6pm MPsETC: Thatcher tributes: The chamber to watch today is the Lords, not the Commons
5.45pm WATCH: My friend, Margaret Thatcher – by Conor Burns MP
4.45pm MPsETC: Updated with extracts from Miliband's speech: David Cameron leads Parliamentary tributes to Thatcher: "She made the political weather"
4pm WATCH:
3.30pm MPsETC: David Cameron leads Parliamentary tributes to Thatcher: "She made the political weather"
2.30pm LeftWatch: Wilson closed more coal mines than Thatcher
2.15pm ToryDiary: Please sign CCHQ's online Book of Tributes for Baroness Thatcher
11am WATCH: Robert Halfon says Margaret Thatcher meant home ownership for thousands in Harlow
10.45am Local Government: Cllr Ravi Govindia Wandsworth was Thatcher's favourite borough
9.15am LeftWatch: Will Galloway turn up? Updated Big Labour boycott coming. Galloway not going. "Blair got a standing ovation from Conservative MPs when he left. Thatcher will get a boycott from Labour ones now she's died. Many will wonder whether that's the right way round."
As Parliament prepares for tributes to Thatcher, she leads ConservativeHome's Comment Section today:
Local Government: John Bald says Less is more
The Deep End: Modern families: Bad for children, but good for women?
WATCH: Rupert Murdoch on the morality of capitalism
The Queen will attend Lady Thatcher's funeral…
"There was Churchill and there was Thatcher, but no others.
Buckingham Palace announced yesterday that, for the first time in nearly
half a century, the Queen would attend the funeral of one of her former
prime ministers. But when she leads the mourners at St Paul’s Cathedral
next Wednesday the Queen will be doing more than honouring a prime
minister in a way that she has not done since the funeral of Sir Winston
Churchill: she will also be helping to lay to rest nearly three decades
of speculation about her relationship with Baroness Thatcher." – The Times (£)
…preparations for which have been under way for four years
"Preparations for Baroness Thatcher's funeral next Wednesday – codenamed True Blue – began nearly four years ago and it was decided early on that she would not receive a full state funeral….At that stage the preparations were given the code name Iron Bridge in a play on the name for the Queen Mother's funeral plans which were known as Tay Bridge. The name was changed to True Blue when the Conservatives came back into power at the 2010 election." – The Independent
Thatcher even beats Churchill in poll of greatest Prime Ministers since the Second World War
"Lady Thatcher is voted Margaret the Great today in an exclusive Sun
poll. More than a quarter of all those surveyed hailed her as Britain’s
most popular PM since World War Two. An overwhelming 28 per cent of
people interviewed opted for Maggie as “the greatest” out of 13 Prime
Ministers we have had since 1945. She even eclipsed legendary Sir
Winston Churchill, who came second in the poll." – The Sun
Parliament to hear tributes today
"David Cameron will lead tributes to the former prime
minister Baroness Thatcher later on Wednesday in a specially convened
session of Parliament. His deputy Nick Clegg and Labour leader Ed
Miliband are among those who will also speak in the Commons, while the
Lords will stage a separate debate." – BBC
Blair condemns "poor taste" celebrations….
"Tony Blair has criticised people who held parties to "celebrate" the death of Baroness Thatcher, saying they were in "pretty poor taste". The former Labour prime minister urged critics of his Conservative predecessor to "show some respect". The comments come after parties took place in several cities to mark the 87-year-old's death on Monday. A Labour source also said that leader Ed Miliband "categorically" condemned such behaviour." – BBC
….organised by union officials….
"Members of Unison, which has given almost £4 million to Labour since Ed Miliband became party leader, displayed the public sector union’s banner at a street party in south London on Monday….Unison’s local Lambeth branch secretary, Jon Rogers, who serves on the union’s National Executive Committee, defended the celebrations. Mr Rogers, a Labour Party member, insisted that he and “millions” of others still hated Lady Thatcher." – Daily Telegraph
…as anti-Thatcher protests turn violent
"Six police officers were injured – one seriously – in one particularly nasty incident early yesterday. Troubled flared after midnight when a rowdy 200-strong crowd refused police requests to disperse from an inner-city area of Bristol. In ugly scenes mirrored in cities across the country, dozens of officers put on riot gear and used shields and batons when the crowd refused their requests to disperse. The mob pelted them with missiles, damaged a police car and set wheelie bins alight at the party in inner-city Easton." – Daily Mail
Thatcher tributes from the famous still dominate the comment pages…
"After the Second World War, in which the country lost a second generation of its finest men, Britain had created a dependency state. It killed off aspiration. In 1979 Margaret Thatcher set about its rehabilitation…Thanks to her I have experienced in Britain many of my defining moments as a businessman, a Britain that is far more successful as a result of her brave leadership." Rupert Murdoch The Times (£)
…while the Telegraph leads on Finchley's "sombre but patriotic mood" as residents paying their respects
"No shrines. No heaps of flowers in the streets and parks. No huddles of the weeping and bewildered. Just ordinary, local people filing to the Conservative Association office to sign their names in the book of condolence." – Daily Telegraph
BBC coverage criticised
"The BBC was accused of 'disgraceful' bias yesterday over its coverage of Baroness Thatcher's death. Angry viewers complained its news bulletins gave too great an emphasis to her critics and to controversies such as the poll tax and the miners' strike. Twitter users accused the BBC of 'shameless' bias against the former Prime Minister. The broadcaster also faced criticism because newsreaders did not wear black ties following the announcement of her death." – Daily Mail
Calls for statues in Trafalgar Square…
"A statue commemorating Baroness Thatcher should be placed at the “heart of the nation” to acknowledge the fact she always had the country’s best interests at heart, said Commander John Muxworthy, a Lt Commander on the SS Canberra during the conflict. His calls for a public memorial to honour Britain’s only female Prime Minister were echoed by Lord Tebbit, who served in her cabinet, and UKIP leader Nigel Farage." – Daily Telegraph
…as donations flood in for one in Grantham
"Donations for a controversial statue of Baroness Thatcher in her home town have been flooding in from around the world. Plans for the statue in Grantham, the Lincolnshire town where Margaret Hilda Roberts was born 87 years ago, provoked a conflict when Conservative councillors opposed it. Floral tributes began to pile up yesterday outside the weathered red-brick building that was once her father’s grocery store and is marked only by a simple grey plaque. It now houses a chiropodist. One read: “It takes a Grantham gel to sort them out.” – The Times (£)
Lady Thatcher advised Cameron to be more unpopular
"Conor Burns, a Tory MP who visited Lady Thatcher weekly, said: ‘I remember last November showing her a poll in one of the Sunday papers and it showed that we were nine points behind, and she asked when the next election was, and I said it wasn’t for another two and a half years. ‘She said, “That’s not far enough behind at this stage.” She sort of took a view that to do things that were right did entail unpopularity until people saw that what you were doing was working." – Daily Mail
The Guardian have a collection international front pages on Margaret Thatcher's death – Guardian
Other news: James Crosby right to hand back his knighthood
"James Crosby has now done the right thing. He ran HBOS until 2006 and then – in a reminder of the system’s farcical nature – was appointed by Brown to the FSA, becoming vice-chairman. The Labour government had quite a knack for picking winners. He was awarded a knighthood for
running a bank; yet destroyed it. So it is right that he is giving up his title, as well as part of his pension. There are important issues, however. First, while it is right that in some cases senior figures pay this kind of price – and it was right that Fred Goodwin lost his knighthood – more generally failure shouldn’t mean demonisation. Some companies do well and others fail. It shouldn’t be illegal to go bust (as long as laws aren’t broken). The personal costs of failure shouldn’t become too large, or else nobody will have a go." – Allister Heath City AM
Tory peers warn of threat to Trident from Scottish independence
"David Cameron has been warned by senior Tory peers that he has to
answer questions about the impact of Scottish independence, including
potential disruption in moving the UK's Trident nuclear weapons base
from the Clyde. A House of Lords committee chaired by the former Tory
cabinet minister Lord MacGregor, who served under Margaret Thatcher and
John Major, says Cameron's government is being too complacent about the
risks to its own interests if Scots vote yes to independence in the
referendum on 18 September next year." – The Guardian
We need migrant estimates – Nigel Farage Daily Express
And finally…The Daily Mail has a series of pictures comparing Boris Johnson to orangutans – Daily Mail
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