Sunday trading - Mrs Thatcher's only defeat

Sunday trading is toxic for the Tories. In 1986, at the height of her powers and with a massive 140-plus majority, Mrs Thatcher tried to relax the laws.

But 72 Tory MPs felt so strongly about the issue that they were prepared to do the unthinkable and rebel against their leader. So the Shops Bill was defeated at second reading.

This is a rare event for any piece of legislation but more importantly it was the only time the former prime minister was defeated in the House of Commons.

Why do we often forget this seminal political event? Because on the night of the defeat, American warplanes bombed targets in Tripoli, many of them taking off from British airbases.

The then US ambassador, Charlie Price, used to joke in private that Mrs Thatcher had given President Reagan permission to use the UK bases - not an uncontroversial decision - on the condition that he timed the attack to coincide with the vote on the Shops Bill.

That meant the headlines the next day would all be about the airstrikes against Colonel Gaddafi and not Mrs Thatcher's unprecedented parliamentary defeat.