In a BBC interview which aired in March, 1973, then Minister for Education, Margaret Thatcher said: “I don’t think there will be a woman Prime Minister in my lifetime.” When pressed by Eileen Conroy about whether she would like the job herself, she was unequivocal in saying: My goodness me, it’s a pretty penetrating question, isn’t it? I would not wish to be Prime Minister, dear. I have not enough experience for that job. The only full ministerial position I’ve held is Minister of Education and Science. Before you could even think of being Prime Minister, you’d need to have done a good deal more jobs than that.”
She must have regretted her comments when she became leader of the Conservative opposition two years later, and Prime Minister in 1979.