Lady Thatcher complained about Asian immigration

New files given to the National Archives show that shortly after becoming prime minister, Lady Thatcher complained about the amount of Asian immigrants being allowed into the UK.

Documents which were published yesterday under the 30 year rule provide further light on Lady Thatcher’s attitudes on immigration and race.

They reveal that in July 1979, Lady Thatcher met with Lord Carrington, foreign secretary at the time and William Whitelaw, then home secretary, to discuss the plight of hundreds of thousands of boat people fleeing persecution in communist Vietnam.

The prime minister, who said openly that she sympathised with the concerns of Britain of being swamped by immigrant cultures, reacted strongly to the ministers’ suggestions that the thousands of the Vietnamese refugees should be welcomed.

However the minutes of the meeting show that Lady Thatcher said there were already too many immigrants coming into Britain.

She said that there were some exceptions there had been no humanitarian case for accepting 1.5 million immigrants from south Asia and elsewhere, and it was essential that a line be drawn somewhere.

Lady Thatcher also asked what the implication of such a move could be given that an exodus of the white population from Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, was expected once majority rule had been established.

It was reported that she made it clear, however, that she had far less objection to refugees from Rhodesia, Poland and Hungary, as they could be more easily assimilated into British Society.

The meeting took place about 18 months after Lady Thatcher made a comment on TV that was seen as a watershed in mainstream politicians’ handling of race and immigration by saying that people were rather afraid that the UK may be rather swamped by people with a different culture.