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Experts say they could have isolated the so-called ‘Thatcher gene’ which could allow high-fliers to survive on no more than four hours sleep a night.

The gene has been so dubbed due to former formidable and controversial British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher famously running Britain on just a few hours’ shut eye each night. Legend has it that Thatcher’s mysterious ability to thrive without sleep was a problem for civil servants and her successor John Major because he needed the standard eight hours kip each day so productivity was slowed right down compared to the previous regime.

Most people need seven or eight hours sleep a night to stay healthy and feel well. However, boffins say that some people have a gene which means they can get by successfully on half that.

American scientists say the gene variant is ‘p.Tyr362His’. The researchers examined US twins to study gene variations responsible for sleep pattern changes; the findings from the Centre for Applied Genomics have subsequently been published in the ‘Sleep’ journal.

American Academy of Sleep Medicine President Dr Timothy Morgenthaler said: "This study emphasises that our need for sleep is a biological requirement, not a personal preference.

“Most adults need at least seven hours of quality sleep each night for optimal health, productivity and daytime alertness.”

The ‘Iron Lady’ is not the only one to sacrifice shut-eye for success. Barack Obama is said to sleep only six hours each night and Benjaman Franklin said he only needed four hours a night, as did Winston Churchill during the war.