Sanctions policy 'makes UK look like friend of apartheid'.

SIR Geoffrey Howe warned Thatcher that Britain would be seen as a "friend of apartheid" due to its opposition to sanctions against South Africa.

Cabinet archives show the then Foreign Secretary urged the PM to publicly criticise the regime. In a note dated July 16, 1986, he begged her to reiterate her "rejection of apartheid and all it stands for".

But a Downing Street official ordered Mr Howe's letter to be "buried". In another document, Sir Geoffrey describes South African President PW Botha as "defiant, ill-mannered and truculent". He said: "He showed little willingness to comprehend any view of the world but his own.

"I've become concerned at the extent to which the US and UK are seen as friends of apartheid. We need to steer a course which distances us more clearly from the policies of the [South African government]."