Mrs Thatcher portrait saved from the scrapheap sells for hundreds of pounds

A painting of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sold for £1,100 after being rescued from a rubbish tip.

The portrait was given as a gift to the politician and kept in storage in London before being sent for disposal 20 years ago when it was rescued by the seller’s father.

He also found a bronze bust of her contemporary and ally Ronald Reagan which also sold at auction.

The painting, signed “from a true friend and admirer”, was from Professor Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie, a minister and future Prime Minister of Indonesia, and was only expected to sell for £500 by auction firm Sworders.

Mark Wilkinson from Sworders said the “exact circumstances how these items came to be thrown away are unknown”.

“There are some historic objects in the collection, items that point towards some of the important relationships and events in Margaret Thatcher’s tenure as the PM,” he added.

The bust, believed to have been a gift to the US president during a state visit, sold for £11,700 after it was estimated to fetch around £500.

Mrs Thatcher held power from 1979 to 1990 and enjoyed a solid alliance with her American conservative counterpart during the height of the cold war.

In total the items, which also included photographs of the former PM, sold for £15,000.