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In 1975 the monetarists, led by Keith Joseph and Margaret Thatcher started to challenge leader Edward Heath's authority, and Thatcher was elected leader of the Conservative Party in 1975, becoming leader of the opposition. The Tories capitalised on the Winter of Discontent and the growing inflation rate, not to mention the humiliating bailout of the UK economy by the IMF in 1976, and won the 1979 general election with a majority of 43, Thatcher becoming the UK's first woman Prime Minister.
Thatcher, due to successful economic reforms after decades of economic decline, the Falklands War, the perceived "loony left" nature of the Labour Party, and the intervention of the centrist SDP-Liberal Alliance won the 1983 general election with a landslide, gaining a majority of 144. Again due to the perceived "loony left" nature of the Labour Party, and the intervention of the SDP-Liberal Alliance Thatcher won the 1987 general election with a large majority of 102.
The second and third terms were dominated by privatisations of Britain's many state-owned industries including British Telecom in 1984, the bus companies in 1985, British Gas in 1986, British Airways in 1987, British Leyland, British Steel in 1988.
In 1989, the Community Charge (frequently referred to as the poll tax) was introduced to replace the ancient system of rates (based on property values) which funded local government. This new charge was a flat rate per adult no matter what their circumstances, and was very unpopular as it seemed to be shifting the tax burden onto poor people. Once again Thatcher became very unpopular, but this time the Conservatives thought it might cost them the election. Michael Heseltine, a former cabinet member challenged her for the leadership in 1990. She won the first round, but unconvincingly, and after taking soundings from cabinet members, resigned. In the ensuing leadership election, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Major beat Heseltine and Douglas Hurd.
Major introduced a replacement for the Community Charge, the Council Tax and continued with the privatisations, and went on to narrowly win the 1992 election, with a majority of 21.
However, his first full term was beset with scandals. Many of these were purely about the personal lives of politicians which the media attempted to construe as hypocrisy, but the Cash for Questions affair and the divisions over EU were substantive. In 1995, Major resigned as Leader of the Conservative Party in order to trigger a leadership election which he hoped would give him a renewed mandate, and quieten the Maastricht rebels (people such as Iain Duncan Smith, Bill Cash, Bernard Jenkin).
As the term went on, with by-elections being consistently lost by the Conservatives, their majority reduced and eventually vanished entirely. Getting every vote out became increasingly important to both sides, and on several occasions ill MPs were wheeled into the Commons to vote. Eventually, the Government became a technical minority.
As predicted, the general election was a win for the Labour Party, but perhaps the magnitude of the victory surprised everyone. There was a swing of about 20% in some places, and Labour got a majority of 177. The Conservatives lost all their seats outside of England, and prominent members such as Michael Portillo and Malcolm Rifkind lost their seats. Major resigned within 24 hours.
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