We lost a great advocate for freedom today. Others more qualified than I will soon weigh in on Margaret Thatcher’s prime ministership, her role in winning the Cold War, and her plucking of Britain from the economic doldrums. So I figured I’d focus on something simpler: her skill as a debater.

Like Reagan, Thatcher was a great communicator, able to effectively articulate conservative ideas, which was key to her succcess. She relished debate; under her prime ministership, the House of Commons’ famous Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) evolved into its modern dueling match, with Leader of the Opposition Neil Kinnock using all his allotted questions and Thatcher answering every one of them, rather than delegating some of them to her ministers.

No less an enemy than George Galloway later said Thatcher was the greatest PMQs debater he’d ever seen. With her smarts and theatrical flair, she regularly “handbagged” the gray-suited Labour boys.

Luca already posted video of Thatcher’s final PMQs, her “last stand against socialism,” which has since become a YouTube sensation. If you need to quench your thirst further, here’s Maggie pointing out Labour’s hypocrisy on credit cards:

And here she is blasting Labour for having “the stench of appeasement”:

Thatcher’s confidence and oratorical skills were key to her winning over the British people and pulling her country back from the brink. For her trouble, she was often called strident. If that’s true, I only wish there was more stridency among today’s American Republicans. RIP.