“In a heartfelt statement last night, Thatcher said [Reagan] had been one of her ‘closest political and dearest friends’, and would be missed by millions of people who now lived in freedom thanks to his administration: ‘Ronald Reagan had a higher claim than any other leader to have won the Cold War for liberty, and he did it without a shot being fired…’To have achieved so much against such odds and with such humour and humanity made Ronald Reagan a truly great American hero.”