'Motherly' Margaret Thatcher cleaned bodyguard's shoes

FORMER Prime Minister and "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher had a motherly side, cleaning dirt from her bodyguard’s shoes and putting up Christmas decorations to make staff feel at home, her former protection officer has revealed.

History and popular literature has depicted former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as a formidable Iron Lady, putting politics before her personal life and not suffering fools gladly.

But a new account of her life, written by her bodyguard of 20 years, has claimed to shed light on a caring, motherly side hidden from the general public.

Special Branch detective Barry Strevens told a newspaper his heart “sank” when he originally discovered who he would be protecting.

But from first meeting, when Baroness Thatcher “fussed” over him following a minor motoring accident, he claims he was won over.

Once, he claims, she even kindly wiped dog dirt after a police sergeant inadvertently walked it into her apartment on his shoe.

Mr Strevens describes how Baroness Thatcher decorated the bleak outbuilding at Chequers he was living in for Christmas, tidying up the mess left behind by a previous shift of officers and putting up tinsel and leaving him presents to cheer him up.

Saying she left a tin of biscuits, a flask of hot coffee and a miniature bottle of whisky for him, he added: “On the mantelpiece was a Christmas card with a message inside thanking me for ‘all that you do’.”

He said he was “incredibly touched” by the gesture, which comforted him while he was away from his own wife and children over the festive season.

“It was at that moment I knew I would stand in the way of a bullet for Margaret Thatcher without hesitation,” he said.

Mr Strevens, who began his work for Baroness Thatcher in April 1978, described how a colleague had once feared getting into trouble after accidentally treading in dog mess outside and walking over a white carpet.

Instead, he claims, the Prime Minister reassured him with the words "Never mind, we're in the country now," before getting on her “hands and knees” to scrub his shoes and carpet with soap and water.

“I was taken aback by how motherly she was and her genuine concern,” he said.

By Hannah Furness Telegraph.co.uk