Towering above everything else in this wonderful movie is the magnificent performance of Meryl Streep, whose majestic portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady confirms that she is the greatest screen actress of modern times.

What is so outstanding is how she captures the essence of Margaret’s personality, right down to the curl of her lip. This is no mere imitation. It shows what Margaret was really like. Streep’s screen character embodies Margaret’s steely determination, overlaying a considerable sense of insecurity.

As the film so powerfully reveals, that insecurity was bred from the feeling of being an outsider in Tory politics — not only as a woman in a male-dominated world, but also as the daughter of a Lincolnshire shopkeeper.

As a female politician hailing from the same kind of background, brought up in a northern household with a father who ran a small business, I always strongly identified with Margaret and empathised with her battles against the patriarchal establishment.