I WAS sorry to read about the split between Mark and Carol Thatcher over the sale of official gifts made to their mother during her time as Prime Minister.

These gifts are governed by elaborate rules of protocol. Items are stored for 30 years by the government before being auctioned. They are first offered to the family at market value, I understand. Carol Thatcher has purchased some and is now selling them.

A politician’s fame and reputation has a shelf life. Who would now want to visit Harold Wilson's home in the Isles of Scilly? Yet I remember how devastated we all felt the day he resigned as PM.

The mechanisms and institutions to hold together a personal collection of a former PM’s belongings do not exist, nor should they. Look how quickly the museum Ted Heath's estate tried to found in trust had to close down through high running costs and lack of interest.

Carol Thatcher has had to endure much because of the fame of her mother. She couldn't even have her mother's funeral in peace. She deserves a life peerage, in my view.

Margaret Thatcher's legacy, such as it is, is to be found in the pages of history books and in her two very handsome American grandchildren, not in a collection of memorabilia.

Carol Thatcher is doing the right thing. Most of these items were going to be auctioned anyway by the government.

I am aware of the unique etiquette concerning gifts, especially from Arab princes. But time marches on and Carol Thatcher I am glad to say marches with it.

Nigel F Boddy, Darlington.