Giuliani in London with Thatcher: No Hillary Clinton

Republicans are lining up with former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, pictured here with the late President Reagan. Fred Thompson posed with Thatcher this summer. Rudy Giuliani is on his way today -- with Giuliani telling the British press that, unlike Hillary Clinton, Thatcher would never "impugn the integrity of a commanding general.''

by Tom Brune

LONDON — Rudy Giuliani has a date with the Iron Lady tonight.

Giuliani will share the stage here with Margaret Thatcher, the iconic conservative former British prime minister, as he delivers an inaugural lecture named after her to the right-leaning Atlantic Bridge think tank.

Giuliani will address foreign policy, the war on terror and the importance of a strong British-U.S. relationship, a campaign aide said — important themes for Tories who have had difficult relations with the White House over the Iraq War and the president’s ties to recently retired Labor Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Yet the visit is more about image than the tangled political relationship between the two countries’ conservative parties.

The Republican presidential contender crossed the Atlantic yesterday for the opportunity to be associated and photographed with Thatcher, 81, whose stature has only grown since she left office.

Politicians right and left seek to compare themselves to the iron-willed Tory, including liberal politicians such as current British Labor Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton.

GOP rival Fred Thompson flew to London this summer for a photo op with Thatcher.

Already wrapping himself in the mantle of American conservative icon Ronald Reagan, Giuliani now will lay claim to Thatcher’s legacy after the business-oriented group awards him the first Margaret Thatcher Medal of Freedom.

Giuliani was chosen for the honor, said Scott Syfert, the group’s U.S. coordinator, “simply because we were looking for someone who is an American leader who is well-known and well-respected.”

Citing Giuliani’s own iconic moment, 9/11, Syfert added it didn’t hurt that he was a GOP frontrunner in many polls. That includes at least one of British Conservatives.

The arrangement is mutually beneficial. Giuliani gets to compare himself to the modern giants of conservatism on both sides of the Atlantic, and Atlantic Bridge gets a sure-fire draw to raise money with a motivational speaker who once commanded $100,000 a talk.

To hear Giuliani, the group — which last year reported about $20,000 in total revenues — is charging 450 to 1,000 pounds (or nearly $900 to $2,000), Syfert said. Some British press reports said the group was charging 10,000 pounds to sit at the head table.

Giuliani also will hold his own fundraiser midday today for U.S. citizens here featuring Celia Sandys, granddaughter of Winston Churchill, another British icon Giuliani often mentions.
Meanwhile, Giuliani continues his newly confrontational ways, slamming comparisons of Clinton to Thatcher.

“I don’t think Margaret Thatcher would impugn the integrity of a commanding general in a time of war, as Hillary Clinton did, or require an army to give a schedule of their retreat to the enemy, as the Democrats are suggesting,” he told the Sunday Times of London.

Tom Brune reports for Newsday, a Tribune Co. newspaper.