Virginia Bottomley, Paddy Ashdown, David Blunkett and John Redwood consider the legacy of the former prime minister, who has died of a stroke at the age of 87
*Virginia Bottomley: 'She inspired a generation'
*
I shall always feel privileged to have worked for a woman who so profoundly altered Britain and our place in the world. She transformed opportunities for women simply through her personal example, splendidly undertaking a hugely demanding role that no female had previously secured.
When Margaret Thatcher came to power the UK was known as the "sick man of Europe"; our country's future was in the balance. Through her leadership and personal conviction she restored our confidence, self-belief and entrepreneurial spirit.
She believed in the power of liberty, individual freedom and the rule of law; she expanded the rights of property and share ownership from the elite to the masses. We still benefit today from her determination to claim back power from the unions.
Her international presence and influence with Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev enabled her to contribute to the end of the cold war and a safer future. Unwilling to yield to the tyranny of dictatorship she acted to protect British sovereignty.
It is not always recognised that alongside her courage and tenacity she equally demonstrated deep loyalty and kindness. She inspired a generation.
• Virginia Bottomley was a Conservative party MP from 1984 to 2005, when she became a peer
*Paddy Ashdown: 'Perhaps the greatest prime minister of our age'
*
There is nothing I have done in my life that frightened me so much as standing up in the House of Commons as a wet-behind-the-ears new Liberal leader and being ritually handbagged by her in front of the radio microphones of the nation (TV in the Commons did not arrive until later). I opposed almost everything she did (but found myself following many of them when I tried to get the Bosnian economy going by lowering taxes and freeing up the market). Though there will be many who saw her as the author of much destruction that we still mourn, much that she pulled down needed to be pulled down.
She was better as destroyer of old tired institutions and lazy ways of thinking than she was as the builder of new ones; better at defining divisions than building cohesion. But probably that's what Britain needed then. Had we on the left not grown so lazy about our addictions to the easy ways of state corporatism, she would perhaps have been less successful at so cruelly exposing their hollowness. The pre-eminent attribute in politics is courage; the moral courage to hold to the things you believe in. And this, like her or loathe her, she had in abundance. Personally charming to all except those in her cabinet; fearless when taking on her enemies, even to the extent of making up some of her own; utterly implacable in her patriotism, albeit of a kind that didn't always serve the country's long-term interests. She won great victories for what she stood for at home and huge respect for our country abroad. If politics is the ability to have views, hold to them and drive them through to success, she was undoubtedly the greatest prime minister of our age, and maybe even the greatest politician.
• Paddy Ashdown was MP for Yeovil from 1983 to 2001 and Liberal Democrats leader from 1988 to 1999
*David Blunkett: 'Britain will never be the same'
*
An outstanding politician and a formidable leader, the impact inside Britain and Britain's position in the world was bound to be affected for good and ill.
Internationally, her kindred spirit with Ronald Reagan and what became known as the New Enlightenment, gave the impression of value-driven policies, in tune with the modern era. However, look more closely for the truth. After all, Thatcher voted against Britain withdrawing from Europe, signed the Single European Act in 1986 and, despite her undoubted commitment to democracy, was prepared to aid and abet General Augusto Pinochet in Chile – not only in the aftermath of the overthrow of a democratically elected president, but also in the suppression of opposition in that country. We might also remember that under her leadership Britain, to its dying shame, continued to back the apartheid regime in South Africa.
Undoubtedly helped enormously by the decision of President Leopoldo Galtieri of Argentina to invade the Falkland Islands, the bellicose and, in the end, inept leadership of Arthur Scargill of the miners, and a divided opposition, Thatcher was able to present herself to the world as an undisputed ideologue, transforming Britain's economic and social policy. However, this hid the fact that North Sea oil was squandered on a far too rapid restructuring of the economy. This led to three and a half million people unemployed, incapacity benefit used as a tool to dampen revolt and the near collapse of key manufacturing parts of the British economy, including in my home city of Sheffield, as well as the demise of the mining industry.
She will, however, be remembered at home and abroad for shaking Britain into an acknowledgement of rapid globalisation, of a post-Soviet era and of a politics of Atlantic emphasis on individualism rather than mutual solidarity. Wherever you stand, Britain will never be the same.
• David Blunkett is a former home secretary. He co-authored Democracy in Crisis (1987), about the Thatcher era
*John Redwood: 'She improved and changed the country she loved'*
To be the first woman prime minister would be achievement enough for many women, but not for Thatcher. She didn't just want to hold the office, but also to use it to improve and change the country she loved.
She won three elections, winning a larger majority from office than from opposition. The main reason the nation has never stopped talking about her from the day she entered No 10 is that it sensed she was a different kind of politician. She did not ask how something would play in the polls, or how something should be spun. She wanted to know what was the problem and did your idea offer a solution. Would it make things better for people, even if it might make it tougher for the government in the short term.
Her energy and determination was such that she had time to put through a contentious privatisation programme that has never been reversed, to help an American president win the cold war, to offer freedom and enterprise to the long-suffering victims of communism in eastern Europe and to begin the opposition to the euro and a centralised EU. Her many critics on the left have to grasp the complexity of this election winner, who could make a big speech on green policies more to their liking and give Hong Kong back to communist China.
• John Redwood is MP for Wokingham Reported by guardian.co.uk 3 minutes ago.
*Virginia Bottomley: 'She inspired a generation'
*
I shall always feel privileged to have worked for a woman who so profoundly altered Britain and our place in the world. She transformed opportunities for women simply through her personal example, splendidly undertaking a hugely demanding role that no female had previously secured.
When Margaret Thatcher came to power the UK was known as the "sick man of Europe"; our country's future was in the balance. Through her leadership and personal conviction she restored our confidence, self-belief and entrepreneurial spirit.
She believed in the power of liberty, individual freedom and the rule of law; she expanded the rights of property and share ownership from the elite to the masses. We still benefit today from her determination to claim back power from the unions.
Her international presence and influence with Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev enabled her to contribute to the end of the cold war and a safer future. Unwilling to yield to the tyranny of dictatorship she acted to protect British sovereignty.
It is not always recognised that alongside her courage and tenacity she equally demonstrated deep loyalty and kindness. She inspired a generation.
• Virginia Bottomley was a Conservative party MP from 1984 to 2005, when she became a peer
*Paddy Ashdown: 'Perhaps the greatest prime minister of our age'
*
There is nothing I have done in my life that frightened me so much as standing up in the House of Commons as a wet-behind-the-ears new Liberal leader and being ritually handbagged by her in front of the radio microphones of the nation (TV in the Commons did not arrive until later). I opposed almost everything she did (but found myself following many of them when I tried to get the Bosnian economy going by lowering taxes and freeing up the market). Though there will be many who saw her as the author of much destruction that we still mourn, much that she pulled down needed to be pulled down.
She was better as destroyer of old tired institutions and lazy ways of thinking than she was as the builder of new ones; better at defining divisions than building cohesion. But probably that's what Britain needed then. Had we on the left not grown so lazy about our addictions to the easy ways of state corporatism, she would perhaps have been less successful at so cruelly exposing their hollowness. The pre-eminent attribute in politics is courage; the moral courage to hold to the things you believe in. And this, like her or loathe her, she had in abundance. Personally charming to all except those in her cabinet; fearless when taking on her enemies, even to the extent of making up some of her own; utterly implacable in her patriotism, albeit of a kind that didn't always serve the country's long-term interests. She won great victories for what she stood for at home and huge respect for our country abroad. If politics is the ability to have views, hold to them and drive them through to success, she was undoubtedly the greatest prime minister of our age, and maybe even the greatest politician.
• Paddy Ashdown was MP for Yeovil from 1983 to 2001 and Liberal Democrats leader from 1988 to 1999
*David Blunkett: 'Britain will never be the same'
*
An outstanding politician and a formidable leader, the impact inside Britain and Britain's position in the world was bound to be affected for good and ill.
Internationally, her kindred spirit with Ronald Reagan and what became known as the New Enlightenment, gave the impression of value-driven policies, in tune with the modern era. However, look more closely for the truth. After all, Thatcher voted against Britain withdrawing from Europe, signed the Single European Act in 1986 and, despite her undoubted commitment to democracy, was prepared to aid and abet General Augusto Pinochet in Chile – not only in the aftermath of the overthrow of a democratically elected president, but also in the suppression of opposition in that country. We might also remember that under her leadership Britain, to its dying shame, continued to back the apartheid regime in South Africa.
Undoubtedly helped enormously by the decision of President Leopoldo Galtieri of Argentina to invade the Falkland Islands, the bellicose and, in the end, inept leadership of Arthur Scargill of the miners, and a divided opposition, Thatcher was able to present herself to the world as an undisputed ideologue, transforming Britain's economic and social policy. However, this hid the fact that North Sea oil was squandered on a far too rapid restructuring of the economy. This led to three and a half million people unemployed, incapacity benefit used as a tool to dampen revolt and the near collapse of key manufacturing parts of the British economy, including in my home city of Sheffield, as well as the demise of the mining industry.
She will, however, be remembered at home and abroad for shaking Britain into an acknowledgement of rapid globalisation, of a post-Soviet era and of a politics of Atlantic emphasis on individualism rather than mutual solidarity. Wherever you stand, Britain will never be the same.
• David Blunkett is a former home secretary. He co-authored Democracy in Crisis (1987), about the Thatcher era
*John Redwood: 'She improved and changed the country she loved'*
To be the first woman prime minister would be achievement enough for many women, but not for Thatcher. She didn't just want to hold the office, but also to use it to improve and change the country she loved.
She won three elections, winning a larger majority from office than from opposition. The main reason the nation has never stopped talking about her from the day she entered No 10 is that it sensed she was a different kind of politician. She did not ask how something would play in the polls, or how something should be spun. She wanted to know what was the problem and did your idea offer a solution. Would it make things better for people, even if it might make it tougher for the government in the short term.
Her energy and determination was such that she had time to put through a contentious privatisation programme that has never been reversed, to help an American president win the cold war, to offer freedom and enterprise to the long-suffering victims of communism in eastern Europe and to begin the opposition to the euro and a centralised EU. Her many critics on the left have to grasp the complexity of this election winner, who could make a big speech on green policies more to their liking and give Hong Kong back to communist China.
• John Redwood is MP for Wokingham Reported by guardian.co.uk 3 minutes ago.