Margaret Thatcher: The region pays tribute

Sir Tony said:“Baroness Thatcher was one of the outstanding prime ministers.

He said: “Without her determination and resolution we would not have ensured the people of the Falklands retained their independence.

“She stood up for Britain on the EU rebate, and was an outstanding Prime Minister in every way.

“On a personal level, I felt very privileged to work with her.

“I was her personal aide in one general election, and I was very grateful she appointed me as a junior minister to her government.

“I found her to be a woman of incredible kindness.”

Sir Tony added: “Although Margaret will always be known as the “Iron Lady”, in private she was incredibly kind and invariably took time out to write personal letters and notes of encouragement and condolence to colleagues.

“Margaret Thatcher will stand out as one of the great post war Prime Ministers and someone who always sought to put Britain’s interests first and who sought to ensure that the Government stood up for those who worked hard and wanted to get on.

“It was very sad that Baroness Thatcher had been so poorly for such a long time. It was a very cruel way in which to have to live her last years and I think many of us now will quietly remember her and her children in our prayers.”

Tim Boswell, south Northants and Daventry MP from 1987 to 2010 said he was shocked by the news.

He added: “Clearly we had all known, and had been saddened, that Lady Thatcher had been less than well in the past few years, but she did not appear to be less healthy overall.

“I think she will always be a controversial figure. My own view is she did a tremendous amount to pull this country around, and that inevitably attracted some controversy from time to time.

“But I was very privileged to be one of her MPs, and briefly at the end, I was a whip and one of her ministers.

“But what I think it is very important to remember, she was of course the first woman prime minister. That was a huge advance for those of us who wanted to see that cause championed.

“Secondly she was one of the relatively few PMs to have a knowledge of science which acted to advise some of her patronage.”

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