Margaret Thatcher would never have supported Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. or the holding of an in/out referendum, her longest-serving and most trusted former foreign policy adviser has told the Observer.
Lord Powell of Bayswater, who was at Thatcher’s side during her most epic confrontations with Brussels during the 1980s, said the Eurosceptic former prime minister would always have preferred to battle the EU from within, whatever the scale of her frustrations, rather than opening the door to exit.
“Of course she got fed up with it, but I don’t believe that as prime minister she would ever have campaigned to take Britain out of Europe or had a referendum to allow that to happen,” he said. “She wanted to change Europe and she set out to change it with great vigour, but I don’t believe she would have chosen this way and she would have avoided getting trapped by the referendum promise.
“She never had any truck with referendums and frequently spoke out against them.” » | Toby Helm | Saturday, September 3, 2016
