Britain's Conservative party is selling Margaret Thatcher baby bibs at its conference

Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is one of the most divisive British politicians in history.

The haters say her policies on privatisation plunged the country into a pit of unemployment, riots, strikes, and crime. Unemployment hit 18% after her election in 1979 and it peaked at more than 3 million in the early 1980s. 

However, amongst right-leaning voters Thatcher is somewhat of a hero. She reigned for from 1979 to 1990 and was dubbed "The Iron Lady" for her uncompromising politics and leadership style which saw her win the Falklands War for Britain and make the country eventually more prosperous in terms of private ownership, closing down failing industries, and promoting less state intervention.

It looks like she still has a lot of fans. 

The Conservative party started selling Thatcher-related merchandise after her death from a stroke in 2013 to help boost the party's coffers. You can now get everything from £8 baby bibs saying "Little Iron Lady" to beers adorned with pictures of the former PM on them.

There are even £2 holders for the London's Oyster Card with Thatcher's famous quote: "You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it."

The merchandise has become such a hit that the Tories are selling it again for the third consecutive year.

Mark Sands, a political reporter with Money Marketing took the picture above of some of the merchandise on sale at the Tory party conference in Manchester. 

Josh Lowe from Prospect Magazine also noticed that the Tories are selling patriotic Christmas decorations in the party colour blue:

 However, Labour hasn't missed out on the merchandise opportunity either and made sure it had various Tory bashing related goods during their conference last week: