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Death of former Prime Minister Lady Thatcher

Statement from British High Commissioner Peter Jones on the death of former Prime Minister Lady Thatcher.

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government
[Lady Margaret Thatcher](http://ow.ly/jR9GL)

Death of former Prime Minister Lady Thatcher

'鈥橧 was shocked and saddened to learn of the death of Lady Thatcher. For my generation she was a defining figure in the British political landscape. She was Prime Minister when I left school, when I was at University and when I started my diplomatic career. This is a moment of sadness for the United Kingdom. A remarkable figure in British history has passed on. My thoughts and prayers join with those of many others in paying tribute to Lady Thatcher鈥檚 memory and in thinking of her family at this sad time.鈥欌

The British Prime Minister in an interview also described today as 鈥渁 sad day for the UK鈥. He said:

鈥淲e鈥檝e lost a great Prime Minister, a great leader, a great Briton. As our first woman Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher succeeded against all the odds, and the real thing about Margaret Thatcher is that she didn鈥檛 just lead our country, she saved our country. I believe she鈥檒l go down as the greatest British peacetime Prime Minister.鈥

鈥淭oday most of all we should think of her family. We鈥檝e lost somebody great in our public life but they鈥檝e lost a much loved mother and grandmother and we should think of them today. Her legacy will be the fact that she served her country so well and that she saved our country, and that she showed immense courage in doing so, and people will be learning about what she did and her achievements in decades, probably centuries to come. That鈥檚 her legacy, but today we must also think of her family.鈥

Flags at both the High Commission and residence will fly at half mast. Details of funeral arrangements will be communicated later by the High Commission.

Baroness Thatcher was the UK鈥檚 first female prime minister. She died at the age of 87.

Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague express their condolences

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Published 9 April 2013