 Following the death of former Prime Minister and Conservative Leader Margaret Thatcher in 2013 , Miliband spoke in a House of Commons sitting specially convened to pay tributes to her . He noted that , although he disagreed with a few of her policies , he respected " what her death means to the many , many people who admired her " . He also said that Thatcher " broke the mould " in everything she had achieved in her life , and that she had had the ability to " overcome every obstacle in her path " . He had previously praised Thatcher shortly before the Labour Party Conference in September 2012 for creating an " era of aspiration " in the 1980s . 
