L Cpl Tej Pun (at the back of the coffin), from the 1st Battalion Royal Gurkha Rifles, was a pallbearer carrying Baroness Thatcher's coffin. Picture: The Sun, Paul Edwards

A Kent soldier played a key role at the funeral of Baroness Thatcher today.

Lance Corporal Tej Pun, from the 1st Battalion Royal Gurkha Rifles at Shorncliffe, was one of eight pallbearers to carry the coffin of the former Prime Minister.

The 31-year-old, who lives in Ashford, was joined by personnel from all three military services in the high-profile duty.

He was given the honour to carry the coffin from the Church of the Royal Air Force onto the gun carriage before walking alongside the carriage as the funeral procession makes it way to St Paul's Cathedral.

farewell lady thatcher. thank you for inspiring me into politics & parliament. rest in peace twitter.com/tracey_crouch/…

— tracey crouch (@tracey_crouch) april 17, 2013

Tributes were paid across Kent to Lady Thatcher - who twice stood to become an MP in Dartford - when she died aged 87 last Monday.

She had a ceremonial funeral with military honours, one step down from a state funeral.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were among more than 2,000 people expected to attend the service.

Margaret Thatcher visiting Walderslade Secondary School in June 1987

Among the guests were Michael Howard, the former leader of the Conservative party and MP for Folkestone and Hythe.

Lord Howard became a minister in 1985 and joined the cabinet in 1990 - 10 months before Lady Thatcher left office.

He told KentOnline: "She was a demanding boss as a Prime Minister's entitled to be.

"If you had a meeting with her, you tried to make sure you were on top of things and knew the answers to questions she was likely to ask.

"But she was also very kind and generous and warm and sympathetic - characteristics which didn't always come over to the public."

Lord Howard (pictured right) relived a meeting with her late one night in her room in the Commons after being asked to put together some legislation.

"I went in to see her," he said. "We sat down and each had a glass of whiskey and she said 'now tell me Michael, what about this footnote on page 633' and although I thought I'd prepared very carefully for the meeting, I'm afaid I didn't have a clue what the footnote on page 633 stood for."

Lord Howard added: "She was our first woman prime minister, she was the longest serving Prime Minister for 150 years.

"She liberated the Falklands and brought democracy to Argentina, and together with Ronald Regan she helped bring freedom to eastern and central Europe.

"Those are monumental achievements even if you leave out the way in which she transformed the economy of our country."

Lady Thatcher met her beloved husband Denis at a Conservative event in Dartford after missing her last train home.

She was the Conservative candidate for the safe Labour seat of Dartford in the 1950 and 1951 general elections, when she attracted media attention as the youngest and the only female candidate.

Then Margaret Roberts, the grocer's daughter moved to Dartford during her campaign where she supported herself by working as a research chemist.

She lost both times to Norman Dodds, but reduced the Labour majority by 6,000 and then a further 1,000.

After election defeat in Dartford, she became MP for Finchley in 1959, then secretary of state for education and science and was elected leader of the Conservative party in 1975.

Lady Thatcher - dubbed the Iron Lady for a hard line against trade unions - became Britain's first and only female Prime Minister in 1979.