麻豆约拍

Baroness Margaret Thatcher, who has died aged 87, was Britain鈥檚 first female prime minister and one of the most influential political figures of the 20th Century. She was a pioneer of free market economics, helping to spread the ideas around the world. But the Iron lady was a divisive figure with passionate supporters and critics.

Both hold to strong beliefs about what she did. It鈥檚 claimed that she slashed taxes and rolled back the frontiers of the state; that she cut health and education spending; and that she smashed the unions, intent on destroying traditional industry. But how much of this is true? We examine the data to get beyond the rhetoric, and to the truth.

Presenter and producer: Ruth Alexander. With special thanks to Michael Blastland and Andrew Dilnot, whose journalism greatly contributed to this programme.

(Image: An anti poll tax demonstration in Hackney. Credit: Steve Eason/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)