• DOI:10.1080/13619462.2014.974566
• Corpus ID: 144839832

Margaret Thatcher's First U-Turn: Francis Pym and the Control of Defence Spending, 1979–81

@article{Hampshire2015MargaretTF,
  title={Margaret Thatcher's First U-Turn: Francis Pym and the Control of Defence Spending, 1979–81},
  author={Edward Hampshire},
  journal={Contemporary British History},
  year={2015},
  volume={29},
  pages={359 - 379}
}

• E. Hampshire
• Published 3 July 2015
• Political Science
• Contemporary British History

This article argues that hard-fought battles over defence spending in the first 18 months of Margaret Thatcher's government were vitally important, not only in setting the direction of defence policy for the rest of her time as Prime Minister, but also in determining how her government would prioritise economic policy and the control of public spending over other governmental priorities. The article sets out how, in her first six months as Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher repeatedly prioritised defence spending over economic policy and financial control, and then, during the course of 1980, was persuaded to reverse this position, eventually resulting in the removal of Sir Francis Pym as Defence Secretary.