The story of Margaret Thatcher's life after Downing Street is a tale of high drama and low farce, with, at its heart, one extraordinary woman. No longer in office but never really out of power, Margaret Thatcher enjoyed perhaps the most consequential ex-premiership of any Prime Minister in British history. British politics today largely reflects and is a consequence not only of Thatcher's time in No. 10 but also of her later life and how people reacted and still react to it. It is as much our story as it is hers. In her centenary year, this book provides a radical reassessment of how Thatcher's post-prime ministership has been viewed to date. Covering the four main areas of her work after Downing Street - philosophy, party, policy and performance - and analysing her continued and continuing influence on the Conservative leaders and Prime Ministers of all parties who followed her, it demonstrates why, however small the politics may or may not have got since 1990, Margaret Thatcher is still big.

Peter Just studied history and politics at the University of Hull and is a research associate of the Centre for Legislative Studies at the University of Hull. He has been studying the lives of former Prime Ministers since 28 November 1990, his research being published in the Journal of Legislative Studies. This is his first book.