Was Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher actually Maggie the Minx in her personal life?

Did Margaret Thatcher have an affair? A secret love life? Well, reports this week that she did left me somewhat bemused. Margaret Thatcher, two-timing Denis? Surely some mistake. And yet, and yet... we should never judge a book by its cover. I went back through my memory of friends, colleagues and acquaintances who have had affairs and, thinking about it, there were quite a few where the news they were "playing around" came as quite a shock.

You'd never have thought they had the capacity for that kind of adventure, let alone the deception involved. But they did. So why not Maggie? (Or should that now be Maggie the Minx?) The claim is made by Tina Gaudoin in her new book The Incidental Feminist, released to coincide with what would have been Mrs Thatcher's 100th birthday.

The author claims Britain's first woman Prime Minister had two affairs, the first in her early days as an MP, and the second with a fellow politician.

Speaking to the Cheltenham Literature Festival, the writer said that "multiple sources", including former Tory minister Jonathan Aitken, had told her that Mrs Thatcher was secretly involved with a man "very early on in her parliamentary career".

As to the second, later affair, the main name in the frame is Sir Humphrey Atkins, secretary of state for Northern Ireland between 1979 and 1981.

I've been looking at his photographs and he was certainly handsome, albeit in a somewhat grizzled, greying way.

Former leader of the Labour Party Neil Kinnock had this to say to Gaudoin on the subject.

"All of Margaret Thatcher's favourite men, and those she promoted, sometimes way beyond their abilities, looked as though they'd walked out of a 1950s B-movie."

Another of Gaudoin's sources revealed: "The running joke about Atkins was that, for someone who wasn't very good at his job, he kept getting promoted.

"Now why was that?"

All good, old-fashioned gossip and speculation. Classic Westminster stuff. Nothing has been proven. But how intriguing to think that the Iron Lady may have had a secret, softer, sensual side.

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I share Richard's irritation with the proliferation of so- called "trigger warnings". They've now moved from the unnecessary to the absurd.

If The Magic Roundabout was still on the air, there'd be an announcement at the start saying something like: "Includes scenes of rapid rotation which some viewers may find dizzying."

So I was cheered to read that a new study shows 90% of people shown such warnings on online content were intrigued, and MORE likely to "click through" to find out what all the fuss was about.

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I do hope reality star Vicky Pattison is more herself on Strictly tonight. She's looked so anxious on the last couple of programmes. We know her slightly - she's friends with our daughter - and Vicky is a lovely, friendly, happy-go-lucky person to be around.

But she looked so upset last week after the judges criticised her Charleston (though their scores weren't bad and viewers' votes saw her safely through to tonight's broadcast).

She also told a newspaper this week that she's suffering from "imposter syndrome". We all have that, Vicky! Just enjoy yourself! You're good, so knock 'em dead tonight love!