The Conservative Party Leadership Election was held during early February, 1975. The Conservatives had just suffered two General Election defeats in one year and fueled the return of Labour in power. The Conservatives thought that 10 years was now up for their leader Edward Heath who had been prime-minister for 4 years. He took Britain into the Common Market (Now the EU), he decimalized Britains currency and oversaw the "three day week" in Britain which was seen as an effort to save electricity.

The Prime-Minister called a leadership election for 4th February, 1975. Margaret Thatcher announced that she would join the contest and fight for what she called "the top job".

The election day came and the results were as follows: Margaret Thatcher| 130 votes Edward Heath | 119 votes

Edward Heath concealed defeat and resigned, but Margaret Thatcher needed to het a majority to become leader. So another ballot was to be hled on February 11th. The results of the final election were as follows: Margaret Thatcher| 146 votes William Whitelaw | 79 votes Sir Geoffrey Howe| 19 votes Mr Prior | 19 votes John Peyton | 11 votes The Right Honourable Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven, LG, OM, PC, FRS (born October 13, 1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England), is a British stateswoman and was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, also Leader of the Opposition from 1975, and the only woman... William Stephen Ian Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw, KT, CH, MC, PC, DL (June 28, 1918 - July 1, 1999), commonly known as Willie Whitelaw, was a British Conservative politician. ... Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, KBE, QC, CH, PC (born December 20, 1926), usually known until 1992 as Sir Geoffrey Howe, is a senior British Conservative politician. ...

Margaret Thatcher had achieved a miracle and she was to become the first woman leader of a political party in the United Kingdom