'Iron Lady' Margaret Thatcher dead at 87 following stroke

FORMER British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has died.

Baroness Thatcher, the "Iron Lady" who shaped a generation of British politics, died following a stroke on Monday at the age of 87, her spokesman said.

"It is with great sadness that Mark and Carol Thatcher announced that their mother Baroness Thatcher died peacefully following a stroke this morning," Lord Tim Bell said.

Lady Thatcher was Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990.

She was the first woman to hold the post.

Her family is expected to make a further statement later.

Lady Thatcher, born Margaret Roberts, became the Conservative MP for Finchley, north London in 1959, and retired from the Commons in 1992.

Having been education secretary, she successfully challenged former prime minister Edward Heath for her party's leadership in 1975.

She won general elections in 1979, 1983 and 1987.