THE IRON LADIES: THATCHER AND MERKEL

Angela Merkel signs a book of condolence for Margaret Thatcher in Berlin (Getty Images)

It is not without irony, or perhaps some higher synchronicity, that British Prime Minister David Cameron's series of meetings with European leaders last week was disrupted by the death of Baroness Thatcher, and his visit to German Chancellor Angela Merkel had to be re-scheduled.

That Mr Cameron should find himself caught between the passing of former British prime minister Thatcher and the present leader of both a united Germany and, arguably, a Europe on the brink of greater union does, however, throw powerful light on modern political history. For whilst our Prime Minister may privately regard himself as "the Heir to Blair", it is surely the German Chancellor who is heiress of the original "Iron Lady's" drive for democratic liberation of the former Communist Europe where Angela Merkel spent her earlier life. That those liberated from Communist rule should now look to a strengthened European Union is, of course, an historical legacy which Baroness Thatcher did not anticipate, and a current political predicament for Britain and Mr Cameron.