Margaret Thatcher's legacy is a better country and a safer world for my girls "What a remarkable woman," she said. So much stronger than all those men around her and always fighting to get her way and winning in a man's world. For a young woman about to enter adult life this was a powerful idea - a woman, succeeding against the odds. It made me think again of her achievements. I recalled the all-abiding sense of depression I felt in 1978 as a young army officer. Britain was the unionised strike capital of Europe, financially bust and when the IMF walked in, the laughing stock of the rest of Europe. Accustomed to reading about how Callaghan patronised her at Prime Minister's Questions and how men in her own party seemed so ambivalent about her leadership I, like so many others, wondered how she could succeed. Yet within months I was to be caught up in her first triumph. At Lancaster House, Thatcher's government sought agreement over Rhodesia, where previous administrations had failed. As before, it seemed impossible. At the 11th hour the talks broke up, with Mugabe and Nkomo walking out. Her first real test of leadership. Undaunted, she decided to force their hand and took the huge decision to send the advance party of the Commonwealth Monitoring Force to Rhodesia, without agreement. I was on that VC10 which took off into a world in uproar. No African country, save South Africa, would give us overfly rights and we were forced to fly out via the Azores. Eighteen hours later, we spiralled down to avoid the missiles and into Salisbury, and for a few days all was in the balance. The conference then resumed and agreement was reached - the gamble had paid off. Thatcher had given us all an early sign of her strength of character and her determination to lead no matter what the odds. For me it was a defining moment. I realised that politics mattered and that people can shape events. I became determined to enter politics and try to do the same. Thatcher went on to change the face of Britain, one battle at a time. She restored our economic credibility and made Britain a place to do business, breaking the power of the over-mighty trade unions. Internationally, Thatcher re-established Britain's reputation as a defender of freedom by standing up to the Argentine junta and freeing the Falklands. But perhaps most importantly it was Thatcher and Reagan together, in one of the great world partnerships, that changed the world we live in, dissolving the Iron Curtain and ending the nuclear stand off between East and West. As my daughter said, a woman in a man's world did that and more than that, she gave notice that it was now no longer a man's world. As the father of two wonderful daughters, there isn't a day goes by that I don't give thanks for her time as our prime minister.