Iron Lady frail but formidable

Margaret Thatcher has celebrated her 80th birthday with a brief return to the public spotlight at a big party, showing she is still an icon in British politics, but a frail one.

The Queen and two of Thatcher's successors at 10 Downing St - Tony Blair and Sir John Major - were among the 600 admirers who turned out yesterday to toast the nation's first woman prime minister.

Thatcher's free-market philosophy, her push to privatise state industries and hard-nosed battles with the labour unions remade Britain's economic landscape.

One party guest, film star Joan Collins, said: "She is the Iron Lady and I want to be just like that when I grow up."