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Newly released documents from Margaret Thatcher's first year in office reveal her widespread distrust of the Establishment - especially the BBC - and her growing impatience with the Carter administration Margaret Thatcher with President Jimmy Carter in December 1979. Months earlier, he had congratulated her cooly on her election, calling it a 'tremendous personal victory for you' "Would you accept the Republican nomination for President in 1980?" Margaret Thatcher was asked at a Foreign Policy Association lunch in New York December 18, 1979. The scribbled note, from an anonymous doting American, is just one of many documents released last week...

(I suspect most Freepers will be happy to see photos of Lady Thatcher still being able to enjoy the company of old colleagues and young admirers. This is from a British blog by the historian and blogger Helen Szamuley. The Bruges Group is a think-tank that has taken its name from Margaret Thatcher's famous Bruges speech in September 1988, in which she remarked that, "We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain, only to see them re-imposed at a European level". /SB) Well, OK, these pictures are not the greatest, mobiles being fairly useful as...

Former prime minister Margaret Thatcher returned to 10 Downing Street to attend the unveiling of her portrait. Dressed in a long royal-blue jacket, Baroness Thatcher was greeted on the steps of her former residence by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah. Mr Brown shook hands with Lady Thatcher, who paused for photographs outside the famous door of No 10 but said nothing to waiting reporters. As Lady Thatcher stood outside the door to Number 10, clasping her trademark handbag, some reporters called out "Is it good to be home?" and "Are you pleased to be back?" Lady Thatcher's...

Lady Thatcher faces several more days in hospital after an operation on her broken arm. Her son Sir Mark visited her today and said she had had a good night but would be likely to remain in London's Chelsea and Westminster Hospital longer than expected. Sir Mark said yesterday that Lady Thatcher, 83, was likely to remain in hospital until at least Wednesday. Today he revised that estimate to say it was likely to be longer before she is allowed home. A spokesman for Lady Thatcher described her condition as "comfortable" and said she was resting today. The operation inserted...

Tory grandees gathered to honour the 30th anniversary of Lady Thatcher’s historic election victory last night as David Cameron said the next Conservative administration would seek to emulate the way she rescued Britain from a failing Labour government. The Tory leader, who was unable to attend the event, paid tribute to Britain’s greatest postwar leader as more than 270 guests gathered at the Carlton Club in London's St James's Street, for the biggest dinner the Club has hosted in more than two decades. Golden lady: Baroness Margaret Thatcher leaves the Carlton Club in London following the party to celebrate the...

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the running mate chosen by Republican presidential hopeful John McCain, has addressed the Republican National Convention in St Paul, Minnesota. Below is the full text of her speech. ...

<p>Lady Thatcher to be honoured with State funeral, but Palace fears there might not be enough troops to line streets of London Margaret Thatcher is to be given the ultimate accolade of a State funeral when she reaches the end of her days – the first British Prime Minister since Winston Churchill to be afforded such an honour.</p>

Baroness Thatcher has been released from hospital this afternoon after she was admitted overnight for precautionary tests. The former Prime Minister smiled and waved as she walked out of St Thomas's Hospital in central London, where she was taken after falling ill last night. The 82-year-old had been dining with friends in the Lords when she started feeling "slightly nauseous and faint", her private secretary, Mark Worthington, said. "Her legs gave way a little bit under her," he said, adding that she had not fainted. "We thought it safest to be sure about these things." A close friend said: "She...

LATEST: Fomer PM Baroness Thatcher taken to hospital for precautionary tests. More soon_

Thatcher urges Brown to allow EU treaty referendumLady Thatcher today urged Gordon Brown to allow a referendum on the EU Treaty. "This Treaty matters Prime Minister, so be bold and let the British people have the final say!" The former Prime Minister backed the newspaper campaigns for a referendum, saying: "Yet again the British people are being told that the changes in the Treaty are not important, that they are technical, and that in any case we have either blocked or gained opt-outs in all the worst cases. Well we've heard it all before only to see more and more...

Brown: I want Lady Thatcher portrait to hang in No 10The row surrounding Margaret Thatcher's Downing Street meeting with Gordon Brown has intensified after it was revealed she has accepted his offer to commission a painting of her and for it to go on permanent display in No10. The latest evidence of the extraordinary harmony between the two is likely to cause further controversy on both the Labour and Tory benches. A bitter rift is said to exist between Lady Thatcher and David Cameron. Conservative sources claimed she had no qualms about having tea with Mr Brown partly because the...

Thatcher's snub to CameronMargaret Thatcher dealt a devastating snub to David Cameron by asking for TV cameras to record her meeting with Gordon Brown. The Downing Street visit was originally intended to be unpublicised with her smuggled in by the back door. The Prime Minister was happy to go along with that... but 48 hours before Thursday's visit the former Premier's aide called to say she now wanted the meeting to be in the full glare of the cameras. The astonishing U-turn by the woman famed for "handbagging" foes was intended to cause maximum embarrassment for Cameron, who she believes...

Thatcher denies being exploited by Brown's 'political stunt'Margaret Thatcher yesterday poured scorn on Tory Party claims that she was exploited by Gordon Brown. The former premier gave a dressing down to one of David Cameron's frontbenchers who accused Mr Brown of taking advantage of an 'elderly, lonely and frail' old lady by inviting her to No. 10. Friends say Lady Thatcher was infuriated by Rob Wilson's claims that she was the victim of a political 'stunt' after she called in for the private talks and met the Labour leader's family on Thursday. "The idea that she was being exploited is...

Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has paid a visit to Gordon Brown in Downing Street. Baroness Thatcher arrived at three o'clock this afternoon. Tea for two at Number 10After meeting staff, including the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff Tom Scholar whose father worked for her, Baroness Thatcher had private discussions with Mr Brown. She then went upstairs for tea in the flat she and her husband Dennis once lived in. The Chancellor Alistair Darling and his wife Margaret who now live there played host and Sarah Brown came too with the Prime Minister's children. Baroness Thatcher was invited to No....

Brown brings Maggie back to No 10Last updated at 00:34am on 14th September 2007 Comments (13) The wave was as magisterial as ever, although her steps were a little less confident. But walking through the front door of No 10 Downing Street yesterday, Maggie Thatcher seemed to be back where she belonged. It was a day that many thought they would never see. And as she arrived as the guest of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, it was perhaps a day that David Cameron wished he hadn't seen. As the Tory leader launched his green policy proposals, Westminster's attention was riveted...

Republican presidential candidates are flocking to see Britain's icon of conservatism, Margaret Thatcher, in the hope that her blessing could help to secure them the presidency. Rudy Giuliani, the Republican front runner, will become the latest 2008 candidate to kiss the former prime minister's hand when he travels to London in September to deliver the inaugural Margaret Thatcher memorial lecture to the Atlantic Bridge think tank. He follows in the footsteps of Fred Thompson, poised to announce his presidential run and already running second in the polls, and Mitt Romney, ahead in the crucial early states of Iowa and New...

Fred Thompson, the actor and former Tennessee senator who is expected to announce next month he is running for president, flew to London on Monday to meet Margaret Thatcher and deliver a foreign policy speech, his advisers tell The Politico. Thompson's advisers aim to use the London events to bolster his foreign policy credentials and elevate him above the increasingly contentious fray of the GOP race. On Wednesday, he will pose for photos with Thatcher, which his advisers hope will enhance his support among devotees of former President Ronald Reagan. Thompson will deliver the foreign policy speech, "Strengthening the Transatlantic...

Fred Thompson, the actor and former Tennessee senator who is expected to announce next month he is running for president, flew to London on Monday to meet Margaret Thatcher and deliver a foreign policy speech, his advisers tell The Politico. Thompson's advisers aim to use the London events to bolster his foreign policy credentials and elevate him above the increasingly contentious fray of the GOP race. On Wednesday, he will pose for photos with Thatcher, which his advisers hope will enhance his support among devotees of former President Ronald Reagan. Thompson will deliver the foreign policy speech, "Strengthening the Transatlantic...

Lady Thatcher says Britain must stand shoulder to shoulder with the US in the fight against terrorism. The ex-Conservative prime minister, in Washington to commemorate 9/11, warned: "We must not falter. We must not fail." She spoke as current Tory leader David Cameron called anti-Americanism "intellectual and moral surrender". But Mr Cameron also called for greater "humility and patience" in foreign policy and called himself a liberal conservative, not a neo-conservative. 'Barbarism' Baroness Thatcher's comments came in a statement from the White House where she accompanied members of the US Cabinet to take part in a solemn ceremony to mark...

'No state funeral' for Thatcher TONY BLAIR has ruled out the possibility of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher being given a state funeral. A spokeswoman for Number 10 said: "All that we can confirm is that there are no such plans and it is not appropriate to comment further." Mr Blair's stance on funeral arrangements for Lady Thatcher, 80, was revealed after a reported protest by Rosie Cooper, MP for Lancashire West, over reports that civil servants in the Cabinet Office were drawing up detailed plans for a state funeral for the ex-Tory leader. Miss Cooper wrote to Number 10...

TONY Blair is backing a controversial plan to provide a state funeral for one of the Labour Party's most reviled enemies of recent decades: Margaret Thatcher.Scotland on Sunday can reveal that civil servants have been working for months on the details of Baroness Thatcher's funeral, even though there is no suggestion the 80-year-old is suffering from any life-threatening condition. But Blair believes Thatcher's eventual passing should be marked with the first state funeral for a commoner since Winston Churchill more than 40 years ago. The proposal has astounded constitutional experts, who argue that - royalty aside - the honour is...

As Washington insiders pore over the latest low job-approval ratings for George W. Bush, and as aficionados of British politics ponder the latest low ratings of Tony Blair, let's take a longer look at the political ebb and flow in America and Britain over the last quarter century or so. There is a certain parallelism.In the late 1970s, both countries experienced something like collapse -- a collapse of the Keynesian economics dominant in the post-World War II years, a collapse of the accommodationist foreign policy prevailing since the setback in Vietnam.From that collapse arose two improbable leaders on the political...

A portrait of former British Prime Minister Lady Margaret Thatcher was unveiled yesterday by former first lady Nancy Reagan at the Reagan Presidential Library. Described by the Ventura Country Star as showing Mrs. Thatcher - the fiercely determined woman the Soviets dubbed "The Iron Lady" - wearing a royal blue suit and seated with her hands folded in her lap. The portrait is the work of artist Richard Stone, the only artist whose royal subjects include Queen Elizabeth II, the Prince of Wales, and Princes William and Harry. Stone said the painting took him 10 months to complete and was...

TO MILLIONS of Britons she was either revered as the Iron Lady or reviled as a "milk snatcher". But to the spooks of communist East Germany she was simply ZOS-2161. That was the code assigned to the once top secret file on Margaret Thatcher drawn up by the East German secret police, the Stasi, to brief their leaders about Britain's first female Prime Minister. Scotland on Sunday has obtained the report, and instead of the anti-Capitalist rhetoric that might have been expected, the 40 pages include an admiring assessment of Thatcher's working class background and approval of her education policies....

LONDON, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was discharged with a clean bill of health from a London hospital Thursday after complaining of faintness. Thatcher, 80, was at a hairdresser's when she began feeling ill, and was taken to the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Sky News reported. Her private secretary, Mark Worthington, said she had been examined in a private room in the coronary ward. He said Thatcher was told to take it easy for the rest of the week, but she hopes to be "back to normal" on Monday. He said Thatcher's children Mark...

Wednesday December 07, 2005 Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has been admitted to hospital.Baroness Thatcher was taken to a London hospital after "feeling faint", a spokesman for the Conservative Party said.Known as the Iron Lady, she will be kept in hospital overnight but is likely to be released in the morning.Baroness Thatcher recently celebrated her 80th birthday at a London hotel, where she appeared frail.Her health has been failing since the death of her husband Denis.More follows...

As the search for their fourth leader in five years gathered pace, the Conservatives last night broke off from scheming behind the scenes to seek solace in the memory of past glories when they gathered to celebrate Baroness Thatcher's 80th birthday. The Queen and Tony Blair were among 670 people invited to a lavish reception in central London where the guest list included scores of disciples of the "Iron Lady" as well as a smattering of foes. Alongside the roster of current and past Tory grandees and the great and the good from industry, acad-emia and the civil service, the...

Margaret Thatcher turned 80 Thursday with a rare return to the limelight a posh party featuring the queen and the former prime minister's two successors celebrating along with Britain's "Iron Lady." Heading the high-powered guest list were Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister Tony Blair and Sir John Major, Thatcher's immediate successor at No. 10 Downing St. Britain's first female prime minister, who has grown frail in recent years following a series of small strokes, gave up most public speaking on her doctors' advice several years ago. Thatcher's assistant Gilly Penrose said she was feeling good and was pleased about the...

British troops raise the flag on the Falklands during the conflict A forthcoming book has revealed Chile's military intelligence helped Britain during the 1982 Falklands conflict.The book has threatened a possible diplomatic row between Chile and Argentina over the revelations of a secret alliance with the UK. Chilean president Ricardo Lagos has forwarded parts of the book to the Argentine foreign ministry. The book alleges Chile provided intelligence in return for half-price military aircraft. 'Cut-price deal'The book, The Official History of the Falklands War, details the deal between the governments of Margaret Thatcher and General Augusto Pinochet, said the...

Thatcher still cool on Blair May 6, 2005 FORMER British prime minister Margaret Thatcher pointedly declined to pay tribute to Tony Blair today as he stood on the verge of matching her record of three successive election wins, saying history would be his judge. "I'm not quite sure of his place in history," she told reporters at an election social event in London, as exit polls predicted Blair's Labour Party would win a third straight term, albeit with a much reduced majority. "History will determine that. I wouldn't like to predict it." Thatcher, who turns 80 later this year, was...

Thatcher, Kirkpatrick Back Bolton Posted May 6, 2005 Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Jeane Kirkpatrick, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Reagan Administration, both this week expressed their strong support for the confirmation of John R. Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Bolton's confirmation was held up two weeks ago when Sen. George Voinovich (R.-Ohio), who had failed to attend two hearings on the nomination, showed up at the meeting at which the Senate Foreign Relations Committee planned to vote on the question, and changed his mind about immediately voting for Bolton...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has thrown her weight behind the troubled nomination of John Bolton to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. In a letter to Bolton made available to reporters on Thursday, Thatcher praised his candor and intellect and said she could not imagine anyone better suited for the job.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Margaret Thatcher, who gained a reputation for outspokenness as Britain's prime minister, endorsed John R. Bolton for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations largely for his ``capacity for straight talking rather than peddling half-truths.'' In a letter made available Thursday by Bolton's office, Thatcher said she wrote to tell her longtime friend ``how strongly I support your nomination.'' ``To combine, as you do, clarity of thought, courtesy of expression and an unshakable commitment to justice is rare in any walk of life. But it is particularly so in international affairs,'' Thatcher wrote in her letter dated Wednesday....

April 29, 2005 Thatcher leaves the country, frustrated at party's failure By Andrew Pierce BARONESS THATCHER, depressed at the prospect of a third Labour victory in a row, left the country yesterday after failing to take part in a general election campaign for the first time in 70 years. The former Prime Minister flew to Venice for a short holiday with a close friend and declined to make any comment about the conduct of Michael Howard’s campaign. A close friend of Lady Thatcher, who is 79, said: “She is frustrated that we are not winning.” The friend added that Lady...

Margaret Thatcher has made a dramatic return to the political front line with a searing attack on Tony Blair's "Left-wing" tax-and-spend policies and his failure to carry the nation in the war on Iraq. The former prime minister's broadside came as she defied doctor's orders to make a speech last night marking the 25th anniversary of her rise to power. Having once praised the rise of New Labour as her greatest legacy, Baroness Thatcher turned her fire on Mr Blair - to denounce his adoption of some of her policies as a "conversion of convenience". To loud cheers from an...

Tributes on historic date for ThatcherBy George Jones, Political Editor (Filed: 04/05/2004) Lady Thatcher is preparing for a week of commemorative events to mark the 25th anniversary today of her accession as Britain's first woman prime minister. On Friday, May 4, 1979, Margaret Thatcher, the daughter of a Grantham shopkeeper, entered Downing Street after the Tories were returned to power with a Commons majority of 44. She went on to win two more elections and serve 11 and a half years in No 10 before being ousted by Conservative MPs fearful that she had become an electoral liability. The principal...

Lady Thatcher is considering coming out of retirement to join the campaign for a national referendum on the new European constitution that she fears will further erode British sovereignty. The former prime minister, 77, retired from public speaking in March last year after suffering a series of minor strokes. Now, however, her aides say she may join the campaign for a referendum, which is being resisted by the Government. "It's being considered," said her spokesman yesterday. "We haven't decided yet." The Telegraph has also learned that Lady Thatcher intervened this month in the European Union debate in Estonia, one of...