Mother would have been delighted by messages of support: emotional Sir Mark Thatcher breaks family silence

- Lady Thatcher's son makes statement outside her Belgravia home - Says she would have been humbled by Queen's attendance at funeral- David Cameron leads tributes in Commons
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11 April 2013

Sir Mark Thatcher said this afternoon his mother would have been delighted with the messages sent by people from “all walks of life”.

Breaking the family’s silence since she died, he made an emotional statement outside her Belgravia home, saying: “We have simply been overwhelmed by messages of support and condolence of every type from far and wide, and know that my mother would be pleased that they came from people of all walks of life.

"However the inevitability or the inevitable conclusion may appear, of the recent illness that she suffered, it is no easier for us to bear in what is without doubt a very sad moment," he went on.

“These messages often convey personal stories and vignettes of part of the journey of my mother’s life and we are all enormously grateful for the warmth that these messages convey. And they will be a source of encouragement and strength as we face the inevitable days ahead and for that I’m most grateful.”

Sir Mark, 59, said Baroness Thatcher would have felt “humbled” that the Queen and Prince Philip will attend her funeral.

Lady Thatcher's son spoke minutes before the Prime Minister paid tribute to her in the House of Commons.

Mr Cameron told MPs: “They say that cometh the hour, cometh the man. Well in 1979 came the hour, and came The Lady.

“She made the political weather. She made history. And let this be her epitaph: She made Britain great again.”

He said her funeral would be a fitting tribute to her, adding she was an "extraordinary woman."

He reminded the Commons that Lady Thatcher two of her closest friends and colleagues - MPs Airey Neave and Ian Gow - to terrorist attacks, and that she was under "direct personal threat" from the IRA throughout her leadership.

He described her as a "conviction not a consensus politician."

Ed Miliband also delivered a speech describing her as a woman who "broke the mould" in every stage of her life.

Whatever their disagreements, Mr Miliband said, Lady Thatcher's beliefs were "rooted in people's everyday lives".

She also believed that "ideology mattered", he added.

He said she "defined the politics of an entire generation" and influenced "generations to come."

The tributes were made after it was revealed Baroness Thatcher's funeral procession would include service personnel from units deployed in the Falklands war.

More than 700 members of the Armed Forces will take part in the funeral, with troops lining the streets and three military bands performing as her coffin makes its way from the Palace of Wesminster to St Paul's Cathedral next Wednesday.

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