“Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher has passed away at the age of 87. The news was announced by her daughter, Carol Thatcher, who said she died peacefully following a stroke on Monday morning.
Buckingham Palace issued the following statement:
“The Queen was sad to hear the news of the death of Baroness Thatcher. Her Majesty will be sending a private message of sympathy to the family.”
Current prime minister David Cameron said:
“It was with great sadness that l learned of Lady Thatcher’s death. We’ve lost a great leader, a great prime minister and a great Briton.”
Thatcher was the first female prime minister of Britain, and is often associated here in the U.S. with her work with former president Ronald Reagan in the 80s.
Here’s a small sample of the conversation in the Twitterverse:
‘rampant inequality, social breakdown, City deregulation, deindustrialisation, mass unemployment’ -Thatcher’s legacy. Thoughts?
— Thomas Griffiths (@TomCamGriffiths) April 8, 2013
RIP PM Thatcher…a woman who shattered the glass ceiling for others to follow..#IronLady
— Harlan Vigil (@Vignutz01) April 8, 2013
“@lcorcoran: Margaret Thatcher has died following a stoke. Guessing a lot of people will have an opinion on this bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi…” yep
— Han Irving (@NuttyHan) April 8, 2013
Pretty saddened to hear of Margaret #Thatcher‘s death, tbh. An incredible woman in anyone’s book. #theironlady
— Josh Harsant (@joshharsant) April 8, 2013
RIP Margaret #Thatcher.No doubt one of the greatest leaders this world has ever known
— Matt McRae (@Matt_McRae) April 8, 2013
Though I had no time for Thatcher and her politics she did epitomise what is missing in British politics today, great characters.
— Whitstable Cabby (@WhitstableCabby) April 8, 2013
Farewell to Britain’s Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher.
— Gerome De Villa (@signatureGerome) April 8, 2013
Interestingly, my feed is full of people respecting Thatcher’s drive, determination & patriotism, but none actually supporting her policies
— Jack Swan (@JackAlSwan) April 8, 2013
It goes without saying (as it would for pretty much any politician), the world was divided on Thatchers politics, and that continues to be evident scanning the Twitterverse for reactions to her death. There are plenty of much more disrespectful reactions out there that we’re not going to include here.