British Iron Lady Ex-PM Margaret Thatcher dies

Thatcher with her husband Denis at a party to
celebrate her autobiography Path to Power at the Roof Gardens, Kensington, in June 1995. Photo: Daily Mail File

Margaret Thatcher, the "Iron Lady" who transformed Britain and inspired conservatives around the world by radically rolling back the state during her 11 years in power, died yesterday following a stroke. She was 87.
Britain's only woman prime minister, the unyielding, outspoken Thatcher led the Conservatives to three election victories, governing from 1979 to 1990, the longest continuous period in office by a British premier since the early 19th century.
A grocer's daughter with a steely resolve, she was loved and loathed in equal measure as she crushed the unions, privatised vast swathes of British industry, clashed with the European Union and fought a war to recover the Falkland Islands from Argentine invaders.
She struck up a close relationship with US President Ronald Reagan in the Cold War, backed the first President George Bush during the 1991 Gulf War, and declared that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was a man she could do business with.
The Queen said she was sad to hear the news of Thatcher's death and sent a message of sympathy to her family.
"We've lost a great leader, a great prime minister and a great Briton," Prime Minister David Cameron said.
Cameron cut short a visit to Europe to return to Britain after the death was announced and British flags at Cameron's official residence, 10 Downing Street, were lowered to half mast.
Mourners began to lay flowers outside her house in Belgravia, one of London's most exclusive areas. One note said: "The greatest British leader."
Thatcher died peacefully on Monday morning, said Lord Bell, a spokesman for the family. She had been in poor health for months and had declined into dementia in her final years.
The British government said Thatcher would have a ceremonial funeral with military honours at London's St Paul's Cathedral, which falls short of a full state funeral, in accordance with the wishes of her family.
The abiding images of her premiership will remain those of conflict: huge police confrontations with the miners' union, her riding a tank in a white headscarf, and flames rising above Trafalgar Square in the riots over an unpopular local tax which ultimately led to her downfall.