JIM TAGUE (HAS, Dec 13) makes a poor attempt at defending the Thatcher government in relation to apartheid. Mrs Thatcher was alone in the Commonwealth in condemning Nelson Mandela as a terrorist, and refusing to impose sanctions on the South African regime, in spite of the fact that the black majority were in favour of them. She seemed to believe that business was more important than justice. At the same time some Young Conservatives were sporting “Hang Mandela” T-shirts.

Mrs Thatcher’s good friend Ronald Reagan, the US president, was happy to claim that South Africa was a beacon of democracy during the worst of the crackdowns on protest.

I would point out to Mr Tague that Nelson Mandela’s “conciliatory” nature only showed when he was eventually released from prison. There were few conciliatory gestures by the South African government even after he was released.

Eric Gendle, Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough.