Communist leaders who were never called to account for the abuses of their years in power were attacked by Baroness Thatcher during a speech in Oxfordshire.

The former Prime Minister told a 450-strong audience at Blenheim Palace that many overthrown rulers were still living comfortably on the proceeds of their crimes.

She said: "Those who promoted and profited by this repression, unlike their Nazi equivalents, have rarely seen the inside of their own prisons, and are frequently enjoying the benefits of past plunder and present respect- ability in comfortable retirement."

Lady Thatcher also questioned why the significance of the Iron Curtain's fall was sometimes played down.

She said: "Perhaps the somewhat disturbing answer is this - that while our victories over the Axis powers were sealed in the blood of our fellow-countrymen, our victory in the Cold War was just that - cold. And so it leaves too many people cold as well. "And am I alone in suspecting that those in the West, in whose hearts lurked some sympathy with the system the other side of the Berlin Wall, have since been trying to rewrite the history of those years?"

Lady Thatcher's remarks came during a warm speech of tribute to Sir Winston Churchill on Saturday night, at the annual concert in his memory at Blenheim, his birthplace.

She said he had possessed the same foresight in identifying the threat posed by communismand "that jovial psychopath" Stalin as he had before the war over Nazism.

Lady Thatcher was the latest in a series of former prime ministers to have delivered the address in Sir Winston's memory since the charity concerts began in 1966, the year after his death.

Others have been Lord Home, Harold Macmillan, Sir Edward Heath and Lord Wilson.

Introducing Lady Thatcher, the Duke of Marlborough said he was honoured to welcome to his home a leader whose career had shown some of the same courage and determination as Sir Winston's.

Story date: Monday 08 March

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