Top politician claims an Aussie prime minister hit Margaret Thatcher with X-rated verbal slurs over one of rugby’s most controversial issues

A former Australian government minister has said the late Prime Minister Bob Hawke insulted his British counterpart Margaret Thatcher over British Lions plans to tour South Africa while the country was still in the grip of apartheid.

John Brown, who was minister for sport, recreation and tourism in the Hawke government from 1984 to 1987, made the stunning announcement while launching his autobiography in Sydney this week.

The British rugby team had planned to play South Africa in 1986, but the tour was canceled at a time when the country was a sporting pariah due to a brutal racist regime.

Brown told the crowd at his book launch that he had arranged for Hawke to speak to Thatcher about the tour before it was cancelled.

Former Sports, Leisure and Tourism Minister John Brown (pictured right with Bob Hawke in 1990) made a startling claim about the late Prime Minister’s relationship with his British counterpart Margaret Thatcher.

Brown told those present at his book launch that the Australian leader (pictured with Thatcher in 1986) launched an unprintable tirade against the British prime minister over a mooted rugby tour of South Africa while the country was still in the grip of apartheid.

The British Lions toured the racially divided country in 1980 (pictured) and planned to do so again in 1986, infuriating Hawke.

The late Prime Minister was concerned that the tour could disrupt the 1986 Commonwealth Games if they had gone ahead, as many African countries boycotted the event due to UK sporting bodies’ refusal to sever ties with South Africa.

Brown claimed the Australian leader lost his cool during a phone call and told Thatcher: “Listen, you bloody bitch, get the bloody team out of South Africa or the Commonwealth Games will be cancelled.” will explode and, possibly, the Commonwealth of Nations.

“You are the bloody Prime Minister of England, and the future of both of you is in your hands.”

According to Brown’s report, which was transmitted Sydney Morning HeraldThatcher then agreed to end the tour.

However, it was reported at the time that the South African Rugby Board had canceled the matches partly due to the country being in a state of emergency for much of that year.

Hawke was an ardent opponent of apartheid and considered himself the inventor of the “dagger” that helped destroy the racist system.

“Trade sanctions weren’t working, so I had the idea that if we could boycott foreign investment in South Africa, we could put an end to it,” he said in 2016, three years before his death.

The uneasy relationship between Hawke and Thatcher became known in British cabinet documents published in 2014.

“My fellow Commonwealth leaders supported my concept and in a very short time it worked.

“The investment boycott was the dagger that finally brought apartheid to an end.”

Unlike Britain, Australian rugby teams refused to play against apartheid South Africa after hosting the Springboks in 1971, when the tour sparked protests across the country.

Although Great Britain’s mooted tour of South Africa was canceled in 1985, the Lions did play an international team featuring Springboks stars in Wales in April 1986 to celebrate the centenary of the International Rugby Board.

Hawke (pictured with Brown in 1986) was a vocal opponent of apartheid and said the issue was his “biggest disagreement” with Thatcher.

The rocky relationship between Hawke and Thatcher was revealed in British cabinet documents that came to light in 2014.

They showed that the UK Foreign Office described Thatcher’s Hawke as “often deliberately harsh and even arrogant” and warned that he had a “well-known weakness for drink and women”.

Hawke described their differences over South Africa shortly after the documents were released.

“We agreed on a lot of things, but our main disagreement was the apartheid regime in South Africa,” Hawke explained.

“I fought against it in the Commonwealth, trying to defeat it, and we succeeded in the end, but Margaret never joined in the fight, and so I had some famous blows with her.”