Conservative Anger Over White House Thatcher ‘Snub’

LONDON â€" Conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic have been getting hot under the collar about the relatively low-level U.S. representation at Wednesday’s funeral of Margaret Thatcher, the former British prime minister.

Britain’s right-leaning Daily Mail said it was a “poor show” that the Obama administration did not deem the funeral important enough to attend.

In the United States, the Tea Party News Network, a partisan Web site, said the “amazing snub” contrasted with the White House’s decision to send an official delegation to the funeral of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, a “tyrannical socialist dictator.”

The senior Americans at Wednesday’s ceremony were George Shultz and James Baker, who both served as Secretary of State while Mrs. Thatcher was in power.

Barbara Stephenson, the U.S. charge d’affaires in London, and Louis Susman, the former U.S. ambassador, were also among those attending as part of what The Guardian described as a “distinctly low-key official representation.”

The Sun had a new twist on the controversy on Wednesday, claiming President George H.W. Bush had turned down a personal plea from President Obama to travel to London for the occasion.

He and his son, President George W. Bush, were too busy preparing for the opening of the Bush library, The Sun claimed.

The tabloid quoted Sir Gerald Howarth, a Conservative parliamentarian and former Thatcher aide as saying, “Given the extraordinary bond between Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, which helped to end the Cold War and liberate millions, it’s very disappointing the present administration doesn’t feel able to send a representative.”

Katherine Rosario in The Forge, a conservative American blog, lambasted the United States Senate for having been slow to adopt a resolution honoring the Iron Lady and said the White House had now added insult to injury.

“It would be difficult to identify a truer friend to the United States than Baroness Thatcher,” Ms. Rosario wrote. “Most Americans recognize this, but unfortunately, our respect and â€" for the freedom loving among us â€" admiration for Lady Thatcher is not being conveyed by some of our elected leaders.”

Britain’s left-leaning Mirror quoted the office of Prime Minister David Cameron as saying the absence of a member of the U.S. administration was “absolutely not a snub.”

“I think the seniority of the U.S. dignitaries, including two former Secretaries of State with whom she worked closely, I think is testament to her global stature,” a spokesman said.

As The Mirror pointed out, members of the U.S. administration were not the only absentees. It noted that Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, had also announced she would not attend and President François Hollande of France was sending a former minister.