The passing of a great British stateswoman has drawn many tributes and I would like to add my own personal one.
As the first female Prime Minister she inspired a generation of girls to reach for the top as she proved herself every bit as good if not better than many men in the job. We often forget that Margaret Thatcher was also a working mother entering Parliament when her twins were six months old thereby blazing a trail that I can identify with that entails much determination and no small amount of sacrifice.
My generation owes her a particular debt of gratitude for leading the world out of the danger of Cold War which cast its shadow of fear over my childhood. She got on personally with both Reagan and Gorbachev bringing the super powers to peace. It's natural to want to feel proud of the country and she put the Great back in Britain. We had been described as the Sick Man of Europe with our strikes and crumbling public services but she set about sorting these problems out. She arrested the decline of our country and who knows where we might have been today without her. For sure she stood up to bullies and dictators and nowhere more apparent than in the Falklands.
A woman of strong convictions and strong faith she did not set out to please everyone but to do what she believed to be right. Conviction politicians are what people often tell me is what they want and in Baroness Thatcher we saw one of the most effective statesmen the world has seen. The Iron lady will never be forgotten as she rests in peace with her beloved Denis.