Margaret Thatcher's time in office defined an era-a Golden Age of conservative leadership. She made the Conservative party more open and inclusive. Lady Thatcher understood that conservative principles are for everybody, not tied to special interest groups or trends. Conservative ideas must win people over first, before conservatives can win their votes later. She won arguments with humor and ironclad reasoning. She understood that honor and conviction could change minds-and crumble despotic regimes to the ground. In Margaret Thatcher on Leadership, Nile Gardiner and Stephen Thompson outline the critical lessons conservatives can learn from Lady Thatcher on articulating conservative principles to a broader audience, cutting through bureaucratic messes to achieve goals, and standing up to aggressive regimes.

Author Biography

Nile Gardiner is the Director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at The Heritage Foundation. Before joining Heritage, he was Foreign Policy Researcher for former Prime Minister Lady Margaret Thatcher. He is recognized internationally as an expert on foreign relations, especially the "Special Relationship" between the United States and Great Britain. He attended Yale University. Stephen Thompson is a former Congressional aide with extensive government experience. Educated at Cambridge University, the London School of Economics, and the University of California, Dr. Thompson lived in Cambridge and London during most of Thatcher's time as prime minister, and experienced firsthand how she changed British history, becoming a lifelong Thatcherite.