‘Margaret’ Gets Reagan’s Congratulations by Phone

COLOGNE, West Germany —  President Reagan, in a telephone call from West Berlin, today congratulated Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on her decisive victory in the British general election, his spokesman said.

“Margaret, congratulations on a magnificent victory,” spokesman Marlin Fitzwater quoted Reagan as telling Thatcher, his closest friend among the allied leaders.

The spokesman said Reagan told Thatcher that he was aware that she was the first British premier since 1832 to win a third term in office and said: “I think that’s wonderful.”

“I just finished speaking to thousands and thousands at the Brandenburg Gate,” Reagan reportedly told Thatcher. “The call for Mr. Gorbachev to tear down the wall was well received.”

Reagan reminded Thatcher that he was asked many times during her campaign to comment. “And I was afraid it might not help,” he said. “But I’m delighted with your victory.”

Fitzwater said Nancy Reagan interrupted her husband during the conversation, telling him to give Thatcher her best wishes.

Thatcher’s Conservative Party won 376 seats in the 650-member House of Commons in voting Thursday, giving her a majority of 102 seats. Although the margin was smaller than the 134-seat edge in the last Parliament, the Conservative majority surpassed all expectations.