Her Kind of Foreigner

Never let it be said that the British Conservative Party indulges in racist stereotyping. Despite being seriously let down by a favoured friend and business partner, one Leopoldo Galtieri, the sainted Thatcher did not tar other Latin American fascist dictators with the same brush, but maintained her personal regard for General Augusto Pinochet even after his tragic arrest at the end of the last century. The New Labour government of the time had not yet thrown off the party's atavistic dislike of torture, murder and military authoritarianism, and the old bag was horrified at the overriding of Pinochet's diplomatic immunity to permit his arrest by vindictive opponents of freedom, the Falklands and fiscal discipline. She sent Pinochet a good Scotch whisky and paid him an emotional tribute at the annual Conservative rah-and-blah; nevertheless, she was careful enough to aspire only to see him "returned safely to his own country." It would have been a poor repayment to treat so noble a friend as a mere immigrant and asylum seeker.