Margaret Thatcher tried to 'seduce' Sir Edward Heath, claims BBC drama

London, May 17 : During her hunt for a Conservative seat, Margaret Thatcher once tried to seduce Sir Edward Heath, a new BBC drama has claimed.

The production 'Margaret Thatcher - The Long Walk to Finchley' reverses the traditional thinking about their frosty relationship, which is generally thought to be bitterness on the part of Sir Edward for her ousting him as leader of the party in 1975.

According to the drama, the antagonism may be more to do with frustrated intimate feelings as in one scene the pair are seen at a Tory ball, where they flirt and dance together before going for a walk outside.

The words are inaudible but the young Margaret appears to ask Sir Edward if he would be her lover.

He apparently rebuffs her suggestion but later in the show, which is to be shown on BBC4, he is seen playing with a letter which the then-unmarried Margaret sent him and which he sniffs for a trace of her scent.

However, Denis MacShane, the Labour MP who is one of Sir Edward's biographers, refused to accept the suggestion.

"It's delightful but wholly imagined. There is absolutely no evidence that Ted got closer to her than shaking her hand," the Telegraph quoted him, as saying.

The BBC claimed the programme was a "light-hearted and imaginative film, which delves under the skin of the Iron Lady for the first time".

ANI