Margaret Thatcher once ignored a high-risk assassination threat by terrorists in France, despite warnings from intelligence officials, it has been revealed.
The former prime minister was set to meet with her French counterpart Francois Mitterand in Paris in early November 1982 when MI5 raised the alarm.
The pair had been set to discuss Europe’s budget, defences against the Soviets and the next steps on the proposed Channel Tunnel.
But as newly declassified papers have now revealed, security services voiced concerns ahead of the summit, warning it could pose a serious risk to her life, The Telegraph reports.
The French capital had faced a series of deadly attacks at the time, by both Middle Eastern terrorist organisations and radical far-Left French groups.
Within less than year, some six people were shot at a Jewish restaurant, a train bomb had seen five more killed, and an American military attache had been assassinated.
The most recent incident, a car bomb which injured more than 50 people, had only happened in September, just two months before Thatcher was set to travel.
Sir John Fretwell, the UK’s ambassador to France, ‘expressed concern’ about the PM’s safety too, ‘in the light of recent terrorist incidents in the city’.
The former prime minister (pictured in 1988) was set to meet with her French counterpart Francois Mitterand in Paris in early November 1982 when MI5 raised the alarm
Cabinet ministers exchanged frantic letters about the diplomat’s warning days before The Iron Lady was set to cross the Channel.
Roger Bone, private secretary to Francis Pym, then foreign secretary, relayed the caution to John Coles, the premier’s defence and foreign affairs private secretary.
It saw the Foreign Office order MI5 to assess the level of threat to Thatcher’s life upon attending the French summit – and it was deemed ‘substantial’.
Mr Bone pointed this out in his newly declassified correspondence, adding: ‘The advance publicity which her visit is likely to receive increases that risk.’
This assessment was brought to the attention of the PM’s close protection team and the British Embassy in Paris.
A protection officer flew to the French capital in advance of the summit to discuss the matter with the country’s security services.
And Mr Bone even suggested Mr Coles might consider informing the PM herself.
He concluded: ‘We shall of course keep a very close watch on the situation between now and the time of the summit and shall let you know if there is any change in the assessment.’
Despite the alarm of intelligence officials, the meeting went ahead without issue.
It came only two years before an attempt on Thatcher’s life did go ahead – but this time, on home soil.
The PM found herself at the centre of an assassination plot when the IRA bombed the Brighton Grand Hotel during the Tory party conference in 1984.
She survived – but five people lost their lives and 31 were seriously injured.
The Mail on Sunday revealed earlier this month Thatcher faced yet another assassination attempt just five years after the near miss on the south coast.
According to formerly secret files obtained by this newspaper, her plane was targeted in a massive missile bombardment while flying over Mozambique.
She was visiting Africa on a six-day diplomatic mission, seeking to win the release of Nelson Mandela and signal the end of apartheid in South Africa.
She was flying in a RAF Vickers VC-10 across the civil war-torn region when several powerful surface-to-air missiles were launched towards the aircraft.
The PM previously found herself at the centre of an assassination plot when the IRA bombed the Brighton Grand Hotel (pictured) during the Tory party conference in 1984
The Mail on Sunday revealed earlier this month Thatcher faced yet another assassination attempt just five years later, while on a diplomatic mission to Africa. Pictured: Thatcher meeting a Malawi official at the start of her official visit in 1989
Although they missed, the Foreign Office has kept the incident under wraps for decades, for fear it would destabilise relations.
Now, newly declassified documents lay bare the fury of the British government at their Mozambique counterparts who, it later emerged, claimed a drunken commander was responsible.
Thatcher was flying from Zimbabwe to Malawi on the evening of March 30, 1989, when her aircraft came under fire.
At the time, Mozambique was engulfed in a savage civil war between the ruling Marxist FRELIMO party and the Right-wing RENAMO guerrilla movement.
The aircraft went on to land safely at its intended destination of Blantyre airport in Malawi.
The PM referred to the near-miss with typical insouciance, dismissing it in a single line in her autobiography, The Downing Street Years.
Mistakenly thinking the missiles were fired by the rebels, she wrote: ‘The journey was short and so my VC10 was flying lower than usual – too low for comfort, since at one point we were fired on with missiles by RENAMO. Fortunately they missed.’
