Parliament pays tribute to former PM Margaret Thatcher

Parliament was recalled today to pay tribute to former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher with party leaders uniting to pay their respects.

David Cameron led the House of Commons debate saying Baroness Thatcher, "a conviction not consensus politician", had "made Britain great again" and spoke of how "she had been enormously kind" to him.

The Labour leader Ed Miliband said despite his "deep disagreements" with her, Lady Thatcher had been willing to take on "established orthodoxies" and held beliefs that were "rooted in people's everyday lives". He said she "broke the mould" at every stage in her life. He also highlighted areas of disagreement, speaking of how mining communities had felt "angry and abandoned" and how the former PM had made the "wrong judgement" about Nelson Mandela and apartheid.

The Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said he had "thought long and hard" about what to say and that it was fair to "shun the tenets of Thatcherism" while recognising her personal achievements. He described  Margaret Thatcher as a "complex" figure, both traditional and iconoclastic and said she had a "deep aversion to the status quo" and that "the light would not dim" on her achievements.

A number of Labour MPs elected to stay away from the House. Earlier, John Healey MP wrote on the Politics Home website: "Parliament is being used today for narrow political gain by the prime minister, as a platform for his party's ideology, not just eulogy.

"He's wrong to recall parliament, and wrong to hijack it in this way. I will play no part and I will stay away, with other things to do at home in the constituency", he said.

The Foreign Secretary, William Hague told the BBC earlier today: "It's right Parliament meets and commemorates such a leader of historic proportions in our country's history." He berated leftwing critics of Thatcher who "claimed to stand for millions of people but they could never get as many votes as Mrs Thatcher in an election".

Margaret Thatcher's son, Mark, spoke of his gratitude, saying the family had been "overwhelmed" by the messages of support and thanked the Queen for agreeing to attend the funeral which he said would have "honoured" and "humbled" his mother.

The funeral, at St. Paul's Cathedral, will take place next Wednesday.