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Brown welcomes Thatcher to No 10 | Brown welcomes Thatcher to No 10 |
(30 minutes later) | |
Former Conservative prime minister Baroness Thatcher is in 10 Downing Street for a meeting with Gordon Brown. | Former Conservative prime minister Baroness Thatcher is in 10 Downing Street for a meeting with Gordon Brown. |
Lady Thatcher, 81, was greeted with a warm handshake from the prime minister as she arrived outside Number 10. | Lady Thatcher, 81, was greeted with a warm handshake from the prime minister as she arrived outside Number 10. |
Mr Brown recently surprised many by praising Labour's long-time political foe as a "conviction politician" who "saw the need for change". | |
Mr Brown's wife Sarah is also thought to be at the meeting with Lady Thatcher, who was PM from 1979 to 1990. | Mr Brown's wife Sarah is also thought to be at the meeting with Lady Thatcher, who was PM from 1979 to 1990. |
The visit follows an exchange of letters between Mr Brown and Lady Thatcher shortly after he became prime minister in June. | The visit follows an exchange of letters between Mr Brown and Lady Thatcher shortly after he became prime minister in June. |
A one-to-one meeting is understood to be taking place in the formal study - the Thatcher Room - followed by a tour of the building where prime ministers live as well as work when in power. | |
Saatchi and Saatchi | |
The visit, though rare, is not unprecedented and does not mean that Lady Thatcher is backing Mr Brown as prime minister - shortly after Tony Blair took power in 1997, he also extended an invitation to Baroness Thatcher. | |
BBC political editor Nick Robinson said Mr Brown also remembered her invitation to him to visit Number 10 shortly after he was elected to Parliament in 1983. | |
The visit comes on the day it emerged that the advertising agency credited with helping secure the 1979 election victory for the then Mrs Thatcher - Saatchi and Saatchi - has been given the Labour general election advertising account. | |
Mr Brown's comments last week praising Lady Thatcher were taken as him suggesting that he - and not current Tory leader David Cameron - was a conviction politician like her. |