Thatcher 'made Britain great again'

Prime Minister David Cameron speaks during a tribute to Baroness Margaret Thatcher in the House of Commons
13 April 2013

Baroness Thatcher was a prime minister who made Britain great again, David Cameron has told MPs.

Speaking as Parliament was recalled so that MPs and peers could pay tribute to the former Tory prime minister who died on Monday, Mr Cameron told the Commons that Lady Thatcher was an "extraordinary woman".

She rescued Britain from post-war decline, he said, telling MPs that her policies, controversial at the time she was in government, were now accepted by politicians of all colours.

Mr Cameron said: "They say 'cometh the hour, cometh the man', well in 1979 came the hour and came the lady. She made the political weather, she made history, and - let this be her epitaph - she made our country great again."

Meanwhile, Ed Miliband described the former PM as a "unique and towering figure" whatever views are held of her. Mr Miliband paid warm tributes to the former prime minister, who died on Monday, highlighting a series of policy areas where "she was right".

Speaking in front of busy - though not packed - Labour benches, he highlighted the Falkland Islands and parts of the privatisation programme as successes. But he also said it was important to reflect where she had been wrong - picking out mining and Baroness Thatcher's position on Nelson Mandela and South Africa.

Whether you liked her or disliked her "it is impossible to deny the indelible imprint Margaret Thatcher made both on the nation and the wider world", Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said, adding: "Those of us who are not from her party can shun the tenets of Thatcherism and yet still respect Margaret Thatcher is part of what was so remarkable about her."

Baroness Thatcher was "braver than many men", former Welsh secretary Cheryl Gillan said as she became the first woman to pay tribute during the special Commons sitting. Mrs Gillan said Lady Thatcher triumphed over the dictators and misogynists, as she praised the former PM for curtailing the power of the unions.

Conservative John Redwood, MP for Wokingham, described Lady Thatcher as "the best boss I ever worked for". Mr Redwood, who worked as her chief policy adviser in the middle years, said her private side was "so different" from the public side.

Sir Malcolm Rifkind, who served as a cabinet minister under Lady Thatcher, quipped "it was never dull". He said: "Each day we saw political leadership and statesmanship of the highest order and each day we saw a Prime Minister with remarkable personal qualities."

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