Hometown backs Thatcher’s statue

LONDON: Margaret Thatcher's home town cautiously backed plans to erect a statue of the late British leader -- but only after putting it on a plinth tall enough to keep vandals at bay.

The strong-willed "Iron Lady" of the 1980s remains a polarising figure in Britain six years after her death at the age of 87.

Thatcher's daughter Carol also reportedly objected to the absence of her mother's trademark handbag.

The 10.5 foot (3.2 metres) tall bronze statue shows the former prime minister in the flowing robe that she wore as a member of the House of Lords.

Thatcher's hands are folded solemnly before her -without the handbag.

The local council in Grantham in central England approved it only after agreeing to put it on an equally tall granite plinth to keep it safe from "politically motivated vandals".

Thatcher will now hover over a central Grantham square facing the local museum.

"There remains a motivated far-left movement across the UK... who may be committed to public activism," a report submitted to the local district council cautioned.