Margaret Thatcher. Photograph courtesy of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation
Former British Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher has died at the age of 87 following a stroke, her spokesman has said.
Lord Bell said
“It is with great sadness that Mark and Carol Thatcher announced that their mother Baroness Thatcher died peacefully following a stroke this morning.”
Current Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, who has cut short his European visit to return to the UK upon hearing the news said:
“It was with great sadness that l learned of Lady Thatcher’s death. We’ve lost a great leader, a great Prime Minister and a great Briton”
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said:
“No-one can deny that as PM she left a unique and lasting imprint on the country she served…She may have divided opinion but everyone will be united today in acknowledging the strength of her personality.
Opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband said:
I send my deep condolences to Lady Thatcher’s family, in particular Mark and Carol Thatcher.
She will be remembered as a unique figure. She reshaped the politics of a whole generation. She was Britain’s first woman Prime Minister. She moved the centre ground of British politics and was a huge figure on the world stage.
Baroness Thatcher was Conservative Prime Minister between 1979 and 1990, and was the first and only woman to have held the post. Her uncompromising style and leadership, along with her role in the break up of the unions in Britain, earned her the nickname the “Iron Lady”. She was Prime Minister of Britain during the Falklands War, a campaign which saw off the real possibility of electoral defeat after just one term
She earned a Chemistry degree from Cambridge and embraced a scientific basis of health policies. She was MP for Finchley for 20-years, coming to power in 1979 and represented the end of consensus politics in Britain. Immediately upon becoming prime Minister she began attacking nationalised industries and chronic inflation.
She was a decisive character in British politics, and was the first Prime Minister to embrace the “television age”.
Baroness Thatcher will have a ceremonial funeral, on a similar level to the one given to the Queen Mother, with Downing Street saying:
With The Queen’s consent, Lady Thatcher will receive a Ceremonial funeral with military honours. The service will be held at St Paul’s Cathedral. A wide and diverse range of people and groups with connections to Lady Thatcher will be invited.
The service will be followed by a private cremation. All the arrangements being put in place are in line with wishes of Lady Thatcher’s family. Further details will be published over the coming days.
Her family is expected to make a further statement later.
