Sir, - With the election of Iain Duncan Smith as leader of the Tory Party, the final element of Mrs Thatcher's legacy to Great Britain has become clear.
From her election in 1979 she embarked on a grand adventure that led to some of the most fundamental changes that have occurred in any European country since the second World War. In turning an industrial dinosaur economy into a modern and vibrant one she changed the political and economic landscape of Britain.
The circumstances that led to her electoral success had given her the platform of societal consensus required to force through the changes needed. Her rallying cry for right-wing issues struck a chord in a country that was in a poor and depressed state, still struggling with the post-war world in which the "great" had been taken out of Britain. Mrs Thatcher had her finger on the pulse and gave her country an "Iron Lady" figurehead to follow.
Her economic successes laid the foundation for "New" Labour's emergence in a society now more at ease with itself, more prosperous, self-assured and open. She has left the Tory Party with "IDS", an obsession with Europe and a slavish adherence to right-wing principles and agendas totally out of touch with the Britain of today.
For a leader of such substance and concrete achievement, a uniting force in her country and party, to leave behind an unelectable, deeply split Tory party and a Labour government obsessed with style over substance must be seen as one of the great ironies of recent political history. - Yours, etc.,
Ed French, Upper Dargle Road, Bray, Co Wicklow.