dropped out. Fate intervened.

Neave had written that there was “nothing but objections” to candidates, including Thatcher. The *Economist* said she was "precisely the sort of candidate who ought to be able to stand, and lose, harmlessly." She was not good at communicating or on TV. Neave inflated Heath’s support to the *Evening Standard* to scare MPs.

One guy, Lord Margadale, predicted in 1972 that she'd be the next leader. In 1958, she was selected to be the candidate for Finchley and the phrase “of England” instead of Britain was used suggesting windy rhetoric rather than inspired prognostication. There wasn't really anyone in Finchley who wanted a woman. She needed fate to help her in Finchley and with Keith Joseph dropping out, and Airey Neave's help.

In 1974, Bernard Levin said, “The male chauvinism of the people of this country, particularly the women, is still dreadful, and her sex would be a severe handicap.” Even Norman Tebbit didn't think she could be a leader. She thought there were limits to what she could do as a mother.

Even after being elected, people weren't sure about her. One MP said, “Oh it’s alright down here in London but in the North they won’t vote for a woman as Prime Minister”. Harold Wilson condescended to her by calling her “my dear.” She didn’t have the confidence of many members of the Shadow Cabinet. Hailsham and Carrington discussed their lack of confidence in her. They were worried the party was becoming right-wing, and believed that she was ‘politically unaware’; they lamented that while there were several men who would do a better job it was not possible to have another leadership election. Both men would later serve in Thatcher’s government.

Carrington would say "if I have any more trouble from this fucking stupid, petit bourgeoise woman, I’m going to go.” Enoch Powell said, “They wouldn’t put up with those hats and that accent.” Du Cann thought she and Denis looked like a butler and housekeeper seeking employment.

Younger doubted Thatcher’s coolness as she ‘rattles on, arguing everything & is a bad chairman.’ But he also thought people wanted a change and Thatcher relied on the changing political conditions of the country to succeed. Few people attributed much of Thatcher’s success to her, until she was elected.

Thatcher worked super hard to prove herself. She had a makeover with a new hairstyle and voice coach. She understood television better than other leaders and her presentation was part of a complete package. In this respect, she resembled Barbara Castle in more than appearance. Castle, too, was a hard worker, who spent long hours absorbing statistics and official reports while her male colleagues took long lunches. ‘Battling Barbara’ was surely an influence. They both knew the importance of housewife rhetoric – Castle was photographed for the 1945 election darning her husband’s socks.

She also visited countries across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the USA, where she first met Ronald Reagan in 1975. And she developed as a leader of her own party. By 1978, when strikes left Britain without refuse collectors or grave diggers, and inflation topped 13 per cent, Thatcher was able to take advantage of the crisis.

And she became an amazing speaker. In 1970, her recorded election broadcast had been deemed unsatisfactory by party headquarters. By the time she became Prime Minister, she was a practised performer prepared to take on all comers. She outperformed the Labour Chancellor, Denis Healey. Lord Gowrie said she was “the only person who was really knocking him about in the House of Commons”. The Tories were demoralized. They had lost two elections; Heath was a weak leader; and the candidates to replace him were lacklustre. Suddenly they saw one of their members looking tremendous, brilliantly briefed, and knocking a very able Chancellor for six in the House.

She knew more, and she'd done her homework.

She linked policy arguments to philosophical arguments about freedom and she made herself more popular. People didn't have to agree with her to find her compelling. It was not her convictions that they voted for, but her conviction.

She had this way of making people laugh, even though she was almost humorless. She used detail and forthright defense of her position and instinctive timing and a serious deadpan expression. She had all these iconic lines like, "the iron lady of the western world," "the lady's not for turning," and "No. No. No."

Truman and Eisenhower needed the war. Coolidge needed Harding's death. Law needed his party's failing state. Thatcher needed a leadership vacuum and the economic collapse for her talents to become clear. And she later benefited from the Falklands invasion.

She was ready when fate intervened. She had energy, decisiveness, experience as a housewife, and could communicate well. She had a leadership election when the men wouldn't run and the failed leader wouldn't talk to the voters.

Who else would have been so resilient? She was determined and fought for what she believed in, she was the political energy behind the 1981 budget, she was the determination behind the Falklands War, she was the spirit that opposed the Miners’ Strike.

Galloway said she “restored the nation’s stature and became a force to be reckoned with in international affairs”.

She was determined and contentious. To be called a Thatcherite is rarely a compliment in British politics. But her personality is not in dispute. She is a symbol of the inexhaustible.

She had to learn this too. In 1971, she went from anonymous to "Mrs Thatcher, Milksnatcher." She was nearly sacked and hounded by the press. She was always tired and considered quitting. Show some spunk, Margaret. But she passed the trial.

When she was advised to stop wearing her pearls, she said, “No! I’m damned if I will! They were a wedding present from my husband and if I want to wear them I’m going to!” She was hardening from the woman candidate into the Iron Lady.

She told protesting students, “Thatcher is here to stay!” Facing those protests was “just about the very best training a Prime Minister could have”. She worked in a more concentrated way. She was disciplining her inner steel.

A school friend noted her "enormous powers of concentration" and ability to get by on less sleep. Her ability to work hard on minimal sleep was well observed. It’s really a triumph of the spirit over the flesh.

This comes from the Methodism of her childhood, with its emphasis on duty and conscientiousness. They had the chance to go an easier way. Their lives did not always reward their efforts. They did not have to persist. It was strange that they did.

She had endurance, learning, ideas, energy, and decisiveness. This is how she became a great leader, out of nowhere, at fifty. Lord Carrington said, “She used the luck and she’s been determined and courageous.” She made her own luck; she seized chances from which others shrank, and she exploited their hesitation with ruthless certainty. Every time fate intervened, she was ready.