Mark Thatcher, son of Margaret Thatcher, comes out to address the media outside her London home yesterday.
Reuters/London
Prime Minister David Cameron led tributes to Margaret Thatcher yesterday, remembering a divisive and combative leader who transformed the country and set a political course still followed today.
In a special session of parliament, Cameron said his fellow Conservative “defined and overcame the great challenges of her age” after a remarkable journey from the family grocer’s shop to the highest office in the land.
It was the first time parliament had been recalled from holiday for the death of a public figure since Queen Elizabeth’s mother died in 2002, underlining the enduring legacy of a leader who won three elections and reshaped British politics.
“She drew the lines on a political map that we here are still navigating today,” said Cameron, wearing a dark suit and tie. “She made the political weather, she made history and let this be her epitaph ... she made our country great again.”
Thatcher, who died at 87 on Monday from a stroke, overturned post-war political consensus, winning battles over union reform, nuclear arms and state ownership of industries, Cameron added.
“She certainly did not shy from the fight and that led to arguments, to conflict, yes even to division,” Cameron said. “But what is remarkable, looking back now, is how many of those arguments are no longer arguments at all.”
In an emotional session, lawmakers still bitterly split over Thatcher traded anecdotes and jokes about Britain’s first female prime minister, who served from 1979 to 1990.
Opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband described Thatcher as a “unique and towering figure”.
However, some Labour members of parliament refused to attend.
“I’d rather be put in a torture chamber,” Ronnie Campbell, whose parliamentary district in northern England was hard-hit by Thatcher’s reforms, told BBC radio.
Flowers were placed at the foot of a Thatcher statue outside the parliamentary chamber she dominated for years and which was the scene of a devastating resignation speech by her deputy Geoffrey Howe that precipitated her downfall in 1990.
Plans for Thatcher’s funeral next Wednesday have turned into a security headache and a national talking point as the former Conservative leader divided Britain in death as she did in life.
Parties in several cities to celebrate her death ended in arrests and media reported police may pre-emptively arrest known trouble-makers before they travel to her funeral next week.
Codenamed “Operation True Blue”, the ceremonial funeral with military honours will begin with a procession through central London to a service at St Paul’s Cathedral.
In a break with protocol, marking Thatcher’s stature, Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip will attend.
The last time the monarch attended a prime minister’s funeral was when Winston Churchill died in 1965.
Thatcher’s son Mark said she would have been “enormously proud and grateful” that the monarch was going to her funeral.
“My mother would be greatly honoured as well as humbled by her presence,” he said. Page 32
London sites for memorial statue examined
Boris Johnson has ordered staff to explore potential sites in London for a statue of Margaret Thatcher. His move comes amid calls for one to be placed on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, or in Parliament Square near the statue of Winston Churchill. A spokesman for Johnson said: “The mayor feels Baroness Thatcher deserves a prominent statue in a central London location and his team will assist with exploring suitable options.” Defence Secretary Philip Hammond yesterday said a London memorial to the Iron Lady would be “very appropriate”. Commander John Muxworthy, who fought in the Falklands War, suggested the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square — echoed by Lord Tebbit, one of Thatcher’s closest political allies. “Nelson could keep an eye on her,” he said. But ex-Mayor Ken Livingstone said: “The understanding is that the fourth plinth is being reserved for Queen Elizabeth II. That’s why we had a rolling programme of temporary exhibits there.”
