Another close friend of Thatcher said the former leader believed Brown had spent beyond Britain’s means. “It’s an absolutely accurate description of every Labour government since the war,” he said. “They have always left office with a huge economic crisis – the public finances in a terrible state and the economy in disarray. She feels strongly about it because she came to power in 1979 after the Callaghan government had to go to the IMF. She sees it as a repeat of history.

“Her general view would be that you have to have prudent economic management,” he continued, “and although Brown has used the word ‘prudence’ ad nauseam, it has only ever been a word, not an action.