She will always be remembered as the fiercely uncompromising Iron Lady who struck terror into her political opponents.

But in private Margaret Thatcher had a surprisingly ‘touchy-feely’ side, according to author Salman Rushdie, who has revealed he was even ‘groped’ by the late Prime Minister.

During an America TV discussion about claims that former US Vice-President Joe Biden touched a number of women inappropriately, Mr Rushdie, 71, said: ‘I have a little experience of being sexually violated by a powerful politician. In my case it was Margaret Thatcher.

Salman Rushdie with second wife Marianne Wiggin. The pair divorced in March 1993. The writer and Thatcher were often at loggerheads politically. However, he was always grateful to her for the firm stance she took in reaction to the threat on his life from Iran following the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses in 1988, when she provided him with police protection

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher drinks tea in the drawing room of her official residence at 10 Downing Street in 1987. Thatcher died aged 87 in 2013. Mr Rushdie claimed that the late Prime Minister had a softer side and even groped him once

‘The thing that people don’t know about Margaret Thatcher is that she was very touchy-feely. You’d sit with her, and she’d put her hands all over you. I had this meeting with her, and she was, like, pawing at me, and I thought, “I’m being groped by the Prime Minister!” ’

The writer and Thatcher were often at loggerheads politically. However, he was always grateful to her for the firm stance she took in reaction to the threat on his life from Iran following the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses in 1988, when she provided him with police protection.

Speaking on the HBO show Real Time With Bill Maher, Rushdie also described a risqué encounter between Thatcher and Christopher Hitchens, the famously outspoken commentator who died in 2011.

Salman Rushdie and Pia Glennat (left) at the Vanity Fair party to celebrate the Tribeca Film Festival at the State Supreme Courthouse. Mr Rushdie with his ex-wife and fellow author Padma Lakshmi (right). The couple filed for divorce in 2007. The author of 'Fury' claimed in an interview with HBO that the former Prime Minister 'groped' him

Mr Rushdie said: ‘Margaret Thatcher, by the way, spanked Christopher Hitchens. She heard Christopher had written something she didn’t like, and she met him at a party conference, and she said to him, “You’ve been a naughty boy, haven’t you?”

‘And he said, ‘Well, yes, Prime Minister, I suppose I have.”

‘And she said, “You’d better bend over.” She made him bend over, and she spanked him with a rolled-up magazine.’

Rushdie has previously spoken about the softer side of Thatcher. Following her death aged 87 in 2013, he said: ‘She would tap you on the arm and say, “Everything OK?” I hadn’t expected that touch of tenderness.’