Thatcher fires three Cabinet ministers

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher fired three Cabinet critics of her Conservative government's hard-line monetarist economic policies Monday. The dismissed Cabinet members were Deputy Foreign Secretary Sir Ian Gilmour, Education Minister Mark Carlisle, and Lord Soames, who was government leader in the House of Lords. In another key change, Mrs. Thatcher moved Employment Secretary James Prior to the Northern Ireland office. He has also been at odds with her economic strategy and has resisted calls by the Conservative right wing for tougher action to curb trade union wage demands.

The shape of the reshuffle indicated that Mrs. Thatcher planned no radical change in strategy. Some ministers who do not share her economic thinking retain their Cabinet posts.