death and funeral of Margaret Thatcher Quotes

I confess that Mrs. Thatcher was a model for me personally. She always applied the principles of law and economic liberalism, and that is how I, as a President who had to face the challenges of a post-communist country, will remember the legacy of Thatcherism.

She was a transformative figure under whom the United Kingdom registered important progress on the national and international arena.

Baroness Thatcher will be remembered as the British Prime Minister whose signature appears on the Sino-British Joint Declaration signed in Beijing in December 1984.

Margaret Thatcher died. It is not very Christian to rejoice at this news. Certainly I am not a good Christian.

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. As a grocer’s daughter who rose to become Britain’s first female prime minister, she stands as an example to our daughters that there is no glass ceiling that can’t be shattered. As prime minister, she helped restore the confidence and pride that has always been the hallmark of Britain at its best. And as an unapologetic supporter of our transatlantic alliance, she knew that with strength and resolve we could win the Cold War and extend freedom’s promise.

Very few political leaders are able to lend their name to an era. Margaret Thatcher was able to do that. We all know that there’s such a thing as Thatcherism which represents a set of values, a set of perspectives, a set of policy positions which she espoused, promoted and fought for. Now you can have your own opinions as to the virtues or the vices of that world outlook but the fact is that it exists, and for as long as she was in active politics, it was impossible to ignore her.

Margaret Thatcher was a pioneer, willingly or unwillingly, for the role of women in politics. It is hard to imagine a part of our current history that has not been affected by measures she put forward in the UK at the end of the 20th Century.

She was a great leader, a great friend of the United States, an important representative of Britain in a very difficult period and I found her a warm person - however fiercely she defended her views.

With the passing of Baroness Thatcher, the world has lost a giant among leaders. While many in positions of power are defined by the times in which they govern, Margaret Thatcher had that rarest of abilities to herself personify and define the age in which she served. Indeed, with the success of her economic policies, she defined contemporary conservatism itself. Her greatest achievements however, were surely on the world stage. Along with the late U.S. President Ronald Reagan, and His Holiness Pope John Paul II, she played a key role in the fall of the USSR. The era of peace and prosperity that followed the end of the Cold War must therefore rank as one of her great and lasting gifts to this generation. Lady Thatcher’s leadership in time of conflict and during the generous peace she helped bring forth, was an example to the world. As a result, millions now live with the dignity and freedom that she envisioned for them, during the darkest moments of the post-war years. I recall with pride her eloquent portrayal of the philosophical groundings of the principles that have - and I hope forever will - unite the British and Canadian peoples.

She was an inspirational leader who stood on principle and guided her nation with confidence and clarity. She is a great example of strength and character, and a great ally who strengthened the special relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Lady Thatcher and the people of the UK during this difficult time.

Thatcher was warlike and uncompromising in her ways. I know that in her country some people admired her for that, but to many of us that wasn't impressive. We in Ghana were very critical of the way she led her country into war in South America – she seemed too ready to resort to force to settle the Falklands. And her position on the ANC wasn't acceptable. She proved to be too conservative; she didn't seem to appreciate the rapidly changing world. She believed that there are only a few creators in this world, entrepreneurs and investors, and that you protect them – they are the people who will increase the wealth of the nation and create jobs for people. That is a philosophy I also subscribe to.

Although she was always a steadfast critic of apartheid, she had a much better grasp of the complexities and geo-strategic realities of South Africa than many of her contemporaries. She consistently, and correctly, believed that much more could be achieved through constructive engagement with the South African government than through draconian sanctions and isolation. She also understood the need to consider the concerns and aspirations of all South Africans in their search for constitutional consensus.

I say good riddance. She was a staunch supporter of the apartheid regime. She was part of the rightwing alliance with Ronald Reagan. In the end I sat with her in her office with Nelson Mandela in 1991. We knew she had no choice. Although she called us a terrorist organisation, she had to shake hands with a terrorist and sit down with a terrorist. So who won?

[Margaret Thatcher] will forever command my respect and admiration, not only for her leadership in the UK, but for her leadership on global matters.