14. When the Alderman's daughter began
In the House she denied that her plan
Was to get to be leader
But managed indeed a
Career that eclipsed every man
Who was the first woman to became the UK's Prime Minister?
From Quiz More Mixed People Limericks
Answer:
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire to Alfred and Beatrice Roberts. Her father was a grocer, alderman and Methodist preacher. Thatcher served in the Conservative government led by Edward Heath between 1970 and 1974 as Secretary of State for Education and Science, where she came to prominence mainly for the decision to withdraw free milk from school children between the ages of seven and eleven. While in that role, in a famous interview on a children's TV programme, she expressed the view that there would be no female Prime Minister in her lifetime, and that she was not experienced enough to be Prime Minister. When, in 1975, after losing the 1974 election, Heath put himself up for re-election by the party's Members of Parliament, Margaret Thatcher emerged as the main challenger, and defeated him on the first ballot. She became the UK's first female leader of a major political party, and won the subsequent election in 1979, defeating James Callaghan's Labour Party. The first woman to be UK Prime Minister, she was also the the first holder of a science degree to hold that office. Margaret Thatcher won three consecutive general elections, leaving office in 1990.
Barbara Castle was an MP for over thirty years and served in several roles in Harold Wilson's Cabinets of the 1960s and 1970s.
Ellen Wilkinson was an MP for the constituency of Jarrow from 1935 and Minister of Education in the post-war Labour Government from 1945 until her death in 1947.
Jennie Adamson also served in Clement Attlee's post-war government, as a junior minister.