Lady Thatcher baffled by daughter’s celebrity

Although Carol Thatcher was to emerge triumphant in the 2005 series of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, it seems Lady Thatcher was pleasingly unaware of reality television and her daughter’s part in it. The Conservative leader David Cameron, interviewed by Dylan Jones for his book, Cameron on Cameron, reveals how he once had to explain Carol's appearance on the show.

Says Cameron. "One of the weirdest conversations I’ve ever had was explaining I’m A Celebrity … to Margaret Thatcher. I said, 'You don’t understand Lady T, your daughter is on this programme. It’s on the third channel, it's on the third button at nine o’clock. Set the video.' She got quite excited, actually. I think I was the first person to really explain to her what was going on."

However, he wasn’t the first. The Daily Telegraph reports how Thatcher once bumped into former Tory MP Neil Hamilton (of cash for questions fame) at a reception when his wife, Christine was appearing on the show. Thatcher said to Hamilton: "And what have you been doing lately?" Hamilton replied: "I’ve been very busy Margaret, what with Christine being in I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!"

She stared at him, astonished, and muttered: "I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! Oh, really, Neil, you can’t leave already."