Thatcher's No 10 visit 'brazen'

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Sir Malcolm Rifkind described the surprise visit - which has caused concern among both Tory and Labour MPs - as "brazen".

Tory frontbenchers have claimed that the Prime Minister had manipulated Lady Thatcher, who was frail in her old age.

But Sir Malcolm, who served as Lady Thatcher's Scottish Secretary in the 1980s, dismissed any suggestion that she was not aware of the way such a meeting would be portrayed.

Writing in The Observer, he said: "My former boss has been described by one of my colleagues as 'frail and lonely' and, therefore susceptible to Brown's Machiavellian schemes.

"Well, maybe she is. But she also still has her political marbles and enjoys using them."

Sir Malcolm, who went on to become foreign secretary in John Major's government, likened Lady Thatcher to a film character who displays with pride a portrait of herself with the former Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

"It seems that no...constraints have inhibited either Gordon Brown or Lady Thatcher," Mr Rifkind wrote.

"Only Maggie Smith's portrayal of the British Ambassador's widow in Tea With Mussolini was as brazen as Maggie Thatcher's acceptance of tea with Gordon."