Radical left-wingers held a party last night to celebrate the death of Margaret Thatcher.

Activists at the Cowley Club in Brighton invited revellers to a “Maggie! Maggie! Maggie! Dead! Dead! Dead!” event at the venue on London Road, Brighton.

An online invitation said: “Yay she’s dead! Come celebrate 9pm tonight, let’s warm up for Saturday. “May have failed to get her in 84 but she is finally gone so let’s celebrate tonight.”

City leaders from the other side of the political divide to Baroness Thatcher were lukewarm in their tributes to the divisive former Prime Minister – but said they were still saddened by her death.

Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, said: “As Britain’s first female Prime Minister and a true icon in that respect, it came as a great disappointment that Margaret Thatcher did so little for women – inside or outside Parliament – whilst also pursuing a political agenda which sought to marginalise the poor, undermine the very notion of ‘society’ and attack the fundamental principles of the welfare state.

“Whatever you think of her policies, Margaret Thatcher clearly made a massive and lasting impact on the political landscape, both here and abroad, and was incredibly effective in getting her message across.

"It’s just a tragedy that it was all in the wrong direction.”

Green city council leader Jason Kitcat said: “I respect her service but I do not respect her politics.

“However she made a choice to serve in public office and that’s no easy thing. Someone of her ability could easily have made far more money in the private sector but she decided to serve the public.”

And fellow Green councillor Ben Duncan said the former Prime Minister had “not exactly changed the country for the better”.

He said: “She set in motion the whole notion of privatisation that had terrible implications for the whole nation.

“As a politician I’m not exactly sad because the legacy of her politics won’t be here in the same way – but as a person I’m sad because she had a family and people who loved her.”