Editing Margaret Thatcher (section)

====Apartheid in South Africa====
Despite saying that she was in favour of "peaceful negotiations" to end [[apartheid]],<ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=Engagements |house=House of Commons |date=25 February 1988 |volume=128 |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1988/feb/25/engagements#S6CV0128P0_19880225_HOC_113 |column=437 |access-date=22 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=South Africa |house=Written Answers HC Deb |date=11 July 1988 |volume=137 |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1988/jul/11/south-africa#S6CV0137P0_19880711_CWA_21 |column_start=3 |column_end=4W |access-date=22 October 2020}}</ref> Thatcher opposed [[Disinvestment from South Africa|sanctions imposed on South Africa]] by the Commonwealth and the [[European Economic Community]] (EEC).{{sfnp|Campbell|2011a|p=322}} She attempted to preserve trade with South Africa while persuading its government to abandon apartheid. This included "[c]asting herself as [[President Botha]]'s candid friend" and inviting him to visit the UK in 1984,<ref name="Hanning">{{Cite news |last=Hanning |first=James |date=8 December 2013 |title=The 'terrorist' and the Tories: What did Nelson Mandela really think of Margaret Thatcher? |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/the-terrorist-and-the-tories-what-did-nelson-mandela-really-think-of-margaret-thatcher-8990872.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131208093841/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/the-terrorist-and-the-tories-what-did-nelson-mandela-really-think-of-margaret-thatcher-8990872.html |archive-date=8 December 2013 |access-date=24 October 2017 |work=The Independent}}</ref> despite the "inevitable demonstrations" against his government.{{sfnp|Campbell|2011a|p=325}} Alan Merrydew of the Canadian broadcaster [[BCTV News]] asked Thatcher what her response was "to a reported ANC statement that they will target British firms in South Africa?" to which she later replied: "[...] when the ANC says that they will target British companies [...] This shows what a typical terrorist organisation it is. I fought terrorism all my life and if more people fought it, and we were all more successful, we should not have it and I hope that everyone in this hall will think it is right to go on fighting terrorism."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Plaut |first=Martin |date=29 August 2018 |title=Did Margaret Thatcher really call Nelson Mandela a terrorist? |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2018/08/did-margaret-thatcher-really-call-nelson-mandela-terrorist |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180906233752/https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2018/08/did-margaret-thatcher-really-call-nelson-mandela-terrorist |archive-date=6 September 2018 |access-date=6 September 2018 |magazine=New Statesman}}</ref> During his visit to Britain five months after his release from prison, [[Nelson Mandela]] praised Thatcher: "She is an enemy of apartheid [...] We have much to thank her for."{{r|Hanning}}