Publisher synopsis

Margaret Thatcher was a woman of tremendous paradoxes: a conviction politician who was also a pragmatist; someone who delighted in her tough reputation, yet could also be emotional, and even tearful, when confronted by personal or national tragedy. Her reputation as a cabinet leader was one of being quasi-dictatorial, yet she left her ministers to get on with their jobs – far more than any of her successors ever have.

Domestically, Thatcher ushered in a period of forty years of consensus on the limited role of the state, an industrial relations settlement and the dominance of the private sector in the economy – a settlement that is only now being seriously questioned. A little over a decade after her death, Iain Dale introduces her to new generations of readers who may not remember her premiership, but who are living with its consequences.

'A compelling account of a compulsory subject ... A masterpiece of compression and readability' Daniel Finkelstein

'A deft, clear-eyed summary of Thatcher's life' Rory Stewart