All ends in hug for Healey and old adversary Thatcher

Published on Sunday 14 June 2009 21:59

TWO of the fiercest adversaries in British politics have buried their differences and even recently shared a hug, it was revealed yesterday.

Labour's former Chancellor Lord Healey said he still regarded Baroness Thatcher – who is recovering from a broken arm after falling at her London home – as an "appalling" prime minister but that they now "get on very well" by avoiding the subject of politics when they meet.

Known to many in Labour as the party's greatest "leader who never was", Lord Healey admitted he has spent the last 20 years regretting never becoming PM.

The then Denis Healey and Margaret Thatcher were bitter political enemies in the 1970s and 1980s, and he left no doubt in an interview on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs that he continues to regard her as a bad prime minister.

But he said their personal relationship had been transformed: "

Since she lost power, nobody really listens to what she has to say, poor thing, and I feel very sorry for her now. We get on very well when we meet, which wasn't the case at all when I was in politics. Last time we met was at Leonardslee, which is a beautiful country garden near us, and I gave her a great hug."

Baroness Thatcher could leave hospital today, her spokesman said yesterday. The 83-year-old was admitted to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, west London, on Friday.