Call for papers

Making Margaret Thatcher:
Exploring Cultural and Media Constructions
of the Iron Lady

Thursday 18th September
Newcastle University

In the centenary of her birth, this conference considers how Margaret Thatcher has been represented in media, art, and culture. It is concerned with representations both factual (in news, popular history and documentaries) and fictional (such as in cartoons, literature, film, television and drama). 

In reflecting upon what was by any measure a significant life (a point central to the 2011 film The Iron Lady), this conference considers how different modes of representation facilitate the way that Thatcher and her government have been remembered.

Thatcher, more than any Prime Minister other than perhaps Winston Churchill, captured – one might say commanded – the imagination of writers, satirists, journalists, filmmakers and dramatists both in her own time and subsequently. Even in its attempts to ridicule, the stage play Handbags nonetheless frames Thatcher – and the iconography that symbolises her strength and values, not least the handbag which became a verb – as at least as recognisable as Elizabeth II, and in much less time. 

From early satirical appearances in Spitting Image to more recent dramatisation in The Crown, or from international media representations of Thatcher as the nemesis of communism to documentaries about her domestic legacy, representations of Thatcher have underscored the singularity of both the individual and the government she led. It is the purpose of this conference to consider the common themes, approaches and intentions in representations from then and now, fictional and non-fictional, to making and re-making the image of Margaret Thatcher in different media and cultural forms. 

We invite speakers to present 20-minute papers at an engaging, sociable conference – held in the heart of Newcastle Upon Tyne – on themes which may include:

  • 1980s media coverage of Thatcher and key moments in her premiership
  • Thatcher in literature and drama
  • Thatcher in film and television
  • Satire: comedy, cartoons, and impressionists
  • Documentary
  • Press strategy and relationships with journalists and biographers.

Not only are submissions from women especially welcome, but we expressly wish to actively work with female academics to develop their papers to secure their space on the programme.

This is an indicative, rather than exhaustive, list of topics. Our conferences emphasise networking and enjoyability. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions. 

Please send abstracts of no more than 300 words to director@thatchernet.org by Friday 27th June 2025.

Our recent conferences have led to two engaging and innovative publications: Thatcherism in the 21st Century was critically acclaimed and the forthcoming Thatcher’s Ministers is the first of its kind in providing a biography of a government. Contributors to this conference will be invited to submit to a new edited volume on representations of Thatcher.