A SECRET meeting between the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, and Baroness Thatcher was described as "a worrying and even frightening" development by several left wing Labour MPs yesterday, despite Downing Street's insistence that it was "not unusual".
News of the meeting, which took place on the eve of Mr Blair's first EU summit and was leaked to the media, was immediately cited by several Labour left wingers as further evidence of Mr Blair's presidential style.
"I can't understand why he would even want to speak to her, let alone invite her to tea. It is all very worrying, even frightening. I just hope he didn't listen to anything she had to say or we'll lose all out new found friends in Europe," said one Labour MP.
Downing Street insisted the meeting was a private "friendly chat". A spokesman insisted Lady Thatcher had "not given a pep talk" to Mr Blair on negotiating in Europe.
The former Labour prime minister, Lord Callaghan, described the meeting as "eminently sensible" and said he had met Mr John Major several times during his premiership to offer advice on handling world leaders. These meetings had never been publicised.
"These courtesies aren't unknown when a new prime minister takes office. Mr Major and I had a number of substantial conversations that went on for a long time and I told him what I could about the people I knew and about a range of international issues," he added.
The Scottish National Party leader, Mr Alex Salmond, sympathised with the Labour leftwingers' views, warning Mr Blair that the Scottish people were hostile to Lady Thatcher and he should not listen to her advice.
"Margaret Thatcher, more than anybody else, turned the Tories into an antiScottish party. We did not want Lady Thatcher to be our prime minister then, and we do not want her as an adviser to her protege Prime Minister now," he said.
During the election campaign, Mr Major's offer to advise Mr Blair on negotiating with EU leaders was immediately ridiculed by Labour. However, Mr Blair has publicly admitted he admired Lady Thatcher's style of leadership and has stressed that he would not reverse her main Thatcherite policies. Lady Thatcher believes Mr Blair to be "great patriot" who would "not let Britain down".