Britain Thatcher Hits Stormy Weather

Unemployment and a party split send her support plummeting

The sun came out in Britain last week after five gloomy months, but it was not shining on Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. First there had been local elections in early May in which her Conservatives took a severe drubbing from the Social Democratic/Liberal Alliance. Then came a dark cloud of budding insurrection from within the Tory party, and finally the thunderclap of a new Gallup poll that showed how far the Conservatives have fallen. For the first time since their slump preceding the Falklands war in 1982, the Tories ranked third in a poll, trailing, at 30.5%, behind Labor's 34% and...

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