Clothes and personal possessions belonging to Margaret Thatcher could be saved for the nation by the Victoria and Albert Museum, the head of the trustees has said.
V&A chairman Nicholas Coleridge said museum staff were "keen" to acquire items from the late prime minister's wardrobe if they were available.
He said they had been "stupefied" by reports earlier this week that they had turned down an offer by the Thatcher family, insisting no formal approach had ever been received.
The Daily Telegraph quoted a V&A spokesman as saying they had politely declined an offer as the museum was responsible for chronicling "fashionable dress" and that Baroness Thatcher's clothes would be better suited to a collection focusing on their "intrinsic social historical value".
However Mr Coleridge said that while there had been "some sort of informal conversation" in 2011 or 2012, there had been no follow through at the time.
"I know that the director of the V&A's view is that it could be well worth considering having some pieces if there really are some available," he told BBC Radio 4's The World at One.
"Lady Thatcher was an iconic figure who used fashion as a political weapon and certainly knew the power of clothes.
"It seems to me rather appropriate that one or two of those power dresses and Thatcher handbags ought to be there alongside Elizabeth I's clothes and Charles I's execution shirt and all the rest of it."
Clothes, jewellery and mementoes - including a red leather despatch box - belonging to Lady Thatcher are being put up for sale by her family. About 350 lots will go under the hammer in London next month.
An auction presenting 150 items will take place at Christie's headquarters on Tuesday, December 15, and an online-only sale comprising 200 lots will open for bids on Thursday December 3 and run for two weeks.
The most valuable lot is an art deco emerald and diamond necklace by Chaumet, which has an estimate of between £120,000 and £180,000, while other items will carry estimates of a few hundred pounds.
Proceeds will be split between Lady Thatcher's children, Sir Mark and Carol, and her grandchildren.
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