The Last Straw

‘WHAT do you do with Thatchers when you’ve no longer a use for them?

While Baroness Thatcher, the indomitable Maggie, has her hair ironed and pressed in a Mayfair salon, and daughter Carole is deported to Australia – only to return a couple of weeks later babbling on about being some kind of Queen – Sir Mark Thatcher thinks about making a new life in Monaco.

Mark’s already been on a recce to the Mediterranean tax haven. As the Times reports, he’s been staying at the £2,500-a-month Fairmont Hotel.

Not bad. And pretty darn good for a man such as Mark – a man who in January was convicted by a court in South Africa of helping to finance a failed coup in Equatorial Guinea.

And that’s the problem. Mark’s conviction has not played out well with the Monegasque authorities. Mark has had his application to extend his temporary residency in the city state refused. He is an undesirable.

Which means Monaco is now added to the growing list of places where Mark is not welcome – he says he won’t set foot in South Africa again, Equatorial Guinea is out of the question and he’s already been refused a visa to live in the Unites States.

So it’s either back to Blighty for 52-year-old Mark, to set up home with his mummy in Belgravia. Or to pastures new – the Times says Switzerland remains the favourite option.

Of course, you can never be sure where a Thatcher will turn up. And, recalling to mind Mark’s wayward driving, neither can they…’

Posted: 21st, December 2005 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink