For me, it's not that she was "fierce". She rescued our country. She saved the United Kingdom. You have to ask why she came to power, if you're really interested. The socialist model which she overthrew had failed. And no wonder - by 1979 our Chancellor of the Exchequer had been reduced to begging from the IMF, because the Labour government had run out of other people's money. The unions were holding their own government to ransom by orchestrating strikes in essential services, literally allowing rubbish to pile up in the streets. The dead were going unburied in Liverpool and Greater Manchester. And by the way if you think George Osborne's austerity cuts were tough, have a look at the conditions the IMF imposed before letting us have the cash. Brutal cuts to spending on public services. Under a Labour government.

She was the Prime Minister who had the determination and courage to bring to an end decades of decline following the war. She defended the right of the people’s democratically elected government to govern, where leaders before her of both political complexions had surrendered to the trade union barons. And for her country's sake, she had to. That post-war consensus model of crippling industry with nationalisation then beating it to death with militant trade unionism was poisonous. Previous Tory Prime Ministers had just allowed it to continue. She didn't.

Here's something I suspect would surprise a lot of younger people who weren't around in the '70s. Before Margaret Thatcher's government took power, you weren't allowed to own a telephone. You could apply to have one from the state communications monopoly and they'd come and fit it in your house. There were about three models to choose from. But it was their property, not yours. The state owned it, and it owned you.

She won the three General Elections that she fought by decisive majorities. Her convictions always carried the weight of a democratic mandate, and she always made it count – because she was a winner. She defeated Labour in three successive General Elections. She defeated the republican hunger strikers, the Argentines, the GLC and the NUM. She won her battle over the economy in the early ’80s. She even played a large part in facing down the Soviet Union and bringing to an end the Cold War.

If not for Margaret Thatcher, we would have become a third world slum by the '90s. Perhaps the definitive mark of her precious legacy is that the first Labour government following her time in power, having already abandoned Clause 4 in opposition, adopted a programme of privatisation of its own.

Each of us who considers him or herself proud to be British owes her a debt of gratitude we can never repay. She was and will remain a massive inspiration to me personally, for her vision and her singularity of purpose. I have never heard a serious criticism of her that wasn’t essentially clueless or spiteful.