What conservatives did when in power 83 - 87

http://www.social-policy.org.uk/lincoln/Page.pdf This source is talking about how social policy changed within the conservative party since 1945

1983-1987: Prime Minister – Second Term

Margaret Thatcher & Ronald Reagan at Camp David, 22 December 1984.

The second term opened with almost as many difficulties as the first. The government found itself challenged by the miners' union, which fought a year-long strike in 1984-85 under militant leadership. The labour movement as a whole put up bitter resistance to the government's trade union reforms, which began with legislation in 1980 and 1982 and continued after the General Election.

The miners' strike was one of the most violent and long lasting in British history. The outcome was uncertain, but after many turns in the road, the union was defeated. This proved a crucial development, because it ensured that the Thatcher reforms would endure. In the years that followed, the Labour Opposition quietly accepted the popularity and success of the trade union legislation and pledged not to reverse its key components.

In October 1984, when the strike was still underway, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) attempted to murder Margaret Thatcher and many of her cabinet by bombing her hotel in Brighton during the Conservative Party annual conference. Although she survived unhurt, some of her closest colleagues were among the injured and dead and the room next to hers was severely damaged. No twentieth-century British Prime Minister ever came closer to assassination.

British policy in Northern Ireland had been a standing source of conflict for every Prime Minister since 1969, but Margaret Thatcher aroused the IRA's special hatred for her refusal to meet their political demands, notably during the 1980-81 prison hunger strikes.

Her policy throughout was implacably hostile to terrorism, republican or loyalist, although she matched that stance by negotiating the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985 with the Republic of Ireland. The Agreement was an attempt to improve security cooperation between Britain and Ireland and to give some recognition to the political outlook of Catholics in Northern Ireland, an initiative which won warm endorsement from the Reagan administration and the US Congress.

The economy continued to improve during the 1983-87 Parliament and the policy of economic liberalisation was extended. The government began to pursue a policy of selling state assets, which in total had amounted to more than 20 per cent of the economy when the Conservatives came to power in 1979. The British privatisations of the 1980s were the first of their kind and proved influential across the world.

Where possible, sale of state assets took place through offering shares to the public, with generous terms for small investors. The Thatcher Governments presided over a great increase in the number of people saving through the stock market. They also encouraged people to buy their own homes and to make private pension provision, policies which over time have greatly increased the personal wealth of the British population.

The left wing of the Conservative Party had always been uneasy with its chief. In January 1986, enduring divisions between left and right in the Thatcher Cabinet were publicly exposed by the sudden resignation of the Defence Minister, Michael Heseltine, in a dispute over the business troubles of the British helicopter manufacturer, Westland. The fallout from the 'Westland Affair' challenged Margaret Thatcher's leadership as never before. She survived the crisis, but its effects were significant. She was subjected to heavy criticism within her own party for the decision to allow US warplanes to fly from British bases to attack targets in Libya (April 1986).There was talk of the government and of its leader being 'tired', of having gone on too long.

Her response was characteristic: at the Conservative Party's annual conference in October 1986, her speech foreshadowed a mass of reforms for a third Thatcher Government.With the economy now very strong, prospects were good for an election and the government was returned with a Parliamentary majority of 101in June 1987.

1983-87: Prime Minister – second term

83 Nov 25 Tu:	US invasion of Grenada
84 Mar 12 Mo:	Miners' strike began
84 Jun 25-26:	Fontainebleau European Council; long-term European budget settlement
84 Oct 12 Fr:	Brighton bomb: failed IRA attempt to assassinate MT and her cabinet
84 Nov 06 Tu:	Reagan reelected US President
84 Nov 20 Tu:	Flotation of British Telecom: key privatisation measure
84 Dec 16 Su:	Gorbachev visited Chequers: MT described him as a man she could do business with
84 Dec 19 We:	Hong Kong: MT signed Joint Agreement with China
85 Mar 03 Su:	NUM voted to end coal strike
85 Nov 15 Fr:	Anglo-Irish Agreement signed at Hillsborough: consultative role for Republic
85 Dec 02 Mo:	Luxembourg European Council; Single European Act agreed (ended 3 Dec)
86 Jan 09 Th:	Westland: Heseltine walked out of cabinet; replaced at Defence by George Younger
86 Jan 24 Fr:	Westland: Brittan resigned; Channon replaced him at DTI
86 Jan 27 Mo:	Westland: emergency debate, ending the crisis
86 Apr 15 Tu:	US air raids on Libya, mainly from British bases; MT attacked for allowing them
86 Oct 11-12:	Reykjavik (Reagan-Gorbachev) Summit; talk of abolishing nuclear weapons
86 Nov 15 Sa:	Anglo-US Summit at Camp David: MT and Reagan issued arms control statement
87 Feb 22 Su:	'Louvre Accord' to halt decline in $; Lawson secretly began shadowing DM
87 Mar 28 Sa:	MT visited USSR (ended 1 Apr)
87 Jun 11 Th:	General Election: Conservative Government formed (101 majority)