Not quite true, whiffey - Mrs T was indeed reviled in her day, but clearly she still appealed to a lot of people. The anti-Thatcherites were very vocal and often had public platforms in the shape of TV shows, comedy routines, so anti-Thatcher invective was rife, though it obviously had little effect at polling stations.
I have a theory that when the British have a strong-willed dictatorial leader we always moan about it - "He thinks he's President" "She's further right than Genghis Khan" etc - but secretly we like it. How else could Blair and Thatcher have won multiple terms? When you get a "nice bloke" like Major, we joke about him being the Grey Man and sling him out after one term.
I agree with Bill Clinton whe he said "People would rather have a leader who is strong and wrong than weak and right."