Cllr, I take it that your point is that you can't clean a sewer and keep your hands clean. That may be true, but few of us would want to boast we had to go in a sewer. By any standards, Pinochet was a despicable traitor and thug. Consorting with him did not raise his standing, it merely lowered Mrs. Thatcher's. He was on a moral plane several steps below Jack the Ripper, who could at least have pleaded insanity. You can make a case for using him when he was in power. However, there is no excuse for seeking the company of vicious criminals and pretending that they are dignified old men. That is what Mrs. Thatcher did.