IRON LADY - MERCURIAL LADY?

BRITAIN'S PREMIER Mrs Margaret Thatcher displayed all the symptoms of being under the influence of the Reagan mystique by her recent announcement that the British government intends to support the US in its determination to use the Gulf as a front-line defence outpost against Eastern incursion. Naturally the Gulf States are concerned over the defence of their oil fields and seaways but it is considered an affront to assume that the US and the UK can take it on their own hands to speak out in such areas as Gulf security when neither has first consulted the subject of the quest.