WASHINGTON, D.C. – United States Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ), today issued the following statement on the passing of Baroness Margaret Thatcher:
 
“In the late 1980s while my wife, Cheryl, and I were living in the fledgling southern African country of Namibia, one of the parties to the agreement providing for Namibian independence had violated the accord, putting the timetable for Namibian independence in jeopardy. There was a question as to how Britain, the United States and other parties to the agreement would react to the breach, which the United Nations, who was overseeing the agreement, seemed willing to countenance.

Margaret Thatcher happened to be traveling through southern Africa at the time. According to those present, Prime Minister Thatcher walked into the offices of the United Nations in Windhoek, Namibia, pounded the table, and demanded that the UN enforce the agreement. They did so, and the agreement held.

Five years later I had the privilege of welcoming Margaret Thatcher to the Goldwater Institute in Arizona. I reminded her of the incident in Namibia. She remembered it well, and seemed to tense up and clinch a fist just thinking about it. There was no going wobbly on her watch.

I’ve wondered what it would be like to serve in parliament with Margaret Thatcher. Traveling home from Namibia in 1990, Cheryl and I stopped off in England and visited the House of Commons, where we were awestruck watching the Prime Minister field questions from the opposition.

Just as well Margaret Thatcher didn’t serve in the United States Senate, I’ve concluded. The world’s most deliberative body would cease to deliberate were the Iron Lady ever to speak from this chamber.”

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