Hush-hush visit by Thatcher

Mrs Thatcher made a secret visit to Swiss Cottage on Saturday when, amid intense security, she led a private rally of Tory party workers in the key Hampstead and Highgate marginal.

Surrounded by five bodyguards and with a dearth of publicity, she spent an hour with her husband Denis at the local party headquarters at Churchill Hall, College Crescent.

Despite rumours of an IRA death threat hanging over her, the Prime Minister appeared to be the only person unworried when a balloon burst midway through her speech.

She began by warning the party faithful not to allow the polls to lull them into complacency before she ripped into Labour's defence policy and their “hidden manifesto” .

The meeting was also addressed by Peter Luff, Tory candidate in Holborn and St Pancras, and Sir Geoffrey Finsberg, the candidate in Hampstead and Highgate (pictured with her on page 3). Sir Geoffrey later called Mrs Thatcher his “good luck symbol” , since she had spoken in his constituency during every successful electoral contest.

Earlier in the day the Prime Minister unveiled her new method of meeting the voters unhindered by the dual obstacles of the world's press and tight security. She made private visits to houses in St John's Wood, Hendon and Finchley.

Andrew Thomson, her agent, said that in the last election she had discovered that it had been very hard to shake the voters' hands so this year she was arranging to meet people in private houses.

“In Finchley she found time to visit five houses, and spoke with about 50 people at each. We just say to people in a street to go to Mrs Bloggs 's house if they wish to meet her. She got tackled quite fiercely on pensions in one and VAT in another.”

He said that during the day she managed to meet about 1,000 people, as against 200 on the comparable Saturday of the last election.