World leaders pay tribute to Margaret Thatcher

April 8th, 2013

Peter Nolan

Updated

April 09, 2013 01:32:27

Photo:
Margaret Thatcher and British prime minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street in June 2010. (AFP: Leon Neal)

World leaders have paid tribute to former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who passed away on Monday aged 87.

Lady Thatcher, known as the Iron Lady, is Britain’s longest-serving prime minister, having led across three terms from 1979 to 1990.

Here is what world leaders had to say after her passing:

British PM David Cameron

It was with great sadness that I learned of Lady Thatcher’s death. We’ve lost a great leader, a great prime minister and a great Briton.

As our first woman Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher succeeded against all the odds. She didn’t just lead our country, she saved our country.

I believe she’ll go down as the greatest British peace-time prime minister.

Today is obviously a day we should most of all think of her family.

We’ve lost someone great in public life, but they’ve lost a much loved mother and grandmother.

British deputy PM Nick Clegg

Whatever side of the political debate you stand on, no one can deny that as prime minister she left a unique and lasting imprint on the country she served.

She may have divided opinion during her time in politics but everyone will be united today in acknowledging the strength of her personality and the radicalism of her politics.

British opposition leader Ed Miliband

The Labour Party disagreed with much of what she did and she will always remain a controversial figure. But we can disagree and also greatly respect her political achievements and her personal strength.

She also defined the politics of the 1980s. David Cameron, Nick Clegg and I all grew up in a politics shaped by Lady Thatcher.

We took different paths but with her as the crucial figure of that era.

Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev

Margaret Thatcher was a great politician and a bright individual. She will do down in our memory and in history.

Mikhail Gorbachev poses with British prime minister Margaret Thatcher during his December 1984 visit to the UK.

Photo:
Mikhail Gorbachev with Margaret Thatcher during his December 1984 visit to the UK. (Reuters: Stringer)

US president Barack Obama

With the passing of Baroness Margaret Thatcher, the world has lost one of the great champions of freedom and liberty, and America has lost a true friend.

[Lady Thatcher] stands as an example to our daughters that there is no glass ceiling that can’t be shattered.

She knew that with strength and resolve we could win the Cold War and extend freedom’s promise.

Here in America, many of us will never forget her standing shoulder to shoulder with president Reagan, reminding the world that we are not simply carried along by the currents of history – we can shape them with moral conviction, unyielding courage and iron will.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard

I learned this evening in Beijing of the death of Baroness Thatcher.

Her service as the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was a history making achievement.

Her strength of conviction was recognised by her closest supporters and her strongest opponents.

I extend my sincere condolences and those of my fellow Australians to her family and friends.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott

Margaret Thatcher was one of the greatest British prime ministers and one of the most significant world leaders of our times.

She was the first female prime minister of Great Britain and ranks with the greatest of prime ministers because of the quality of her leadership and the impact she had on Britain and the wider world.

Margaret Thatcher arrested the decline of Britain and gave the British people renewed confidence. She ensured the British people no longer simply dwelt on the glories of the past but could enjoy a strong and prosperous future.

Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger

She was a great leader, a great friend to the United States, [and] an important representative of Britain in very difficult periods.

I found her a warm person however fiercely she defended her views.

Photo:
Henry Kissinger meets with Margaret Thatcher in London, February 1974. (AFP)

Former Polish president and anti-communist icon Lech Walesa

She was a great person. She did a great deal for the world, along with Ronald Reagan, pope John Paul II and Solidarity, she contributed to the demise of communism in Poland and Central Europe.

I’m praying for her.

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso

I was deeply saddened to hear the news of the death of Baroness Thatcher … without doubt a great stateswoman.

She signed the Single European Act and helped bring about the single market. She was a leading player in bringing into the European family the central and eastern European countries which were formerly behind the Iron Curtain.

As you remember, Britain under Mrs Thatcher’s leadership was very supportive of the enlargement of the European Union.

Her legacy has done much to shape the United Kingdom as we know it today, including the special role of the United Kingdom in the European Union that endures to this day.