WITH characteristic majesty, the queen of the British Conservative Party has swept on to the campaign trail. But nobody is absolutely sure who the former prime minister Margaret Thatcher is really backing.
Seven years after the Iron Lady, now Baroness Kesteven, was ousted from power, she remains one of few British politicians who say what they believe.
None the less, there is some doubt whether Lady Thatcher genuinely wants the Tories to win or whether she would be happy to see victory for Labour under Mr Tony Blair, who has not hidden his admiration for her conviction politics.
Conservatives believe she wants her chosen successor Mr John, Major to win, only so she can see her own revolution continue. Others say she wants Mr Major to lose so he can be replaced by a leader more to her liking.
Either way, the signals she sends are decidedly mixed and Lady Thatcher is not one to be slipshod about her message. Publicly at least, she wants a record fifth win for the Conservatives. She plans at least nine campaign stops and Britain's one time nanny this week marched in to rally the troops, deflated by their double digit deficit in the polls.
Privately, she admires Mr Blair who shares her autocratic streak and portrays himself as her natural successor with his plan for "radical" centrist rule. She has called Mr Blair the most formidable Labour leader for 30 years this from a woman who does not praise others easily and who once considered Labour "pernicious".
"Margaret Thatcher forced the opposition to face realities in modern social and political life. Ironically, Tony Blair may be the inheritor of her success," said the historian Lord Blake.
This week, on a pep talk at Conservative Central Office, she bellowed megaphone praise for Mr Major's "magnificent stewardship of the last six years". A grateful Conservative Party spokesman said: "She's doing her bit."
But this is the same woman who has ruthlessly and repeatedly "handbagged" her chosen heir, saying he lacked the courage to seize big ideas and has "drifted with the tide".
She is dismissive of Mr Major's inclusive nature, his dithering and refusal to be as tough as her on Britain's ties with Europe.
Major fans say he is simply too decent for Lady Thatcher, yet she remains a goddess to many on the right and an ailing prime minister is not helped by her sniping.
PA adds:
A former Tory party treasurer who now supports the Referendum Party, Lord McAlpine, said yesterday he felt a sense of deja vu between the present election and 1979 only this time Mr Blair and not Lady Thatcher was heading towards Downing Street.