Maggie Thatcher 'didn't mention Nelson Mandela' in talks with South African apartheid leader PW Botha

New papers blow apart recent Tory boasts that she helped end apartheid - and her own claim that she had pressed for his release at the summit

Margaret Thatcher made no mention of Nelson Mandela during the only formal talks she held with South Africa’s apartheid leader PW Botha, documents released today reveal.

The papers blow apart recent Tory boasts that she helped end apartheid - and her own claim that she had pressed for his release at the summit.

Instead Thatcher relegated the issue to a short, private chat with Botha before the June 1984 talks officially got under way. No notes were taken so there is no evidence of what was discussed.

The then PM had been urged by the Foreign Office to raise Mandela’s imprisonment officially during the four-hour minuted formal discussions.

But Thatcher, who objected to sanctions against Botha’s regime and had branded the freedom fighter a terrorist, failed to do so.

The damaging disclosure comes after Conservatives attempted to rewrite history in the wake of Mandela’s death last month.

Thatcher’s own account says Mandela’s incarceration was “noted” during a private audience on “sensitive issues”.

But her adviser John Coles stated: “No note-takers were present. Mr Botha said he could not interfere with the South African judicial process.”

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