Maggie meets her match in Paris

A row broke out in Paris today over a proposal to name a square or boulevard after Margaret Thatcher.

The so-called “Dame de Fer” – French for Iron Lady – is popular among many Conservatives across the Channel. So much so, that Jerome Dubus, of the opposition UMP party, wants to see the tribute to the former Tory leader in the City of Light.

But France is currently run by Socialists, many of whom detest the woman who led Britain from 1979 until 1990.

Ian Brossat, a Paris councillor representing the Communist-backed Left Front, said the city should instead honour Bobby Sands, the IRA prisoner who died following a hunger strike in 1981.

“The cynicism of the Parisian Right knows no bounds,” said Mr Brossat.

This follows Mayor Boris Johnson’s call yesterday for any new airport here to be named after Mrs Thatcher.