1. Thatcherism, with lower income taxes, less government interference and standing against dictatorships, became the philosophy in much of the democratic world after she came to power on May 4, 1979.
2. Refusal to compromise with communism helped bring down Soviet Union.
3. Threw the Argentines out of the Falklands after the invasion in 1982.
4. Showed there is no glass ceiling preventing women rising to the top.
5. Before becoming an MP, helped to perfect a way of preserving ice-creams as a chemist at J Lyons & Co.
History ... Maggie's victory in 1979
History ... Maggie's victory in 1979
6. Maiden speech in the Commons in 1960 was in support of her private member’s bill that forced local councils to hold meetings in public.
7. More than 1.5million tenants bought council homes after 1980 right-to-buy law.
8. Supported issues that surprised critics, such as the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967.
9. Backed Labour bills to ban hare coursing in 1969 and 1975.
10. In Ted Heath’s 1970-74 government, beat cuts that would have meant people paying to borrow library books.
11. Sell-off of state-run firms made them competitive and cut taxpayers’ huge costs.
12. During her 11 years as PM, gross domestic product – the chief measure of national wealth – rose 23.3 per cent.
13. Within three years of taking power, inflation was at 8.6 per cent from highs of 18 per cent.
14. Stood firm on terrorism, rejecting blackmail from IRA hunger strikers.
15. Signed 1985 Hillsborough Agreement in Northern Ireland that led to the Good Friday peace deal.
16. Only PM to win three terms in the 20th Century.
17. In 1988, long before it was fashionable, made a speech on global warming.
18. Kept the Pound by opposing Chancellor Nigel Lawson’s plans to join the ERM and adopt a single EU currency.
19. Persuaded President George Bush to expel Saddam Hussein from Kuwait in 1990.
20. Saved Britain from rule by Neil Kinnock, stepping down from a leadership vote on November 22, 1990, to avoid splitting the party. It helped John Major win the 1992 election, keeping Kinnock out.
21. Promoted self-reliance, hitting out at people who expected others to solve their problems in a 1987 interview.
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22. With privatisation, created new shareholders with a stake in the country’s wealth.
23. Is wrongly seen as dividing the country. Topped a poll as Britain’s greatest post-War leader last year, with 34 per cent of the vote.
24. Changed Labour, who dropped plans for nuclear disarmament, scrapped public ownership and stopped kowtowing to the unions.
25. Made Britain competitive in world markets for the first time since the 1930s.
26. The Iranian Embassy siege of 1980 was ended by the SAS on her say-so. Britain then escaped similar terrorism until the rise of Muslim suicide bombers.
27. Saved Hong Kong from a communist makeover in 1997 by negotiating a deal that obliges China to leave the economy unchanged until 2047.
28. Won a rebate from the EU that since 1984 has given us back £3billion a year.
29. Top earners paid 98p in the Pound income tax in 1979. By 1988 Mrs T had it down to 40p.
30. Beat union power, making it possible for The Sun to shine at its new HQ in Wapping, East London, in 1986.
