№ 4771

Leather handbag from the United Kingdom Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Asprey

This is the handbag Margaret Thatcher (1925-1913) carried when she was inaugurated as the first female prime minister of the United Kingdom in 1979. Thatcher's handbags were usually large and made of stiff material. Thatcher and some others viewed her handbags as weapons of intimidation because she was prone to beating the table with them in support of her arguments. 'Handbagging', the verbal and psychological pummeling of one’s colleagues or opponents, is derived from this Thatcher habit.
UK, 1979