The Postwar Period 249
years in jail. He served them in Sremska Mitrovica, where he had been impris-
oned during the reigns of both Aleksandar and Petar Karadjordjević.^496 Once
released, he continued to provoke, which often exasperated Tito and tempted
him, toward the end of his life, to imprison him again. That he did not is likely
due to British Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher’s advice: in
December 1977 she told him that Djilas was more dangerous in jail than free.^497
She was right, since the persecution he was subject to damaged the image of
Yugoslavia abroad and upset the honeymoon with the European social demo-
crats that the country had enjoyed until the mid-fifties thanks to the reform
activity of the LCY.^498