Britain’s first woman Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, The Iron Lady, dies at age 87

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a key figure in postwar British and world politics and the only woman to become British prime minister, has died at the age of 87 after suffering a stroke. (some famous quotes below)

Margaret Thatcher with Ronald Reagan 1981 photo public domain White House photo

During her term of office she reshaped almost every aspect of British politics, reviving the economy, reforming outdated institutions, and reinvigorating the nation’s foreign policy. She challenged and did much to overturn the psychology of decline which had become rooted in Britain since the Second World War, pursuing national recovery with striking energy and determination.

In the process, Margaret Thatcher became one of the founders, with Ronald Reagan, of a school of conservative conviction politics, which has had a powerful and enduring impact on politics in Britain and the United States and earned her a higher international profile than any British politician since Winston Churchill.

Thatcher’s funeral will be at St. Paul’s Cathedral, with full military honors, followed by a private cremation, the British prime minister’s office announced.

“Very few leaders get to change not only the political landscape of their country but of the world. Margaret was such a leader. Her global impact was vast. And some of the changes she made in Britain were, in certain respects at least, retained by the 1997 Labour government, and came to be implemented by governments around the world.” – statement from Tony Blair, Former PM

Thatcher served from 1975 to 1990 as leader of the Conservative Party. She was called the “Iron Lady” for her personal and political toughness.

Famous Quotes from The Iron Lady:

The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money [to spend].

Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.

What is success? I think it is a mixture of having a flair for the thing that you are doing; knowing that it is not enough, that you have got to have hard work and a certain sense of purpose.

If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.

I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.

Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country.

Democratic nations must try to find ways to starve the terrorist and the hijacker of the oxygen of publicity on which they depend.

I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but should get you pretty near.