It is a most fitting tribute: an iron and steel statue of the Iron Lady in a city once behind the Iron Curtain. And not just any city – but Budapest, a place that Mrs Thatcher electrified with her visit in February 1984. The statue commemorating her 100th birthday was unveiled last week in the Millenaris culture complex in the Hungarian capital. The ceremony was both moving and beautifully choregraphed as several luminaries of the Thatcher era and her children Sir Mark and Carol gathered with Hungarian government ministers to commemorate her legacy.

More than 40 years after her first arrival, the Iron Lady is still remembered in Budapest with affection and admiration. ‘She did not believe the lies of communism, she did not compromise with communism, she defeated it,’ said Gergely Gulyas, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office. ‘She won the Cold War against the Soviet Union, which brought freedom to the Hungarian people. The Hungarian people are grateful for her unwavering stance against Communism.’ The statue unveiling followed a well-attended conference on Thatcher’s Life and Legacy at the Danube Institute in Budapest, hosted by John O’Sullivan, a former special........

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