Former Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher has died at the age of 87 following a stroke, according to her spokesman. Lord Bell said: "It is with great sadness that Mark and Carol Thatcher announced that their mother Baroness Thatcher died peacefully following a stroke this morning." She was British prime minister from 1979 to 1990 - the first (and only so far) female to rise to the post, and sparked controversy with some infamous policies that made her a figure of occasionally bilious hatred from political opponents and their followers. Born Margaret Roberts, she became the Conservative MP for Finchley in 1959, and stayed in a political role until she retired from the Commons in 1992. During that time, she took on the role of education secretary, before successfully challenging Edward Heath for her party's leadership in 1975, and subsequently winning general elections in 1979, 1983 and 1987. Her time in power took in a particularly turbulent time in UK history, which has been drawn in parallel to the current social and political climate. She was immortalised by Meryl Streep in the award-winning biopic The Iron Lady, which inevitably gained the star bags of accolades for her performance, and sought to put a more human face on Thatcher's story. She had become increasingly frail and was suffering ill health in recent years, having been admitted to hospital before Christmas for an operation to remove a growth from her bladder. The Prime Minister, David Cameron, has released a statement: "It was with great sadness that I learned of Lady Thatcher's death. We've lost a great leader, a great Prime Minister and a great Briton." And Buckingham Palace said: "The Queen was sad to hear the news of the death of Baroness Thatcher. Her Majesty will be sending a private message of sympathy to the family." A full statement from Thatcher's family is expected later.