Margaret Thatcher’s sometimes fractious attitude towards European bureaucracy has been laid bare in the release of previously secret files.
The former Prime Minister repeatedly voiced her exasperation with the processes and wrangling of the European Union.
She even threatened at one stage to “openly” fight moves to deny the UK a budget refund and repeatedly insisted to her ministers to maintain a strong line during the bargaining process.
The revelations come out of the release of previously secret government documents from 1980 by the National Archives in Kew, London.
The files show that the former Tory leader threatened to “openly” fight for a hard-won refund on the European Community Budget when the settlement appeared to be in doubt. Her ministers had negotiated the refund of Britain’s net contribution to the budget in May 1980.
But, due to complications about VAT and EC procedure, the refund was unexpectedly placed under threat.
The Prime Minister showed her fury at the situation via a series of annotations on a letter sent to her by the Treasury explaining the problem.
She writes: “No this is ridiculous. Its whole purpose is to demean Britain. We must fight this one.
“If necessary openly.”
Other papers unveil the Prime Minister’s occasionally fraught relationship with government departments when discussing the UK’s approach to EEC contributions and its reform after the budget was rejected in Dublin in 1979.
In one briefing paper detailing a statement on North Sea Oil policy and the EEC budget, Baroness Thatcher scribbles: “That statement would be disastrous for Britain and I am not prepared to make it.
“The idea that we should have to sacrifice our main assets to secure some of our own money back is one that may appeal to the Foreign Office but it does not to me.”
She adds: “Wouldn’t it have been at least courteous to come to me first?”
A memo circulated giving advice on what ministers should say during media interviews on the issue shows the general disquiet felt about the UK’s expected contribution to the EEC budget.
The letter from the Paymaster General’s Office states that the UK contribution was expected to be around £1,000 million.
The letter reads: “It is a formidable sum and this government, led by the Prime Minister herself, has striven to have it substantially reduced.”
It continues: “The £1,000 million euro-subscription is rather more than 10 per cent of the published government borrowing requirement for this financial year.
“It is substantially larger than the UK aid programme, although unlike the aid programme it chiefly benefits countries which are already very much better off than the UK.
“Nearer home, it is roughly equal to total expenditure on building new schools and hospitals.”