Britain’s ‘Iron Lady’ Margaret Thatcher dies

Margaret Thatcher, the former British Prime Minister who helped end the Cold War and was known as the "Iron Lady" for her uncompromising style, has died. She was 87.

"She had a stroke and died peacefully," her spokesman, Tim Bell, told the British media late this morning.

"We'll never see the like of her again. She was one of the great prime ministers of all times. She changed people's lives. She is a fantastic person. She loved her country. She dedicated herself to improving people's lives."

Prime Minister David Cameron said her death marked a "truly sad day" for the United Kingdom.

"We've lost a great Prime Minister, a great leader, a great Briton. As our first woman Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher succeeded against all the odds, and the real thing about Margaret Thatcher is that she didn't just lead our country, she saved our country. I believe she'll go down as the greatest British peacetime Prime Minister.
 
"Today most of all we should think of her family. We've lost somebody great in our public life but they've lost a much loved mother and grandmother and we should think of them today. Her legacy will be the fact that she served her country so well and that she saved our country, and that she showed immense courage in doing so, and people will be learning about what she did and her achievements in decades, probably centuries to come. That's her legacy, but today we must also think of her family."

When Thatcher took office in 1979, Britain's trade unions were strong enough to knock out party leaders they opposed, and key industries, including utilities, were state-owned. By the time she stepped down 11 years later, her arguments for free-market economics, lower taxes and deregulated financial markets had been adopted across the nation's political spectrum.

The transition was painful. Unemployment soared to more than three million during the mid-1980s, and many places in the north of the country that had been world centers of manufacturing struggled to adapt to the new service economy.

"She was, quite simply, one of the most influential political leaders that the U.K., indeed the world, has ever produced," said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London and author of "The Conservative Party From Thatcher To Cameron" (2010).