Did Geoffrey Howe Bring Down Thatcher? Why Did Margaret Thatcher Resign?

In Geoffrey Howe’s resignation speech in the Commons on 13 November 1990, he attacked Thatcher for running increasingly serious risks for the future of the country and criticized her for undermining the policies on EMU proposed by her own chancellor and governor of the Bank of England.

Howe was Margaret Thatcher’s longest-serving Cabinet minister.

He successively held the posts of Chancellor of the Exchequer, Foreign Secretary, and finally Leader of the House of Commons, deputy prime minister, and Lord President of the Council.

His resignation on 1 November 1990 is widely considered to have precipitated Thatcher’s resignation three weeks later.

Why Did Margaret Thatcher Resign?
Thatcher resigned as prime minister and party leader in 1990 after a challenge was launched to her leadership.

After retiring from the Commons in 1992, she was given a life peerage as Baroness Thatcher (of Kesteven in the County of Lincolnshire) which entitled her to sit in the House of Lords.

The longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century, she was the first woman to hold that office.

As prime minister, she implemented policies that became known as Thatcherism. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the “Iron Lady”, a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style.

On 8 April 2013, Thatcher, died of a stroke at the Ritz Hotel, London, at the age of 87. On 17 April, she was honored with a ceremonial funeral.