Margaret Thatcher News

Tony and Cherie Blair have been given two of the dachshund puppies that gave comfort to Margaret Thatcher in her final hours, reports the Telegraph.

The Blairs are said to be acquiring the puppies that were among the new litter belonging to Baroness Thatcher’s former private secretary Lord Charles Powell.

Lord Powell showed Baroness Thatcher a video of the puppies on his iPad when he visited her at the Ritz Hotel in her final hours, and which he said prompted “her last smile”.

The puppies are owned by Lord Powell’s wife Carla, who helped deliver them two months ago, and the couple decided to give them away.

Lady Powell said Cherie agreed a month ago that she would take two of the litter and during Lady Thatcher's funeral they spoke again, according to reports.

• UK
• Cherie Blair
• Tony Blair

In a statement the Cabinet Office said that the estimated costs for Lady Thatcher’s funeral ceremony are around £500,000.

This includes the costs incurred by St Paul’s Cathedral, the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign Office, the invitation printers, and staff overtime.

The provisional estimate of the direct policing and security costs for the funeral are around £1.1 million.

• UK
• Margaret Thatcher

Baroness Thatcher's funeral cost the taxpayer an estimated £3.6 million - including £2 million "opportunity costs" for police who would have been on other duties on the day, Downing Street said today.

• In pictures: Baroness Thatcher's ceremonial funeral

• UK
• Margaret Thatcher

George Osborne has said that he had found the funeral of Baroness Thatcher an "overwhelming" occasion.

The Chancellor was caught on camera wiping away tears during the service last week at St Paul's Cathedral, said it had been "a very, very powerful and emotional" event.

Watch: George Osborne sheds tears at Thatcher's funeral

"I welled up a bit because I thought it was a very emotional and moving occasion and at times overwhelming," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

"I think it was a fitting tribute to someone's life and in a sense a great State occasion as well.

The combination of the sermon and the music and so on made for a very, very powerful and emotional moment."

Mr Osborne appeared uncomfortable when presenter John Humphrys tried to press him on whether he was the sort of person who does weep occasionally.

"Well, I was caught on camera so I can't deny that it (happened)," he said.

"Occasionally I get a tear in my eye, sometimes just when I listen to the Today programme headlines, but on this occasion it was a much more moving moment."

Read more: Softer side of the Iron Lady revealed in biography

• Politics
• George Osborne
• Margaret Thatcher

Falkland Islanders watched Margaret Thatcher's funeral today on a four-hour delay.

On the islands she liberated in 1982, Thatcher has near-unanimous adoration.

A church in the tiny town of Stanley was attended by hundreds for a special memorial service held in honour of their heroin.

Watch ITV News at 10pm for Martin Geissler's special report from the service.

• UK
• Margaret Thatcher

Speaking outside Westminster after the event, Conservative Cabinet minister Ken Clarke told ITV News that he thought debate around the cost and status of Margaret Thatcher's funeral was "quite silly" and "clichéd" .

"I thought it was a nice funeral and I think she deserved that kind of send-off."

Asked about the Chancellor's tearful reaction to an anecdote about Baroness Thatcher, Clarke replied: "I think all of us were rather sad. Politics wasn't quite the same once she retired."

And he said he believed the debate around Thatcher's legacy would become more "sensible" as time passed following the funeral.

"I've heard people of the hard right and the hard left producing the most extraordinary version of events which I remember - the most ridiculous myths about what Margaret did," he said of recent commentary.

• UK
• Margaret Thatcher