MPs gathered to mark Baroness Thatcher's passing with more than seven hours of tributes in the House of Commons that at times descended into little more than a slanging match.

The rancour was all the more surprising as many of her staunchest critics had stayed away, warning the event would be a state-sponsored eulogy.

But there were angry scenes as former Hollywood star and Labour MP Glenda Jackson delivered a passionate speech saying Thatcherism had wrought the "most heinous, social, spiritual and economic damage upon this country".

David Cameron missed her comments, as he had left the chamber while another Labour MP railed against mass unemployment. The Prime Minister had opened the debate by paying tribute to his predecessor as an "extraordinary leader and extraordinary woman".

Mr Cameron told MPs: "Let this be her epitaph – she made our country great again."

He praised her achievement in becoming both leader of the Conservative Party and prime minister at a time when it was "almost inconceivable" a woman could hold these roles.

However, the Conservative leader had heard the SNP's Angus Roberston, who described Baroness Thatcher as "one of the most formidable politicians of recent times" but warned: "We will never forget, we will never forgive the poll tax being imposed on Scots a year before the rest of the UK."

Ed Miliband told MPs he recognised the former Conservative leader's achievements even as he criticised her attitude to gay rights, the miners strike and Nelson Mandela.

But as the hours wore on the tone began to change.

David Anderson, the Labour MP for Blaydon, said "Mrs Thatcher's lack of empathy, her intransigence, her failure to see the other side, her refusal to even look at the other side has left [many communities] bitter and resentful."

In response the Tories appealed to the Speaker that the event was not designed as an opportunity to "denigrate" a former prime minister. Proof, if needed, of her enduring ability to divide.