LONDON — Margaret Thatcher, beset by a challenge from within her own ruling party, stunned Britain on Thursday by resigning as prime minister.
Thatcher's decision to step down under fire came during a fractious fight for the Conservative Party leadership--and only a day after she had vowed in the House of Commons: "I fight on. I fight to win."
In the end, her own closest aides convinced her that the challenge mounted by former Defense Secretary Michael Heseltine had left her seriously wounded, and they warned her that Heseltine could defeat her in the next test for the party leadership.
The feisty, right-wing Thatcher has been prime minister longer than any other British leader in this century and has never lost an election.
Her decision threw wide open the contest for the leadership of Britain's ruling party--and, automatically, the prime minister's post. By the noon Thursday deadline for entering the race, three prominent Tories--Heseltine, former Deputy Prime Minister Douglas Hurd and Chancellor of the Exchequer John Major--had declared their candidacies.
Technically, Thatcher will remain prime minister and party chief until the Tories elect a new leader, who will then become prime minister. That could come as early as next Tuesday, when the party gathers to vote on its leadership.
When news of her resignation swept through the houses of Parliament Thursday morning, some of her supporters were seen to be in tears.
One of those, Home Secretary David Waddington, said: "I have never been sadder in all my life. She was a great leader, and the last thing I wanted was to see her step down in this way."
But in the afternoon, Thatcher--whom some have dubbed "the Iron Lady"--demonstrated that she was still the head of government, giving a bravura performance in the House of Commons as she argued against a no-confidence motion introduced by Neil Kinnock, leader of the opposition Labor Party.
Speaking of his motion, Kinnock said, "There isn't much of a government to have no confidence in."
But buoyed by her tough, effective speech defending her government's record, the Tories roundly defeated the no-confidence measure, 367 to 247.
Thatcher then summarily rejected a call by Kinnock that new national elections be called immediately. The next general election must be held before mid-1992, but the precise timing is up to the prime minister. Thus, considering their comfortable majority in Parliament, the Conservatives will remain in power for another 18 months.
In the raucous Commons session, Thatcher seemed relaxed, winning both laughter and applause, even from some of her longtime critics. Wearing her trademark bright blue suit, she castigated the opposition with a vintage performance and at one point declared, "I'm enjoying this."
"You can wipe the floor with these people," interjected one of her supporters, and Thatcher responded with an elaborate bow.
She was relentless in defending her policies. "We are no longer the sick man of Europe," she declared to the lawmakers.
At one point, after she commented on the notion of a central European bank, which she has long opposed, Laborite Dennis Skinner jokingly called out that she herself could become the bank's governor.
She did a double take, then exclaimed, "What a good idea!"
Thatcher's agonizing decision was prompted by the challenge of former Defense Secretary Heseltine, who ran against her in the first ballot for party leader last Tuesday and succeeded in forcing her into a runoff. The second round now will be held without her.
After Thatcher's resignation, two of her Cabinet colleagues announced their candidacy for the party leadership: Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd, 60, and Chancellor of the Exchequer John Major, 47, both viewed as "stop-Heseltine" men.
If none of the three candidates gains a simple majority of the 372 Conservative members of the House of Commons on Tuesday, a final election will be held two days later.
Thatcher's dramatic announcement came a day after she had participated in the 34-nation Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, in which she was the senior major national leader in attendance.
Hearing the news, her fellow world leaders expressed their sorrow at the prospect of her leaving the world stage, one on which she played a powerful role during her three consecutive terms and 11 1/2 years in office.
In all, she spent a total of 4,220 days at 10 Downing St., a time in which Britain's first woman prime minister led the country in the 1982 Falkland Islands War and survived an assassination attempt in 1984 when the Irish Republican Army bombed the site of a party conference in Brighton.
President Bush, who counted Thatcher as one of his staunchest allies, said in Saudi Arabia, where he was visiting U.". troops:
"Margaret Thatcher was an outstanding prime minister and an outstanding ally for the United States. You always knew where she was and what she believed. I'll miss her."
