 He travelled to London, where he met with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.Although she opposed the anti-apartheid movement's calls for economic sanctions against South Africa, at the meeting she urged de Klerk to release the imprisoned anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela.He also expressed a desire to meet with representatives of the U.S. government in Washington D.C., although American Secretary of State James Baker informed him that the U.S. government considered it inopportune to have de Klerk meet with President George H. W. Bush.