Is May 'a dead woman walking?'

"I would like to say how very pleased I am with the result and how very pleased I am to have had the overwhelming support of my colleagues in the House [of Commons] and the people from the party in the country," she said, standing outside her official residence at Number 10 Downing Street, but refusing to answer any questions from the crowd of journalists and photographers.

That was not Theresa May last week trying to put a brave face after the disastrous results of the snap general elections, by reminding that Conservatives were still the first party. It was Margaret Thatcher on Dec. 5, 1989, putting a brave face over the fact that she remained the leader of her party and a prime minister. 

In fact, being the prime minister since 1979 and the first female one of her country, her statement had not to do with the result of the general elections. She had already won her third term in office in 1987. And at the age of 60, she was full of energy and ideological drive to stay on for years to come. Yet, her third term in office had been marred with highly unpopular domestic policies like the infamous "Poll Tax," - a flat-rate tax on every adult living in the U.K. - further drastic cuts on the National Health Service (NHS) and social care and persistent unemployment; at the same time her confrontational style against Brussels had placed Britain even farther from the European policymakers who looked at Thatcher as the "odd one out." Already she was facing serious problems in her party due to her arrogant and stubborn attitude; she had clashed badly with her Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe during the European Summit in Madrid insisting on being against British membership of the Exchange Rate Mechanism. The Labour Party was picking up again, fast. 
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