For investors in British engineering giant Rolls Royce, Thatcher’s privatisation policies of the 1980s have led to roaring returns.

In the week of Baroness Thatcher's death, the virtues of privatisations carried out by her Conservative government nearly three decades ago have been heavily questioned. Among the companies that were privatised by her government between 1979 and 1990 were state-owned firms and utilities including British Gas, British Telecom, British Aerospace and British Airways.