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List of international prime ministerial trips made by Margaret Thatcher

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The list of international prime ministerial trips made by Margaret Thatcher encompasses the diplomatic visits outside the United Kingdom made during her tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979–1990.

photograph
Thatcher in the White House Cabinet Room, 1981

Summary of visits

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1979

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Country Locations visited Date Details
France Paris June Met with President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.[1]
Japan Tokyo 28–29 June Attended the 5th G7 summit.[2]
Zambia Lusaka August Attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.[3]
United States Washington, D.C., New York City December Met with President Jimmy Carter.[4]

1980

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Country Locations visited Date Details Image
Italy Venice 22–23 June Attended the 6th G7 summit.

1981

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Country Locations visited Date Details
United States Washington, D.C. February Met with President Ronald Reagan.[5][6]
Saudi Arabia Riyadh April [7]
United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi April [7]
Canada Ottawa, Montebello 20–21 July Attended the 7th G7 summit.[2]

1982

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Country Locations visited Date Details
United States New York City June Addressed the United Nations Special Session on Disarmament.[4]
People's Republic of China Beijing September Met with Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping.[7]

1983

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Country Locations visited Date Details
United States Williamsburg 28–29 May Attended the 9th G7 summit.[2]

1984

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Country Locations visited Date Details
Hungarian People's Republic Budapest 2–4 February Official visit.[8][9] Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visited Hungary, in her first official visit to the Eastern Bloc.[10][11][12][13] She met with Prime Minister György Lázár and First Secretary János Kádár. She also laid a wreath at Hősök tere and the Commonwealth War Cemetery in Solymár.[14]
Soviet Union Moscow 14 February Attended the state funeral of Yuri Andropov. Met briefly with Konstantin Chernenko.[7][15]
France Fontainebleau June Attended a European Council Summit.[1]
People's Republic of China Beijing December Official visit. Co-signed the historic Sino-British Joint Declaration alongside Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang.[16]
United States Camp David December Working visit.[4]

1985

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Country Locations visited Date Details
India New Delhi April Met with Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.[7]
Singapore Singapore April Met with Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.[7]
Malaysia Kuala Lumpur April Met with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.[7]

1986

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Country Locations visited Date Details

1987

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Country Locations visited Date Details
Soviet Union Moscow March Official visit.[17]

1988

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Country Locations visited Date Details
Kenya Nairobi January Met with President Daniel arap Moi.[18]
Nigeria Lagos, Kano January Met with Ibrahim Babangida.[18]
Belgium Brussels 1–3 March Attended the NATO Summit Meeting.
Canada Toronto 19–21 June Attended the 14th G7 summit.
Australia Melbourne, Sydney August Attended the Australian Bicentenary celebrations. Met with Prime Minister Bob Hawke.[18]
Spain Madrid September The first official visit by a British Prime Minister to Spain.[17]
Belgium Bruges September Delivered her famous Bruges speech.[17]
Poland Warsaw, Gdańsk November Met with Communist leader Wojciech Jaruzelski and Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa, providing direct, high-profile Western validation to the anti-communist opposition movement.[18]
United States Washington, D.C. November Farewell visit with Ronald Reagan before his presidency concluded.[18]

1989

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Country Locations visited Date Details
 Belgium Brussels 28–30 May Attended the NATO Summit Meeting.
 France Paris 13–17 July Attended the 15th G7 summit. Also attended ceremonies for the bicentennial of the French Revolution. Met with Ivorian president Félix Houphouët-Boigny.
 Belgium Brussels 3–4 December Attended the NATO Summit Meeting.

1990

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Country Locations visited Date Details
Soviet Union Moscow, Kyiv, Leninakan 8–10 June Met with Mikhail Gorbachev and other leaders. Visited Supreme Soviet of Ukraine.[17] Visited the Lord Byron School in the Armenian SSR.[19]
United States Aspen August Attended the Aspen Institute Aspen Security Forum alongside President George H. W. Bush.[4][17]
France Paris November 18–21 Attended the CSCE summit to sign the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. While in Paris, she received the first-round results of the 1990 Conservative Party leadership election, forcing her resignation days later.[1]

Multilateral meetings

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See also

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References

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  1. 1 2 3 Moore, Charles (2013). Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography, Volume I: Not For Turning. Allen Lane. pp. 450–465. ISBN 978-0-713-99288-5.
  2. 1 2 3 "Summits of the G7 - Tokyo 1979". g7.utoronto.ca. G7 Research Group, University of Toronto. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
  3. ↑ Prime Minister's Office: Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), Lusaka: records (Report). The National Archives (TNA). 1979. PREM 19/127.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Visits By Foreign Leaders of the United Kingdom: Margaret Thatcher". history.state.gov. U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
  5. ↑ Prime Minister's Office: Visit to United States and meetings with President Reagan (Report). The National Archives (TNA). 1981. PREM 19/598.
  6. ↑ "The Reagan-Thatcher Relationship". reaganlibrary.gov. Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Moore, Charles (2015). Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography, Volume II: Everything She Wants. Allen Lane. pp. 112–125. ISBN 978-0-718-17857-4.
  8. ↑ "A visit to Budapest, 2-4 February 1984 | Margaret Thatcher Foundation". www.margaretthatcher.org. Retrieved 3 July 2026.
  9. ↑ "Margaret Thatcher visits Hungary - UPI Archives". UPI. Retrieved 3 July 2026.
  10. ↑ "British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher arrived in Hungary Thursday..." UPI. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  11. ↑ "Kádár és a Vaslady 1. rész - Magyar Szemle". www.magyarszemle.hu. Archived from the original on 23 May 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  12. ↑ "A politika, a tudomány és a művészet 1984-ben". artpool.hu. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  13. ↑ "Baroness Thatcher And The Transformation Of Hungary - Hungarian Review". www.hungarianreview.com. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  14. ↑ "A visit to Budapest, 2-4 February 1984 | Margaret Thatcher Foundation". www.margaretthatcher.org. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  15. ↑ "Press Conference after Andropov's funeral | Margaret Thatcher Foundation". www.margaretthatcher.org. Retrieved 3 July 2026.
  16. ↑ Prime Minister's Office: Future of Hong Kong and Sino-British Joint Declaration (Report). The National Archives (TNA). 1984. PREM 19/1253.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 Moore, Charles (2019). Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography, Volume III: Herself Alone. Allen Lane. pp. 204–222. ISBN 978-0-241-32474-5.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 "MT's private files for 1988 - foreign visits". margaretthatcher.org. Margaret Thatcher Foundation. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
  19. ↑ "Speech in Leninakan | Margaret Thatcher Foundation". www.margaretthatcher.org. Retrieved 3 July 2026.
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