Thatcherism's the "distinctive ideology, political style and programme of polices of the British Conservative Party after Margaret Thatcher was elected leader in 1975". Thatcher was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from the United Kingdom general election of 1979 to 1990. Thatcher was unusual among British Conservative Prime Ministers in that she was a highly ideological leader — she once slammed a copy of Friedrich Hayek's The Constitution of Liberty down on a table during a Shadow Ca… (More on Thatcherite)