Thatcher’s my role model says leader of German Right

ALICE WEIDEL, the leader of Germany’s Right-wing Alternative for Germany (AFD) party, has named Margaret Thatcher as her political “role model”.

Lauding the former prime minister for restoring the country to prominence when “economically in the dumps”, Ms Weidel said she was impressed by Thatcher’s biography, and her way of “swimming against the current, even if it becomes unpleasant”.

Ms Weidel’s AFD party won 13 per cent of the vote and captured 93 seats in the German parliament at last month’s election as it capitalised on anti-immigration sentiment and the idea that Germany needs to be rebuilt.

Ms Weidel told Welt am Sonntag, that her party was happy to serve in opposition for now, but that its long-term goal was to join a coalition government by 2021, citing Thatcher’s experience in Britain as a helpful guide.

However, Ms Weidel’s comparison with Britain in the Seventies was seen as a stretch give Germany’s status as Europe’s economic powerhouse with a record budget surplus of €18.3bn (£16.8bn) in the first half of 2017.