Thoughtful opponent who charmed the Iron Lady
Francois Mitterrand 1916-1996
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.DONALD MACINTYRE
Political Editor
There was a curiously touching coda to the long and often stormy relationship that Margaret Thatcher and Francois Mitterrand enjoyed between his election as President in May1981 and her fall in November 1990.
When on that day in Paris, during the Conference on Security and Co- operation in Europe, the Prime Minister heard she had failed to see off Michael Heseltine's challenge, she faced the prospect of a banquet at the Palace of Versailles and a ballet. Needing time to compose herself, she sent a message that she would be late and that the banquet should start. When she finally arrived she found Mr Mitterrand waiting at the palace doors. "Of course we would never have started without you," the President said - and then, as she wrote later, "with the considerable charm at his command, he accompanied me inside as if I had just won an election instead of half-losing one."
Mitterrand's remark that Baroness Thatcher had the eyes of Caligula and the lips of Marilyn Monroe does only partial justice to a complex and intense relationship. It was as much characterised by the mutual respect of two big politicians as by the genuinely fundamental differences between their domestic and European political goals.
In the end, they could never agree about the future of the European Union and the President's active participation in Helmut Kohl's project of an integrated Europe. Indeed, Lady Thatcher's main disappointment was that he did not have a more Gaullist adherence to a Europe des nations. But they agreed about some important aspects of foreign policy - not least on the Soviet Union.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments