Influential British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher dies at 87

The former British Prime Minister dubbed “the Iron Lady” has died aged 87.

Margaret Thatcher, who visited Bermuda twice, was the first woman to hold the post.

After she was toppled in a Tory party coup, she visited Bermuda in 2001 as a guest of her friend, former Premier Sir John Swan, and spoke at a meeting of business and political leaders at the Fourways Inn.

Earlier, she met then-US President George H. Bush in 1990 for a summit meeting as the Soviet Union crumbled.

She took part in the traditional Good Friday kite flying during her visit, with she and Mr Bush joining a group of children in the grounds of Government House.

While on the island, she stayed at the Tucker’s Town home of tycoon and former US presidential candidate Ross Perot.

Mrs Thatcher won three General Elections, in 1979, 1983 and 1987, after she ousted Tory party leader Edward Heath in 1975.

Her terms of office were marked with controversy and she remains a largely hated figure in Scotland, Wales and Ireland due to her hard line stance over the long-running miners’ strike in the 1980s and her decision not to back down over the ending of political prisoner status for IRA members in Northern Ireland, who went on hunger strike in protest, with several dying as a result.

She was however, credited with kickstarting the peace process in Northern Ireland and was Prime Minister when Britain went to war in 1982 to recover the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic, which had been illegally occupied by invading Argentinian troops.