PARIS: Mikhail Gorbachev, Helmut Kohl and Bill Clinton were among the former friends and foes who joined in tributes to Margaret Thatcher, praising the fearlessness and fierce determination of an “iconic” leader.
The “Iron Lady” was a polarising figure in Britain and beyond, but foreign leaders Monday were unanimous in acknowledging her place in 20th-century history, with President Barack Obama mourning a “true friend of America”.
Thatcher died of a stroke on Monday in London aged 87.
Former German chancellor Kohl, considered the father of Germany’s 1990 reunification, said he “greatly valued Margaret Thatcher for her love of freedom, her incomparable openness, honesty and straightforwardness”.
Pope Francis said he recalled “with appreciation the Christian values which underpinned her commitment to public service and to the promotion of freedom among the family of nations.”
Flowers from admirers began piling up outside her London home soon after her death was announced, but left-wingers quickly began planning jubilant parties, proving that the late premier was as divisive in death as she was in life.
In Glasgow and in the edgy south London neighbourhood of Brixton, enemies of the late premier held small street parties to celebrate her death, with some holding placards saying “Rejoice — Thatcher is dead”.
Britain’s coal miners were among the fiercest of her foes — and for one senior mining official marking his birthday on Monday, her death was the icing on his cake.
“I’m having a drink to it right now,” said David Hopper of the National Union of Mineworkers.
Thatcher’s government crushed a year-long miners’ strike in 1985 and forced them to accept sweeping pit closures, in one of the bitterest episodes in British industrial history.
Bitter reactions were also heard in Argentina where Thatcher is remembered as the British leader who launched the 1982 war over the disputed Falkland islands
“God bless the day that that terrible woman has died,” said veteran Domenico Gruscomagno, 71. “She was an odious person. In order to win elections in Great Britain, she waged war.”
While right-wingers have credited Thatcher with having hauled Britain out of the economic doldrums, the left accuses her of dismantling traditional industry and claim her reforms helped unpick the fabric of society.
Gerry Adams, leader of the Sinn Fein republican party, said she had played a “shameful role” in the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
But on Monday most reaction to her death — at least from leaders abroad — was positive. (AFP)