The lady was not for turning up in America with a panda
MARGARET THATCHER rejected London Zoo’s suggestion that she take a panda with her on an official visit to the United States, papers reveal.
Lord Zuckerman – then president of the zoo – suggested the publicity stunt because the Regents Park attraction was suffering a financial crisis and was in talks over a government bail-out.
Files just released by the National Archives detail years of attempts by the zoo to extricate more money from the government as it battled dwindling attendances and rising costs.
A 1981 letter from Sir Robert Armstrong, who was then cabinet secretary, to Clive Whitmore, a private secretary, said London Zoo was undergoing “one of [its] periodic crises” and feared adult ticket prices would have to rise from £2.80 to £3.50 unless they were bailed out.
The note also revealed that Lord Zuckerman wanted help to transport Chia-chia, London’s male panda, to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, where it might mate with a female panda donated by the Chinese people.
It read: “Lord Zuckerman sees this as a signal demonstration of the special relationship and would be very happy to time the announcement of the loan or the delivery of the panda in any way that the Prime Minister thought would be most likely to benefit Angloamerican relations.
“He even suggested that the Prime Minister might like to take the panda in the back of her Concorde when she goes to Washington next week.”
His idea left Mrs Thatcher unimpressed. Writing in the margin of the note she declared: “I am not taking a panda with me! Pandas and politicians are not happy omens!”