Word: thatchers
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...brought majority rule to Zimbabwe in free and surprisingly fair elections. Observes an acerbic old-line British diplomat: "In foreign policy she has proved to be very wise by leaving it to [Foreign Secretary Lord] Carrington. But he couldn't have done it without her backing." Not coincidentally, Thatcher's worst performance came when Carrington, preoccupied with Rhodesia, was away from her side. At the European Community's summit in Dublin last November, she alienated her Continental colleagues with strident demands for a full rebate of "my money," meaning the $2.5 billion that Britain contributes...
...strains persist between Thatcher and her European counterparts, particularly French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. A little more subtlety might have served her better, but subtlety is not a Thatcher trait. "She recognizes that she is not one of nature's negotiators," says an adviser. Her forte is the daring act. After Lord Mountbatten's assassination last August, for example, she rejected the advice of some cautious Cabinet ministers and visited British troops in the heart of I.R.A. terrorist country in Northern Ireland. Pictures of a windblown Maggie in an oversized flak jacket were visual...
From the outset, it has been an article of faith with Thatcher that Britain, by exercising monetary discipline and confidence, can recapture its old place "in the first division." Not since the Suez fiasco of 1956 has Britain taken the lead in any major problems beyond its postcolonial concerns. Now Lord Carrington, backed by Thatcher, has proposed initiatives to neutralize Afghanistan and to bring Europe into Middle East negotiations if the Egyptian-Israeli talks on Palestinian autonomy bog down. When President Carter called for support from America's Western European allies for sanctions against Iran, Thatcher...
...Britain, economic policy dominates all else, and Thatcher repeats her tenets like a mantra: curb inflation, increase productivity, cut spending, restore incentive. She pleads for time-at least two more years-to let her new "freedoms" work, but even among allies there is some skepticism. Complains a Tory newspaper publisher: "She didn't tell us it would be this bad." Her own Treasury ministers warn that much rougher tunes lie ahead, and some are queasy about the next election, even though it is probably four years away. The statistics of Thatcher's first year are grim. Inflation doubled...
...recent polls, public dissatisfaction with Thatcher's performance has risen to 55%. Still, Political Analyst Robert Worcester contends that "she has come through this year reasonably well. She has taken on a tough assignment, squared up to it and bulled ahead." Surprisingly, the polls showed a gain for the government after the stringent March budget, which slashed public programs and upped excise taxes on prescription medicines and beer. The poll result suggested that Thatcher's message is getting through to the public...