There's a good essay to be written on "The Thatcher Myth": the creation of a mythic version of Mrs T, devoid of nuance or historical context, that bears almost no relationship to reality. Myths have power, & this one has bent the Conservative Party in some very strange directions
https://twitter.com/bbcnickrobinson/status/1469574684899524609
Thatcher understood the power of mythmaking, & was skilled at the "theatre" of politics. (It's no coincidence that some of her most famous lines were written by a playwright, Ronnie Millar). But only towards the end did she inhale her own myth; and her fall followed swiftly after
As prime minister, Thatcher was always a more complex figure than either her critics or admirers liked to admit: a PM who raised taxes during a recession, embraced the European Single Market, built close relations with a Soviet leader & negotiated the return of Hong Kong to China
Politicians often turn to cosplay versions of the past when struggling to make sense of the present, or when they want to enthuse their own insubstantial programmes with borrowed grandeur. There's a discussion of this in Marx's "18th Brumaire" that feels very apposite here... 
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