'True Blue' plans announced
A government coordination meeting was held this morning to discuss the arrangements for Lady Thatcher's funeral.
The meeting was chaired by Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude and attended by representatives of the Thatcher family, Buckingham Palace, St Paul’s Cathedral, the Ministry of Defence, Metropolitan police, Foreign Office and Downing Street.
It was agreed that the funeral service of Lady Thatcher will take place on Wednesday 17 April at St Paul’s Cathedral. Other issues discussed included the details of the funeral procession, invitations, matters of foreign protocol, the role of the military and the service at St Paul’s.
There will be similar meetings between now and the day of the funeral service.
The title for the operational plan for Lady Thatcher’s funeral is ‘True Blue’.
Flags are being flown at half-mast at UK government buildings and UK embassies around the world. They will be at half-mast for the rest of today and again on Wednesday 17 April when they will be lowered at sunrise and raised again at sunset (8am to 8pm).
Books of condolence have been opened at the Grantham Museum and Finchley & Golders Conservatives. They are open daily and both venues are looking at keeping them open over the weekend. A book of condolence will be opened in central London. UK embassies around the world will also open books of condolence (unless security arrangements make this impractical).
The Number 10 website attracted more than 35,000 visits yesterday, with more than 2,400 comments received from the public via our online condolence page since it went live last night.