AT first it seemed like a sick joke being perpetrated by the mischievous rightwing blogger Guido Fawkes, but now there really is a serious campaign to put the face of Margaret Thatcher on the new Bank of England £50 note.

The idea has received the blessing of the patron saint of current Thatcherites, Old Etonian MP Jacob Rees-Mogg who tweeted following a fawning story – what else was likely? – in The Telegraph promoting the notion.

Rees-Mogg tweeted: “Putting Lady Thatcher’s picture on the £50 note would be a timely reminder of how to negotiate with the EU.”

READ MORE: The National's 10 picks for the face of the new £50 note

Several replies reminded him that his heroine believed in the single market and customs union – in fact she was one of its chief promoters.

The originator of the campaign is Old Harrovian Paul Delaire Staines who writes as Guido Fawkes.

His petition read: “The Bank of England are redesigning the £50 following the successful redesign of the £5, £10, and £20 notes. Just one of these notes so far has featured a woman other than the Queen, and in the interests of gender equality, who would be more appropriate to feature than the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom?”

Not surprisingly, the notion of the late Baroness being honoured in similar fashion to Winston Churchill – he is on the Bank of England fiver – is meeting with incredulity in Scotland.

Clare Adamson, SNP MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw which suffered industrial devastation under Thatcher, said: “This suggestion couldn’t be further out of step with public opinion in Scotland.

“In fact, to many it will be downright insulting. Margaret Thatcher’s toxic policies and erosion of Scottish industry left many communities deeply divided. It has taken decades, in some cases, for those wounds to heal.

“The harsh lessons of Thatcherism remain more prescient than ever – as Tory austerity continues to drive people into poverty, and the UK Government threatens to crash our economy amid the chaos of Brexit. All of this, despite having no mandate in Scotland.”

Scottish Labour MP Hugh Gaffney said: “Those of us in the Scottish trade union movement who suffered first-hand from Thatcherism in the 80s will be rightly outraged by this. This disgusting idea should be kicked into touch.”

The Scottish Greens told us: “Anyone asking for change from a £50 note will see their chances reduced even further if this daft proposal goes ahead.”

One Scottish political party unsurprisingly did support the idea.

A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said: “Surely remembering the UK’s first female prime minister in this way is well worth doing, and we look forward to The National offering its full support to the campaign.”

Good luck with that.

The National can reveal that the whole campaign may fall at the first hurdle. For while the Bank of England is officially not commenting on the Thatcher issue, sources at the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street confirmed that the same process will be followed for the new polymer £50 note as was used for the £20 note two years ago.

The Bank chooses a theme for which a suitable person could be nominated – in the case of the £20 note it was visual arts, and that’s why JMW Turner will replace Adam Smith on the notes from 2020 onwards. A theme for the £50 note will be announced soon, after which the public will be asked to nominate suitable people to represent that theme. Recent political history with all its divisiveness is unlikely to be chosen, for as the bank says on its website “banknotes need to be universally accepted”.

We could also point out that if an English person is chosen for the £50 note of the UK’s central bank, then two Scots will have been removed, namely Adam Smith of the current £20 and James Watt of the £50. You have been warned, Bank of ENGLAND.