Military prepares its finishing touches for Thatcher’s funeral

The former Prime Minister will be given full military honours at her ceremonial funeral, which will have much of the pomp and pageantry of a full state funeral.

Her Union flag-draped coffin will be carried through the streets of London on a horse-drawn gun carriage, the same honour bestowed on the Queen Mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, and Winston Churchill, allowing ordinary people to pay their respects as the funeral cortege passes by.

One of six First World War-era gun carriages of the Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery, which is used routinely for gun salutes – most recently to mark the 61st anniversary of the Queen’s accession to the throne – will be used for the occasion.

The carriage, never used in a funeral before, is likely to be named after Lady Thatcher as is traditional after such occasions. It will be drawn by six black horses, three of them mounted, with three soldiers walking alongside it.

The military procession will feature more than 700 serving Armed Forces personnel from units particularly associated with the Falklands War, including some from the Welsh Guards, which suffered some of the heaviest losses.

The streets of central London will be lined by men and women from all three services along with three military marching bands, all with their drums draped in black as a mark of respect.

The cortege, timed to last 19 minutes, will make its way from St Clement Danes, the church of the Royal Air Force, down the Strand on Wednesday morning, before slowly travelling along Fleet Street towards St Paul’s.

Guns will be fired from the Tower of London during the procession, with the first round ringing out as the wheels of the gun carriage start to roll and the last as the carriage stops outside the cathedral, when a single, half-muffled bell will toll.

Once at the venue, Lady Thatcher’s coffin will be met by a Guard of Honour before pallbearers from each of the forces carry it up the west steps, which will be lined by 14 Chelsea Pensioners.

The Queen will be among the 2,000 mourners inside – attending the first funeral of a Prime Minister since Churchill’s state send-off in 1965 – as will David Cameron, who is to deliver a reading.

A raft of military top brass will also be in attendance including the Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir David Richards and the former head of the Army General Sir Mike Jackson.

Among the foreign dignitaries who will be paying their respects are the Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubark Al-Sabah, the son of the ruler of Kuwait, Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmed Al Sabah, and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti.

Specialist police officers from across the country are being brought in to help guard them.

Critics including the Anglican bishop of Baroness Thatcher’s home town and former Labour Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott have hit out at the £10m cost of the ceremony.

In his newspaper column yesterday, Lord Prescott said taxpayers were footing the bill for “the biggest political propaganda exercise this country has ever seen”.

“Privatise her funeral. It would be a fitting tribute,” he wrote.

Meanwhile the Bishop of Grantham, The Rt Rev Dr Tim Ellis, said: “I think that in a context where there is manifestly great ill-feeling about her tenure and about her legacy, to then actually have a situation where we seem to be expecting the nation to glorify that with a £10m funeral, I think any sensible person would say that that is asking for trouble.”

Ding Dong song fails to hit top spot

A SONG propelled into the charts by opponents of Baroness Thatcher has failed to reach the number one spot.

Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead, from 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, entered the charts at number two.

It was more than 5,000 sales short of this week’s chart-topper Need U (100%) by Duke Dumont featuring A*M*E.

The Official Charts Company described Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead as “one of the most controversial chart contenders of all time”.

Sales were fuelled by an online campaign organised by opponents of the former Prime Minister, who wanted to see the 51-second song reach number one.

The BBC played only a five-second clip of the song as part of a news item during the Radio 1 chart show yesterday.

Some Tory MPs had demanded the BBC ban the song – but others warned that politicians should not interfere in the choice of records played by broadcasters.

Punk song I’m In Love With Margaret Thatcher by the Burnley band Notsensibles scraped into the top 40 at number 35. The 1979 single had been promoted by fans of Lady Thatcher.