An essential part of that process has been the settlement of the status of General Pinochet and it is not for Spain, Britain or any other country to interfere in what is an internal matter for Chile. Delicate balances have had to be struck in Chile's transition to democracy, balances with which we interfere at our peril. General Pinochet must be allowed to return to his own country forthwith. It would be disgraceful to preach reconciliation with one, while maintaining under arrest someone who, during that same conflict, did so much to save so many British lives. Leadership is attained not by winning elections, but comes only with the kind of moral stature Lady Thatcher possesses and which the twin adolescents currently running the US and the UK clearly do not.
Leadership is scarce.
The Conservative Party, except Lady Thatcher, is silent. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles are enmeshed in a row over his 50th birthday celebrations. Charles and Camilla deny collaborating with Penny Junor's new book which damns Princess Diana, and leaking the idea that Diana was close friends with her bodyguard, Barry Mannakee, before his death in a convenient road accident in July 1987. Road accidents are apparently as much a specialty of the House of Windsor as they are with the House of Clinton. With a Royal Family devoid of credibility and a Government devoid of ethics, Britain should treasure Margaret Thatcher.