The West's MPs of all political hues put party loyalties to one side to pay tribute to Baroness Thatcher last night.
North Somerset MP Liam Fox, who was a personal friend of the former Prime Minister and a flag-bearer for the Thatcherite wing of today's Conservative Party, said: "Margaret Thatcher was the greatest British prime minister of the post-war era and a towering figure in global affairs.
"Courageous, intelligent and patriotic, she symbolised the triumph of principle over short term expediency.
"Her willingness to take on the conventional wisdom of her time and to confront failed and dangerous ideologies led to a freer and better world. It was a privilege and honour to have known her."
His sentiments were echoed by another West Tory MP from the right of the party.
North East Somerset MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said: "She is among the greatest prime ministers that the UK has ever had.
"In office she rescued a near-bankrupt state and restored prosperity and self-confidence to a great nation."
Labour MP Dawn Primarolo, whose politics could hardly be more different from the former prime minister's, said: "While I fundamentally disagreed with Margaret Thatcher on most political issues, I always respected her as Britain's first female prime minister."
Former Liberal Democrat leader and Yeovil MP Paddy Ashdown, now Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, said: ''If politics is defined as having views, holding to them and driving them through to success, she was undoubtedly the greatest PM of our age."
In his former constituency yesterday the flags were flying half-mast at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, the former home of the Harrier jump-jets that provided some of the most dramatic images of Baroness Thatcher's premiership during the Falklands War.
Baroness Thatcher would though have had rather less fond memories of the Yeovil area as the home of one of the biggest scandals of her 11 years in power.
Her government was rocked by the Westland Affair, as Michael Heseltine resigned due to severe differences about a rescue package for the then troubled helicopter manufacturer.
Meanwhile the family of a young soldier who died during the Falklands conflict also yesterday paid tribute to her.
Chris Jones, 19, from Cinderford in the Forest of Dean, was killed by a mortar two days before the end of the Falklands conflict on June 12 1982.
Last year his parents Stan and Evelyn commemorated 30 years since his death.
They met Baroness Thatcher several times.
Stan said: "She was a very nice lady. My mother-in-law wrote to her to ask her to bring Chris home and in the end she agreed to bring all the boys home.
"I remember meeting her at a function and I offered my seat to her. She said 'you don't have to get up for me'."
In Cheltenham, she will also be remembered for outlawing unions at Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in 1984.
In late 1988 and early 1989, 14 workers were sacked for refusing to give up their union rights.
The law was revoked when Labour returned to power in 1997.
