Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher has died following a stroke, a spokesperson for the family said.

“It is with great sadness that Mark and Carol Thatcher announced that their mother Baroness Thatcher died peacefully following a stroke this morning,” Lord Tim Bell said.

Britain’s only woman prime minister, the tough, outspoken Thatcher, 87, led the Conservatives to three election victories, governing from 1979 to 1990, the longest continuous period in office by a British prime minister since the early 19th century.

- Reuters