Files detail Thatcher's first year as PM

Former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher's determination to implement change in the United Kingdom and her frustration in office have been revealed in the release of previously secret files.

The records lay bare among other things her exasperation with the processes and negotiations with the European Union where she even threatened at one time to "openly" fight moves to deny the UK a budget refund and repeatedly demanded her ministers maintain a strong line during the bargaining process.

The files of the previously secret government documents from 1980 were released by the National Archives in Kew, London, under the 30-year-rule.

Mrs. Thatcher's time in government was marked by change and social unrest. As Britain's first woman prime minister, she launched straight into a programme of social and economic reform.

During her time in power, inflation was reined in by severe financial belt-tightening and loss-making state monopolies were privatised. Unemployment doubled by the mid-1980's to over 12 percent of the workforce.

The files also contain references to the Mrs. Thatcher's appeal to Iran over US hostages, implementing union reform, and a hunger strike by IRA members in prison, among other subjects.

The files also show that Mrs Thatcher threatened to "openly" fight for a hard-won refund on the European Community

Mrs Thatcher is Britain's longest serving prime minister of the 20th century, who dominated politics in her own country for a decade and carved out for herself a formidable position on the world stage.

She won her first parliamentary seat in 1959 and served as minister of Education under Edward Heath, prime minister from 1970 to 1974.

After Heath's government fell, Thatcher marshalled support to oust him as party leader in February 1975 and embarked on a campaigning four years with the promise: "Socialism is on its way out".

She came to power in a general election on May 3, 1979 defeating Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan by a margin of 43 seats.