BARONESS Thatcher has been forced to pull out of a Downing Street party to mark her 85th birthday after being taken ill with flu, it was announced today.
The former prime minister had been due to attend a gathering of around 150 friends and former colleagues hosted by David Cameron to mark the milestone.
It will still go ahead at her insistence, No 10 said, with a fresh event to be put on when she has recovered.
On the advice of doctors, Lady Thatcher very rarely speaks in public now, but does still attend a number of high-profile functions.
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