Margaret Thatcher had two affairs while married, explosive new book claims

The Iron Lady was married to Denis Thatcher for more than half a century, who was by her side during her 11-year rule over Britain.

But during the course of her marriage, the former Conservative Prime Minister also eloped with two other men, Tina Gaudoin has claimed in her sensational new book - The Incidental Feminist.

Mrs Thatcher had one affair “very early on in her parliamentary career” as an MP, the book claims.

The Iron Lady then allegedly went on to have another affair with a different politician, Sir Humphrey Atkin.

Sir Humphrey was chief whip under Tory leader Edward Heath when the Conservatives were in opposition. He went on to become the Northern Ireland secretary from 1979 to 1981. In 1987, he was handed a life peerage, becoming Baron Colnbrook of Waltham St Lawrence - Lord Colnbrook.

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“The joke about Atkins was that for someone who was not very good, he kept getting promoted. Now, why was that?,” Ms Gaudoin told Cheltenham Literature Festival during a discussion about her book.

She cites former Conservative minister Jonathan Aitken as one of her sources.

When asked about the alleged affair with Sir Humphrey, Mr Aitken said: “There were knowledgeable rumours to that effect at the time. His good looks might have appealed to her, but his political brain was hopeless.”

However, Lord Charles Moore, who wrote Mrs Thatcher’s autobiography, said he had seen “no evidence to support” the rumour.

“I have heard the Atkins rumour in the past … My own sense is that it is vanishingly unlikely. I have never before heard the Tim Bell rumour. Again, I think it vanishingly unlikely,” he told The Times.

Meanwhile, Mrs Thatcher also shared “extracurricular friendship” with her PR chief Tim Bell, the book claims.

It adds that “one of her favourite things” was when Lord Bell would put his hand on her knee “and other stuff” during dinners.

Lord Bell was “unlikely to have got to what the Americans delicately term ‘third base’ (or even first or second),” writes Ms Gaudoin.

Lord More said he was unaware of the Lord Bell story, describing it “vanishingly unlikely”. 

The book also explores Denis Thatcher’s unlikely friendship with Mandy Rice-Davies, a former model involved in the Profumo affair that brought down Mrs Thatcher’s predecessor Harold Macmillan.

Mr Thatcher reportedly struck up a close relation with her after is wife left Number 10 in 1990, exchanging affection letters and even holidaying together.

“A lot of people I spoke to said that she was far more sexy in person than she appeared to be… A lot of people said that when she entered the room there was a definite frisson,” Ms Gaudoin writes.

The Incidental Feminist was published last week, coinciding with the 100-year anniversary of Mrs Thatcher’s birth in 1925.