A Westminster correspondent described as one of Margaret Thatcher's favourite journalists believes the strong opinions she provokes are a lasting tribute to her.

Baroness Thatcher, Britain's first and only female Prime Minister, died on Monday at the age of 87.

Her policies, such as the privatisation of state industries, restricting the power of trade unions and the Falklands War, are said to have divided a nation, with some hailing her a hero and others blaming her for social problems which still exist today.

But Chris Moncreiff, 82, of Hale End Road in Woodford Green, has fond memories of the so-called Iron Lady and remembers a softer side which belied her stern public persona. 

Mr Moncreiff first met Baroness Thatcher in 1970 at a party at 10 Downing Street when she was Secretary of State for Education.

He said: "As my good lady was heavily pregnant at the time, I took with me to the party the landlady of the County Arms in Highams Park.

"We were standing in the corner, having a drink and minding our own business, when she came over and asked us as it was July where we were going on our holidays.

"In the same breath my companion answered Sardinia and I replied Walton-On-The-Naze.

"We caused her to fall back on heels with that."

Mr Moncrieff also reported on the first time Baroness Thatcher met her only grandson, Michael.

He said: "We were upstairs in Downing Street, when we heard a cry of ‘Michael’s here’ from downstairs.

"The first thing she said when she saw him was ‘we are a grandmother’. It struck me as odd she would refer to herself in the Royal we."

Mr Moncrieff joined Baroness Thatcher on a trip following the Falklands War in 1982 and recalled her having a staring match with a penguin.

"It was one of the oddest things I saw," he said. "She won of course, as you would expect, and the penguin toddled off.

"During her time as Prime Minister she created not only a huge amount of support, but also some very serious enemies.

"All of the hatred which has been seen since her death is in my point of view a tribute to her because there is nothing worse than indifference."

Mr Moncrieff had a close working relationship with Baroness Thatcher’s press secretary, Bernard Ingham, and would regularly get exclusive stories.

And Baroness Thatcher and gave him a CBE a year before she left office in 1990.

He added: "I got a bit of stick from people saying journalists shouldn’t be given these things but if I had turned it down, I don’t think Bernard Ingham would have given me stories any more."