Britain's 'Iron Lady' unveils her bronze statue

LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) Former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, the ''Iron Lady'' of British politics, has unveiled a silicon bronze statue of herself in parliament.

''I might have preferred iron -- but bronze will do. It won't rust,'' Thatcher told a ceremony yesterday in the Members' Lobby of the House of Commons, the lower chamber of parliament.

''This time I hope, the head will stay on,'' she joked to laughter and applause, referring to a marble statue of herself that was decapitated by a vandal in 2002.

The 7-foot-4-inch (2.2 metre) bronze work, by sculptor Antony Dufort, showed a younger-looking Thatcher with her right arm outstretched, as though she were addressing parliament.

Thatcher, now 81, said she was thrilled with it.

''Above all, I could not ask better company for it -- with Lloyd George, (Clement) Attlee and (Winston) Churchill -- three great prime ministers, one of them our greatest ever,'' she said.

Statues of the other former leaders are also in the lobby.

Looking cheerful and relaxed in a gold and champagne-coloured two-piece suit, Thatcher was addressing about 300 people, including former cabinet colleagues.

A member of the Conservative Party, she held office from 1979 to 1990 as Britain's first female prime minister.

The statue -- a full-length likeness which cost 80,000 pounds (156,000 dollar) and weighs 71 stones (451 kg) was commissioned by the Advisory Committee on Works of Art in 2003.

REUTERS PDS RN0507