Was Margaret Thatcher The Longest Serving British Prime Minister?

Question

Was Margaret Thatcher The Longest Serving British Prime Minister?

2 Answers

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Answer 1

Margaret Thatcher (1925 - ) was not the longest-serving British Prime Minister. Sir Robert Walpole was both the first and the longest-serving Prime Minister, and held office for 20 years in the 18th Century.

Margaret Thatcher is however the longest-serving British Prime Minister of the 20th century and the fifth longest-serving of all time. She is also the only woman to have ever held the post.

Thatcher was elected as MP for Finchley in April 1959 and in 1970 she was appointed the Secretary of State for Education and Science. Labour won the 1974 general election and, following this, Thatcher become the Leader of the Opposition.

Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister in the 1979 general election and during her Premiership she presided over economic deregulation, privatization, the miner's strike and the Falklands War.

Top 5 longest-serving British Prime Ministers
1. Sir Robert Walpole (20 years, 314 days)

In office: 4th April 1721 - 11th February 1742.
Party: Whig.
Monarch: George I, George II.
Succeeded by: Spencer Compton.

2. William Pitt the Younger (17 years, 84 days)

In office: 19th December 1783 - 14th March 1801.
Party: Tory.
Monarch: George III.
Succeeded by: Henry Addington.

3. Robert Banks Jenkinson (14 years, 305 days)

In office: 8th June 1812 - 9th April 1827.
Party: Tory.
Monach: George IV.
Succeeded by: George Canning.

4. Lord North (12 years, 58 days)

In office: 28th January 1770 - 22nd March 1782.
Party: Tory.
Monarch: George III.
Succeeded by: Charles Watson-Wentworth.

5. Margaret Thatcher (11 years, 209 days)

In office: 4th May 1979 - 28th November 1990.
Party: Tory.
Monarch: Queen Elizabeth II
Succeeded by: John Major.

Answer 2

Margaret Thatcher was born on October 13th 1925 and was Prime Minister of Britain from 1979 ~ 1990. She was the longest-serving British Prime Minister since William Ewart Gladstone, who served as PM for 26 years. Not only did Mrs Thatcher serve for an incredible 11 years, she also had the longest continuous period in office since Lord Liverpool in the early nineteenth century. She is also the only woman to have served as Prime Minister or as leader of a major political party in the UK, and along with Margaret Beckett, is one of only two women to hold any of the four great offices of state. Undoubtedly one of the most significant British politicians in recent political history, she has attracted both strong support and strong opposition form the British public. Margaret was born Margaret Hilda Roberts and began her life in the town of Grantham in Lincolnshire. Her father, Alfred Roberts was not only a local greengrocer but very active in local politics, so maybe this is where she got her own passion for politics from.