London - The leader of Britain's opposition Conservative Party, William Hague, was forced to stop Margaret Thatcher calling for the country to leave the EU, the Mail on Sunday reported yesterday.
The paper said the 75-yearold former Tory prime minister, now Lady Thatcher, had set March 25th last year as the date for her declaration.
But it reported she was finally persuaded to abandon her call after Hague warned that such a move would "split the party completely" and severely handicap the Conservatives' prospects in a general election campaign, expected this spring.