Summary
8 April 2013
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has died.
Reporter:
Neil Edgeller
Listen
Click to hear the report
Report
The former British Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher has died at the age of 87 following a stroke.
Her spokesman Lord Bell said: "It is with great sadness that Mark and Carol Thatcher announced that their mother Baroness Thatcher died peacefully following a stroke this morning."
Baroness Thatcher, who was was the leader of the British Conservative Party, served as prime minister from 1979 to 1990.
She was the first woman to hold the post.
Baroness Thatcher, who was born Margaret Roberts, became the Conservative MP for Finchley in north London in 1959. She retired from the House of Commons in 1992.
She won general elections in 1979, 1983 and 1987.
Baroness Thatcher's government privatised several state-owned industries. She was also in power when the UK went to war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands in 1982.
Listen
Click here to hear the vocabulary
Vocabulary
- Baroness
here: the title given to Margaret Thatcher by the Queen, as a reward for her work
- stroke
a sudden change in blood supply to the brain, often causing the loss of ability to speak or move
- to hold the post
to have the job or position
- MP
short for Member of Parliament
- retired
stopped working because of old age
- House of Commons
the part of Parliament in the UK where politicians are chosen by the people to represent different parts of the country
- general elections
occasions when people in a country vote to choose their political representatives
- privatised
sold industries from government into private ownership
