Perched inside a pile driver in East London in May 1988, Margaret Thatcher attempted to operate heavy machinery clad in her trademark skirt suit, high heels and pearl earrings.  

The Iron Lady was also sporting something less instantly recognisable that day: a hard hat with two words emblazoned on it that would come to embody the very essence of Thatcher’s vision for Britain: “Canary Wharf”.

The regeneration of London’s depleted docklands in the late 1980s and early 1990s became a physical symbol of the former prime minister’s free market revolution.

In a speech at the site in November 1989, Thatcher praised the development as “one of the most exciting” projects she had ever known.