Margaret Thatcher's handbag top seller in cancer charity auction

LONDON - Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once described her handbag as the only safe place in Downing Street. But even the baroness was startled to find her little black Ferragamo at the center of a fierce bidding war.

Thatcher's leather handbag, bought for about $450 in the 1980s, sold for $150,000 in the Breast Cancer Care charity's Internet auction, which closed Thursday.

''She is quite shocked by the response,'' Thatcher Foundation spokesman Mark Worthington said as the bids mounted.

For more than a decade, Thatcher and her handbag ruled Britannia, and her formidable purse became both a symbol of her conservative philosophy and a dreaded irritant to political foes.

Her legendary attachment led humorists in the 1980s to coin the verb ''to handbag,'' which the Oxford English Dictionary now defines as to ''attack verbally, to bully.''

The bag was purchased by investment specialist Ian Rushbrook of Edinburgh, Scotland, who said he had admired Thatcher's ''willpower, drive and ability'' for two decades.

Thatcher liked to strategically station her bag in the center of the Cabinet table to distract colleagues. During heated debates, she would snap it open to reveal such items as briefing papers, the latest copy of Queen Elizabeth II's speech or Britain's 1944 Education Act.

Colleague Nicholas Ridley once dryly suggested during a committee meeting in which Thatcher was absent: ''Why don't we start? The handbag is here.''

''It was her icon. It became a symbol of her authority and power the same way as Churchill with his cigar,'' said Samantha Dawe, spokeswoman for the auction organizer, handbag.com.

In addition to the handbag, Rushbrook will receive a personalized note on Thatcher's letterhead reading, ''This Ferragamo bag was used for many special occasions. I would only let it go for a good cause.''

Thatcher's gift was one of 15 handbags donated by celebrities during the 10-day auction.

Cherie Blair, a lawyer and the wife of Prime Minister Tony Blair, offered a zebra-striped purse that went for $735. Model Jerry Hall's red-and-blue striped handbag sold for $1,080.