Remembering Margaret Thatcher: "She's gone too far this time, she's bitten him!"
Charles Powell, Daily Telegraph
Cute story.
. . . She was never a diplomat and proud not to be one. She had no time for courtly phrases and carefully drafted compromises. She was ready to go toe to toe with any world leader from Gorbachev to Deng Xiaoping. She had the huge advantage of being unembarrassable - a quality not always shared by her Private Secretary.
I recall a meeting with President Mitterand in Paris during which the President took her for a stroll in the Élysée garden.
I sat down in the sun for a blissful moment of peace with my French opposite number, only to be shaken from my reverie by the sight of Mitterand hurrying back, clutching a blood-stained handkerchief to himself. For a moment of panic I thought: She's gone too far this time, she's bitten him!
It turned out to have been an over-enthusiastic puppy which did the damage, but it was a nasty moment. . . .
Posted by: Mike 2008-04-14 |