Margaret Thatcher: 2,000 Invited To Funeral

More than 2,000 people have been invited to Baroness Thatcher's funeral, although some key players have already said they cannot attend.

Details of who is on the list for what will be one of the biggest funerals in Britain in decades have been released by Downing Street.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh will head a congregation of former leaders, current politicians and a string of celebrities at the ceremony next Wednesday.

But former Labour leader Lord Kinnock, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan's wife Nancy all cannot attend.

David Cameron, talking to Sky's political editor Adam Boulton, insisted it was right to have such a lavish service and defended its multi-million pound cost.

Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock is at another funeral in Wales

"I think people would find us a pretty extraordinary country if we didn't commemorate with dignity, with seriousness but also with some fanfare ... the passing of this extraordinary woman," he said.

Family, friends, colleagues and aides of the politician during her time in power have all been invited to the ceremonial funeral, where she will also be given full military honours.

All surviving former prime ministers and former US presidents, along with Hillary Clinton, are also on the list.

Tony and Cherie Blair, and Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah, have already confirmed they will attend.

Any members of Lady Thatcher's Cabinet who are still alive are invited, along with the current Cabinet and Labour leader Ed Miliband.

Mikhail Gorbachev, here with Lady Thatcher in 1987, can't make the service

Invites are also being sent to former press secretary Sir Bernard Ingham, European Commission President Manuel Barroso, author Frederick Forsyth and a representative of Nelson Mandela.

No10 said Michael Portillo, singer Shirley Bassey, TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jeffrey Archer are among the guests already confirmed.

FW de Klerk, the last president of apartheid South Africa, will also be there as a guest of the Thatcher family.

Lord Kinnock cannot go because he is at another funeral in Wales. Mr Gorbachev and Mrs Reagan are both not fit enough to travel.

Mrs Reagan's spokesman said: "Mrs Reagan is heartbroken over Baroness Thatcher's death and would really like to be there in person to pay her respects.

Lady Thatcher's ashes will be buried at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea

"Unfortunately, she is no longer able to make that kind of a trip, so will not be attending the funeral."

Argentinian president Cristina Kirchner, who has repeatedly called for the Falkland Islands to be handed to Argentina, is unsurprisingly not invited.

It has been reported that Lady Thatcher's children Mark and Carol also vetoed the presence of any Argentine officials.

The service, which starts at 11am, will involve more than 700 members of the armed forces in recognition of Lady Thatcher's success in the Falklands.

She is not being given a state funeral but the Queen's presence effectively elevates the event to that level.

Preparations for the ceremony and huge security operation have been dubbed Operation True Blue and ministers and organisers are meeting daily to finalise the arrangements.

It has also emerged that Lady Thatcher's ashes will be buried next to her husband Denis' in the cemetery of the Royal Hospital in Chelsea.

The former prime minister was a long-term supporter of the hospital, where the Chelsea Pensioners live, and an infirmary on the site is named after her.

Meanwhile, claims have emerged that Speaker John Bercow and Mr Cameron's own chief whip Sir George Young were against recalling Parliament from the Easter break.

A further row appears to be brewing over arrangements for the funeral, with Mr Cameron pushing for PMQs to be cancelled and the Commons to sit later. 

Mr Bercow is said to have insisted the Government tables a motion to change the timetable, which will now be put to the vote when Parliament returns on Monday.

The Prime Minister led the tributes in the Commons on Wednesday, calling Lady Thatcher an "extraordinary leader and an extraordinary woman".

Choking up with emotion, he said: "She made the political weather, she made history, and - let this be her epitaph - she made our country great again."

Labour leader Ed Miliband hailed her as a "unique and towering figure" who had "defined the politics of a generation", while making clear his opposition to some of her work.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg appeared the most uncomfortable of the three men as he insisted it was possible to reject the tenets of Thatcherism and still respect her achievements.

The Labour benches were sparsely populated for the session, despite the party urging members to attend as a mark of respect, and there were some bitter contributions.

Former minister Michael Meacher said her "scorched earth" tactics had "polarised" the nation, while veteran David Winnick referred to the "immense pain and suffering" she caused to ordinary people.

Labour backbencher Glenda Jackson sparked howls of protest from Conservatives as she launched a full frontal assault on the "heinous" Thatcher record.

"The first Prime Minister of female gender, OK. But a woman? Not on my terms," she said.

In the Lords, speakers included Lord Tebbit who expressed sadness that he had not been able to stop her being ejected from Downing Street in 1990.

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