British lawmakers interrupted their holidays for a special session of parliament on Wednesday to pay tribute to Margaret Thatcher, although many of the former premier's harshest critics said they would stay away in a sign of her bitterly divisive legacy.
The government also announced that British armed forces personnel from units associated with the 1982 Falklands War with Argentina will carry the Iron Lady's coffin at her ceremonial funeral in St Paul's Cathedral in London next Wednesday. Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron will lead the parliamentary tributes to Thatcher, who died on Monday aged 87 after suffering a stroke, followed by the leaders of his Liberal Democrat coalition partners and the opposition Labour party.
International praise has flooded in for Thatcher, who with late US president Ronald Reagan helped bring down communism, and a new poll found she eclipsed wartime leader Winston Churchill as Britain's most popular prime minister since 1945. British lawmakers called back early from their Easter break will formally debate a motion considering "the matter of tributes" to Thatcher, starting at 1330 GMT and lasting up to seven and a half hours. But in a sign of the bitterness that remains at home over her 11 years in power, several lawmakers said they would boycott the special sessions in the ornate setting of the House of Commons and House of Lords. "Her impact and influence is indisputable, but her legacy is too bitter to warrant this claim to national mourning," said one Labour lawmaker, John Healey.
Supporters say Thatcher's free-market reforms made Britain stronger - Cameron said she "saved our country" - but critics complain her economic policies and battles with the trade unions destroyed millions of lives. A Labour party spokesman told AFP he expected "a large number of Labour MPs" to attend the debate, for which all lawmakers will be able to claim £3,750 ($5,750, 4,400 euros) in travel expenses.
Firebrand left-wing lawmaker George Galloway also said he would stay away from what he derided as a "state-organised eulogy". - Police prepare for high-security funeral - Thatcher's funeral on April 17 will in a rare move be attended by Queen Elizabeth II - the first time the monarch has attended such a ceremony for a former prime minister since Churchill died in 1965. Downing Street said 700 armed forces from the army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force and Royal Marines would take part.