The Iron Lady who changed Britain forever

Preparations are underway for a huge ceremonial funeral at St Paul’s Cathedral next week after it was announced the longest-serving British Prime Minister of the 20th Century had died at the age of 87.

The Queen and Prime Minister David Cameron led the tributes to Baroness Thatcher, supported by a chorus of voices from world leaders past and present.

“We have lost a great leader, a great Prime Minister and a 
great Briton,” Mr Cameron 
said.

The country’s first ever female premier will be afforded the same status as the Queen Mother in recognition of her enormous influence. Thousands of well-wishers are expected to line the streets of London for her ceremonial funeral with full military honours, as millions more watch the live televised coverage at home.

Countless politicians from the past four decades were queuing up yesterday to share their own personal memories of Lady Thatcher, as debates raged online and across the country over the impact of her 11 years in office.

Labour leader Ed Miliband said she had “moved the centre ground of British politics”, while former PM Tony Blair described her as a “towering figure” who changed the “political landscape” of the world.

Global leaders added their voices to the tributes, with President Barack Obama saying Lady Thatcher had been a “true friend” to the US and a “great champion” of freedom.

However, others on the Left condemned the social impact of the Tory leader’s free-market policies, which saw industries shut down or privatised and unions stripped of their powers.

Bradford West MP George Galloway sparked a bitter online debate by tweeting “Tramp the dirt down” – a reference to an anti-Thatcher Elvis Costello song from the 1980s. Miners’ groups and unions attacked her legacy.

And last night informal, raucous parties were underway in city centres up and down the country, with hundreds of people congregating to “celebrate” the death of the former PM.

A crowd of 300 assembled in Glasgow’s George Square, where in 1989 protests to the poll tax took place. Some wore party hats and launched streamers, while champagne was opened to toast the demise of Baroness Thatcher.

More than 100 people gathered in Brixton, south London – the scene of fierce riots in 1981. A party was also planned in Sheffield.

Lady Thatcher had been in ill health for many years and died yesterday morning at the Ritz Hotel in London, having suffered a stroke while recuperating following a minor operation.

Her place in the history books had been secured from the moment she won the keys to Downing Street in the 1979 General Election, becoming the UK’s first ever woman premier.

But after 11 years in power it was clear her legacy would stretch far beyond her astonishing success in smashing through Westminster’s historic glass ceiling.

The Tory leader’s impact was underlined by the scale of the reaction to her death. Mr Cameron cut short an official trip to Europe and announced that Parliament will be recalled from its Easter recess tomorrow, to give MPs and peers the chance to pay tribute.

All three parties have suspended campaigning ahead of next month’s local elections.