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She is essentially the reason the UK still uses Pound sterling and not the Euro. I'd argue that that one move alone has done more to benefit the UK than any ot

She is essentially the reason the UK still uses Pound sterling and not the Euro. I'd argue that that one move alone has done more to benefit the UK than any other decision since WWII, period. And that's a call she lost her job on.

richardjordan 14y ago
She's certainly a big part of the reason for that. I think it's quite sad that the criticisms of Southern European countries like Greece, Spain, Italy, by Northern European countries about the state of their economics and politics were seen as nothing but xenophobia. Now that Germany is forced to bail them all out I think some of those critiques seem prescient. Of course no-one will ever know if the added weight of the UK in the currency block would have strengthened the whole project, but right now it's looking like it's on the verge of collapse. Not sure Britain will steer clear of any fallout though. That being said she lost her job for a lot more than that. Poll tax was a much bigger social issue at the time. Her rough style had left her isolated in her own party and then she mishandled the challenges to her leadership at a crucial moment. The EU element was merely the trigger, the gun was already long in place.
iuguy 14y ago
> She is essentially the reason the UK still uses Pound sterling and not the Euro. How so? She was out before Maastricht was signed. Germany wasn't even unified when she was around. She lost her job because frankly she presided over 3 terms in which she completely lost her mind part-way through the second and into the third and had to be removed by her own party who saw the writing on the wall. We don't have a term limit in the UK (and perhaps we should), but I still remember the "We have become a grandmother" moment which may sound trivial but was a shining example of how mental she became towards the end. I would say if anything the thing leading to her being stabbed in the back was the way the poll tax was handled. The conservatives knew that if pushed through it gave Labour a credible chance of re-election, and that her reactions to it rendered her completely uncontrollable. They needed someone that senior tories could manage, which is why we had John Major (who for my money was one of the best PM's we had in a long time).
- run4yourlives 14y ago
  You're correct it was far from the only reason she was ousted. Granted, nobody has written her a personal apology for the other reasons yet. :-) (And my opinion, from a Canadian, is that two term limits was one of the smartest things the founders of the US created)
  - iuguy 14y ago
    Tony Blair was another 3-termer who lost it completely, again elected not because he was the best candidate but simply because the opposition weren't credible. I completely agree with a two term limit, would be a great thing to have here although somehow someone would find a way around it.
  - shrughes 14y ago
    The founders of the US didn't create the two term limit. That was created in the middle of the 20th century.
    - run4yourlives 14y ago
      Well, credit goes to Eisenhower or whomever was in Congress then. (I knew that too... silly me).

richardjordan 14y ago

She's certainly a big part of the reason for that. I think it's quite sad that the criticisms of Southern European countries like Greece, Spain, Italy, by Northern European countries about the state of their economics and politics were seen as nothing but xenophobia. Now that Germany is forced to bail them all out I think some of those critiques seem prescient. Of course no-one will ever know if the added weight of the UK in the currency block would have strengthened the whole project, but right now it's looking like it's on the verge of collapse. Not sure Britain will steer clear of any fallout though. That being said she lost her job for a lot more than that. Poll tax was a much bigger social issue at the time. Her rough style had left her isolated in her own party and then she mishandled the challenges to her leadership at a crucial moment. The EU element was merely the trigger, the gun was already long in place.

iuguy 14y ago

> She is essentially the reason the UK still uses Pound sterling and not the Euro. How so? She was out before Maastricht was signed. Germany wasn't even unified when she was around. She lost her job because frankly she presided over 3 terms in which she completely lost her mind part-way through the second and into the third and had to be removed by her own party who saw the writing on the wall. We don't have a term limit in the UK (and perhaps we should), but I still remember the "We have become a grandmother" moment which may sound trivial but was a shining example of how mental she became towards the end. I would say if anything the thing leading to her being stabbed in the back was the way the poll tax was handled. The conservatives knew that if pushed through it gave Labour a credible chance of re-election, and that her reactions to it rendered her completely uncontrollable. They needed someone that senior tories could manage, which is why we had John Major (who for my money was one of the best PM's we had in a long time).

run4yourlives 14y ago
You're correct it was far from the only reason she was ousted. Granted, nobody has written her a personal apology for the other reasons yet. :-) (And my opinion, from a Canadian, is that two term limits was one of the smartest things the founders of the US created)
- iuguy 14y ago
  Tony Blair was another 3-termer who lost it completely, again elected not because he was the best candidate but simply because the opposition weren't credible. I completely agree with a two term limit, would be a great thing to have here although somehow someone would find a way around it.
- shrughes 14y ago
  The founders of the US didn't create the two term limit. That was created in the middle of the 20th century.
  - run4yourlives 14y ago
    Well, credit goes to Eisenhower or whomever was in Congress then. (I knew that too... silly me).