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The journal of the Conservative History Group | Autumn 2007 | £7.50 Conservative History Journal

Helen Szamuely on a very Conservative crisis SUEZ fifty years on

ALISTAIR COOKE HOW MISS BRANT SAVED THE PRIME MINISTER: THE CAREER OF A REMARKABLE LADY

Plus: Charles Dudgeon examines the Earl of Bute; Mark Coalter Interviews Jonathan ; Nick Powell looks at the life of Stefan Terlezki; Ian Pendlington on Sir CHJ issue 5-2007.qxd 20/9/07 17:25 Page ii

Contents

The Conservative History Journal is published twice yearly by the Conservative History Group Contents

ISSN 1479-8026 Editorial 2 Advertisements Helen Szamuely To advertise in the next issue call Helen Szamuely on 07733 018999 How Miss Brant saved the Prime Minister 3 Alistair Cooke Editorial/Correspondence Contributions to the Journal – letters, articles Reclaiming Jane 7 and book reviews are invited. The Journal is a Helen Szamuely refereed publication; all articles submitted will be reviewed and publication is not guaranteed. A Scottish Prime Minister 10 Contributions should be emailed or posted to Charles Dudgeon the addresses below. All articles remain copy- right © their authors “Waiting for Winston” 13 Ian Pendlington Subscriptions/Membership An annual subscription to the Conservative What Jonathan did next 15 History Group costs £15. Copies of the Journal Mark Coalter are included in the membership fee. The Conservative from 19 The Conservative History Group Nick Powell Chairman: Keith Simpson MP Deputy Chairman: Professor John Charmley Conservative Scottish Secretaries 22 Director: Iain Dale David Torrance Treasurer: John Strafford Secretary: Martin Ball Journal Editor: Helen Szamuely Obituaries Committee: Lord Rawlinson of Ewell 25 Christina Dykes Ronald Porter Lord Norton of Louth Lord Brooke Lord Harris of High Cross 26 Jonathan Collett Ronald Porter Simon Gordon Mark Garnett Lord Biffen of Tanat 26 Ian Pendlington Colin Baillieu David Ruffley MP Quentin Davies MP Book reviews William Dorman Nothing Like a Dame – The Scandals of Shirley Porter 27 Graham Smith by James Bartholomes Jeremy Savage reviewed by Mark Coalter Lord Henley William McDougall Very Deeply Dyed in Black: Sir Oswald Mosley and the 29 Tricia Gurnett Resurrection of British Fascism after 1945 by Graham Macklin reviewed by Nicholas Hillman Conservative History Group PO Box 42119 Alec Douglas-Home (Great Statesman) by D. R. Thorpe 30 reviewed by Harshan Kumarasingham SW8 1WJ Telephone: 07768 254690 Email: [email protected] The forgotten crisis 31 Website: www.conservativehistory.org.uk Helen Szamuely weblog:http://conservativehistory.blogspot.com

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EditorialHelen Szamuely

s usual, I have to start with an apology obituary, partly because there was no space and partly for the late appearance of the Journal and because we did not want to turn the whole Journal into a promise that the second issue of 2007, a necropolis. which will deal with the concept of the The article about Eden ties in well with another sub- A Anglosphere, will, in fact, be published ject, shown in the cartoon on the front and an article at before the end of the year. the back – the fiftieth anniversary of the The intention of this issue was to concentrate on the that finished off Sir Anthony’s political career. It is, subject of Conservative women but it is a larger theme perhaps, ironic that Eden, whose strength was supposed than any of us realized, though not covered particu- to be foreign affairs was destroyed by his maladroit larly well by historians, who seem to accept the handling of them. Helen Szamuely is the assumption that women were more likely to be We are particularly pleased to have an article on a co-editor of the Conservative involved in left-wing politics. This is completely very unusual Conservative MP, the Ukrainian born History Journal. Email her on [email protected]. untrue, as G. E. Maguire showed in her 1998 book Stefan Terlezki, a man whose right-wing opinions grew “Conservative Women”. However, as far as the out of his own experience of the Communist system. Journal is concerned, we are publishing Alistair Interestingly enough, the author of the article, Nick Cooke’s article about a formidable lady, an early Powell, who is Head of Politics at ITV , though Conservative organiser, who is, I am delighted to say, he finds Terlezki fascinating, is also a little uneasy still alive at the age of 101. about his political views, finding it necessary to assure The other themes are related to present circum- the readers that these grew out of his personal experi- stances – prime ministers in waiting, Scottish prime ence and are, therefore, acceptable. ministers and, sadly, obituaries of a number of impor- As ever, we hope you will enjoy the Journal. We look tant individuals who were somehow on the conserva- forward to more articles and feed-back from our tive side. As it is, we had to leave out Bill Deedes’s readers.

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How Miss Brant Saved the Prime Minister Alistair Cooke OBE, probably the best known and most knowledgeable writer on the history of the Conservative Party, looks at the career of a remarkable lady

Sir Cuthbert did, however, have con- task was successfully accomplished. siderable respect for many of the The Prime Minister retained his seat party officials employed directly by with the help in particular of the Tory Conservative Central Office to work Seaham women whom Miss Brant for its Area Agent based in Newcastle rallied in support of their old foe who who formed part of CCO’s regional had suddenly become their ally. network established in the 1880s. The In the rough, tough, male world of Agent himself at this time, H.V. coal-mining a young, middle-class Armstrong, was a man of conspicu- Tory woman had achieved something ous ability who was held in univer- rather remarkable. Most obviously sally high regard. she had proved herself a very good It was in the Newcastle Area party official indeed, for whom Sir Office under Armstrong that Dorothy Cuthbert himself had nothing but Brant, who had been born in Gate- praise: he wrote to thank her for her shead in 1906 and brought up in ‘splendid work’.3 Even more signifi- here is no doubt Newcastle itself, began her remark- cantly her great coup, coming so everything depends able political career in 1929. Two years swiftly after the full enfranchisement ‘ on a good agent: one later she found herself at a decisive of women in 1928, demonstrated the wants an enthusiast moment in Seaham, Co. Durham, a skill and resourcefulness that this T for such a thankless seat dominated by coal-mining where new element would bring to British task and enthusiasts are very hard to the Labour Prime Minister, Ramsay politics. Miss Brant celebrated her find. A good agent can get a poor MacDonald, had had a massive candidate in: a bad agent can keep a majority at the 1929 election. But in 1 good candidate out.’ The author of 1931 the Durham miners were in In October 1931 a snap election was those words, the Tory MP Sir open revolt. They were determined to “ Cuthbert Headlam, came to be gener- punish MacDonald for what they saw called. Could the Tories of Seaham ally regarded as the leading as a gross act of betrayal. He had save MacDonald from the wrath of his Conservative in the North East of entered into a coalition to create a former supporers, now his furious after 1930. Almost every- new National Government, which where the Party faced formidable dif- included their hated Tory opponents, Labour foes? ficulties in attracting support; few to tackle the grave economic crisis ” good candidates and agents wanted to facing the country. In October 1931 a pursue their careers in a region that snap election was called. Could the 100th birthday in August 2006. was so inhospitable to . Tories of Seaham save MacDonald Though her life was marked by many Headlam’s own agent in his highly from the wrath of his former suppor- successes after 1931, it is not surpris- marginal constituency of Barnard ers, now his furious Labour foes? ing that that she recalls this early Castle, Co. Durham, was a grievous Thanks largely to Miss Brant, this achievement particularly fondly and disappointment -- ‘ a wretched man’.2 demanding and quite unprecedented vividly. The story of how Miss Brant

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saved the Prime Minister is one was only too ready to welcome she was seconded to the Minister. At Seaham in 1931 that should be recorded with open arms a clever, com- Wansbeck constituency in women’s votes turned out to be . mitted young Conservative Northumberland as a member of the key to MacDonald’s sur- * woman like Dorothy Brant. ‘Central Office’s Speakers’ vival. What seems initially to have Panel’10, addressing women’s Nothing was more obvious dur- aroused her interest in working meetings in Whitley Bay and * ing the 1920s than that the for the Party was the scope it showing a readiness ‘to do work Conservative Party needed to provided for public speaking. A of any nature’. She gave Dorothy Brant’s Seaham take resolute and effective action testimonial supplied by her old ‘unsparing and valuable assignment began in June 1930 to attract the votes of women. school, Gordon College in help’.11Half a guinea was the when no one could have predict- In 1918 women over 30 were Whitley Bay (where she had grand sum she remembers being ed that MacDonald and the bulk enfranchised. Ten years later passed the Cambridge paid for speaking at a meeting. of the Labour Party would part ’s Conservative University School Certificate Yet however good a female party company in acrimonious cir- Government of 1924-29 made cumstances, precipitating a gen- 21 the common voting age for In the rough, tough, male world of eral election in 1931. Seaham both men and women, apparent- “ possessed little to entice the vis- ly without giving the matter any coalmining a young, middle-class Tory woman itor. The town itself was remem- serious thought4 and despite the had achieved something rather remarkable bered by Beatrice Webb (wife of opposition of , ” Sidney Webb, MacDonald’s then Chancellor of the Exchequer. predecessor as its MP) as ‘all At a stroke women acquired a official might be, she was con- defiled with soot in the air, old majority in the electorate as a fined strictly to the separate boots, dirty paper and broken whole. The Conservative Party spheres of activity created for things on the ground … railway Chairman at the time, J.C.C. women in the 1920s. Not for her lines and coal trucks every- Davidson (a man with a talent the job of party agent responsi- where’.12 Dorothy Brant rented for exaggerating his own impor- ble for the affairs of a con- accommodation which also tance, who was always known stituency as a whole: the men served as her office in a small by his initials) declared that would not allow it before 1945. house close to the Easington ‘whether we like it or not the The task of a woman party offi- Colliery, a far cry from the com- future of the country is largely in cial in a constituency was ‘ to fort of the middle-class district the hands of the women’.5 The organise the Women’s Branch of Jesmond in Newcastle where word went forth from Central and its various Committees’, in she had lived with her parents. Office that every costituency the words of CCO’s Parlia- She set about her task of mobil- should form a women’s branch mentary Election Manual 1929. ising support for the with its own officers, members A separate post was invented Conservative Party among and funds. In 1928 the Party for her, that of woman organiser women voters in the constituen- established a national co-ordi- – a title that sounds almost cy whose numbers had been nating body, the Central insultingly derogatory today (for greatly swelled by Baldwin’s Women’s Advisory Committee6 no one would ever have suggest- controversial decision to lower (over thirty years later when it Examination in 1925), stated: ed the creation of ‘men organis- the voting age to 21. Before the had added the word ‘National’ to ‘She has the ability to become a ers’). Men and women might at change just over 16,000 women is title, Dorothy Brant was to good public speaker … one who last have become completely had been on the electoral register become its Secretary). Yet will know exactly what she equal in the polling booths, but which stood at 43,350 overall: despite this flurry of activity, wants to say and will say it not in the organisation of the now there were nearly 27,500, some remained deeply appre- briefly, clearly and definitely, Conservative Party. the total electorate having risen hensive. Sir Cuthbert Headlam but with a certain amount of A permanent position as a to 58,350. believed that ‘in the industrial force’8 (over 75 years later she woman organiser involved a spe- The new arrival soon made districts Labour will score heav- still does). She remembers cial exam, which Dorothy Brant her mark. Staunch Labour-sup- ily … In our pit villages the being employed first as a kind of duly passed in September 1931, porting miners began to mutter women are far wilder than the warm-up act drawing in those on the eve of the election in about the success of the work men.’7 Baldwin had taken a leap who may have been unaccus- which she rescued Ramsay being done by that ‘bloody in the dark, which in his view tomed to hear a woman speak MacDonald’s career. The young Tory’ in their midst. A would set back the party’s and then giving way to a more appointment may have conferred vivid description of the resolute prospects in the North East. experienced male colleague.9 a kind of second-class status, but and determined way in which Against the background of She soon left such subordinate it was precisely because she was she went about her task has sur- Headlam’s gloomy forebodings, roles behind her: in 1929, her a woman organiser that Dorothy vived, written by one of the lead- CCO’s Area Office in Newcastle first year of work for the Party, Brant was able to save the Prime ing Conservatives in Co.

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Miss Brant

descended on Seaham to denounce him; the leader of the trade union movement, Walter Citrine, called on the constituency to turn the traitor out.15 A leading journalist, Hannen Swaffer, who accompanied the Prime Minister throughout the campaign, ‘found no support for MacDonald’ while his opponents were ‘united and determined’.16 The Labour newspa- per, the Daily Herald, predicted ‘a staggering majority’17 for the official Labour candidate, William Coxon, a Miss Brant with Lady local schoolmaster who had been the Prime Minister’s own agent at the Durham, Colonel Rowland Burdon, didates and agents in the neighbour- previous election. who owned a 5,000-acre estate at ing Spennymoor and Chester-le- When she returned to Seaham dur- Castle Eden. Between 1918 and 1922 Street constituencies thanking her for ing the bitter campaign, Dorothy he had been Conservative MP for her help. When, during the course of Brant saw at once that some of the Sedgefield, now ’s seat. the campaign she was recalled vital elements of victory had been Thereafter he became a great sup- created by her work the previous porter of the work of women organis- year. Thanks to her, the Conservative ers and is remembered by Miss Brant Dorothy Brant rented accommodation Party was now for the first time well as a ‘considerable figure’ in her life. “ organised in the constituency, partic- Looking back on the momentous which also served as her office in a ularly among the newly enfranchised events with which she was involved small house close to the Easington women who proved extremely in Seaham, he wrote: Colliery, a far cry from the comfort of responsive to the patriotic note that ‘She has had a most uphill job the Prime Minister struck during the from the first. The constituency con- the middle-class district of Jesmond in campaign. As her colleague in the sists of large Colliery Villages, and Newcastle where she had lived with her Party’s Newcastle Office, Barbara comparatively few Rural Villages, Turner, put it, in ‘a particularly diffi- and the whole has been dominated by parents cult fight’ Dorothy Brant kept ‘peo- the Labour organisations. She has ” ple loyal to the National ideal shown great courage in refusing to be which Mr Baldwin gave us’18 and terrorised, and great patience in deal- urgently to Seaham to rally support which MacDonald expounded elo- ing with the unwilling sympathisers. for MacDonald, the Chester-le-Street quently in Seaham. Surrounded by There are organisations now in near- candidate, Ronald Kellett, bewailed Tory faint hearts, Dorothy Brant radi- ly all the centres, and the Committees his misfortune that ‘they should have ated confidence. The great local have subscribed this year, even in taken so invaluable a person away magnate, the Marquess of these bad times, towards the funds from me a time when I could least do Londonderry (who was not greatly necessary for her salary. She has con- without you’.14 loved by the Durham Tories),19 sum- siderable power of organisation, and Ramsay MacDonald’s need was has done very well … she is always far greater. When he arrived in at hand when she is wanted.’13 Seaham on 12 October 1931 to open The great local magnate, the Mar- For her part, Miss Brant recalls his campaign as Prime Minister of “ 19 journeys by bus and then on foot the new National Government, his quess of Londonderry, summoned her from Easington to Castle Eden to defeat was widely regarded as a fore- to discuss the Prime Minister’s pros- receive her salary which amounted to gone conclusion, even though he had pects. ‘We will just make it’, she some £150 a year ( the Colonel sent had a majority of nearly 29,000 at the her back in style to the colliery village last election in 1929. Everywhere the assured him. ‘Oh, how I wish I could in his grand chauffeur-driven car, miners were bent on revenge, furious believe you’, he replied lugubriously much to her amusement). with their former Leader who, as they ” So well had she done her work that saw it, had deserted them and the when the election came in October Party that he had dominated since 1931 she was initially sent elsewhere. 1900 to form an alliance with the moned her to discuss the Prime The small collection of her surviving enemies of the working classes. His Minister’s prospects. ‘We will just papers contains letters from Tory can- former colleagues in government make it’, she assured him. ‘Oh, how I

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Postcript Minutes, 29 June 1938, CCO 170/1/1/1, wish I could believe you’, he Minister had a majority of just Conservative Party Archive, Bodleian 20 A number of Conservative con- replied lugubriously. under 6,000. hailed Library, ). stituency associations benefited Her confidence was strength- the unexpected result: ‘The vic- 7. Ball, Parliament and Politics, p.118. ened by one further, highly per- tory of the Prime Minister, from Dorothy Brant’s organisa- tional skills after 1931. During 8. Testimonial signed by N.E. Manby, sonal factor. Coxon, the Prime against the full force of the November 1929. the Second World War she was 9.Her recollections of this, and other, one of the nine ‘generals’ who aspects of her political activities (particu- ran the 80,000-strong Women’s larly the 1931 election) have been record- How fortunate it was that the Labour camp Land Army. She had responsibil- ed by the author as part of an oral history “ project under the auspices of the seems to have been ill-informed about the ity for a vast area from the Conservative Archive Committee which Scottish border to the Wash. has responsibility for the Party’s records at the Bodleian Library. very close relationship between the Prime (One morning a respectable matron telephoned her to report 10. Testimonial by Mrs J.E.Greaves, Minister and Lord Londonderry’s wife which Secretary of the Wansbeck Unionist an incident she still recalls with was the talk of London society Association, 11 February 1930. The pas- ” amusement: ‘all the shrubs sage of time has not dimmed Miss round the hostel she was running Brant’s memory of the encouragement she received from Mrs Greaves, who was were bedecked with condoms. a major formative influence on her.( N.B. 4,000 men based less than a mile Many constituencies called themselves Minister’s opponent, was well- Socialist Party machine and ‘Unionist’ rather than ‘Conservative’ in known in the constituency as a against the heaviest pressure of away took delight in teasing the this period.) girls by offering them this womaniser. Miss Brant’s chief the Trade Union organisation, 11. Ibid. unusual tribute’.24 ) Miss Brant recollection of the campaign is stands out among many magnif- 12. Quoted in Anne de Courcy, Society’s 23 retired from the Conservative how heavily his notoriety told icent achievements.’ Safely Queen: The Life of Edith, Marchioness of against him. (How fortunate it back in Downing Street, Party in 1967 after seven years’ Londonderry (Phoenix paperback edi- tion,2004),p.237. was that the Labour camp seems MacDonald wrote to thank the service with its National to have been ill-informed about young woman to whom he owed Women’s Committee. She 13. Testimonial by Col. Rowland Burdon, 22 November 1932. the very close relationship so much: was awarded an OBE for her work. 14. Ronald Kellett to Dorothy Brant, 17 between the Prime Minister and November 1931. Lord Londonderry’s wife which 10 Downing Street, 15. ‘Mr MacDonald’s Fight’ in National was the talk of London society: Whitehall, S.W.1 Government 1931: Extracts from The in 1931-2 their amitié November, 1931 1. Stuart Ball (ed.), Parliament and Times January to October 1931(Times Politics in the Age of Baldwin and Books, 1975), p.170. amoureuse developed into an MacDonald: The Headlam Diaries 1923- intense, though platonic, pas- My Dear Friend, 1935 (Historians’ Press, 1992), p.190. 16. Quoted in David Marquand, Ramsay MacDonald (Jonathan Cape, 1977), 21 sion. ) 2. Ibid. p.668. Strong disapproval of Coxon’s This note brings with it my very 3. Sir Cuthbert Headlam to Dorothy 17. Ibid. immorality among the upright sincere thanks for the invaluable Brant, 10 November 1931 (one of a small 18. Barbara Turner to Dorothy Brant, 29 and virtuous miners’ wives assistance you gave to me during number of letters and papers relating to Miss Brant’s early career in the posses- October 1931. spread beyond the committed the recent election. We started, sion of her cousin Mr David 19. Cuthbert Headlam found it impossi- Tory supporters, and assisted the as you know, without any organ- Hetherington. Other items in this small ble to work successfully with Prime Minister’s fortunes more isation behind us,23 and the collection have been drawn upon in this Londonderry. He wrote: ‘what a pity the article. Nothing has survived for the peri- man is such a conceited ass: if only he widely. What, however, splendid victory which was od after the early1930s.) were less conscious of his own impor- remained in people’s minds long achieved would not have been 4. Sir Cuthbert Headlam noted in his tance and more human, less the after the election was over, was possible but for the way in which diary on 1 May 1928: ‘It really is ridicu- Marquess, he might be the power up here which he fondly believes that he the crucial part played by the you and so many other people lous that we should be tied and bound with such an easily given pledge – Jix is’ (Ball, Parliament and Politics, Conservatives’ women members came forward to help. I am very [William Joynson-Hicks, the Home p.103). whom Dorothy Brant had grateful indeed to you for all you Secretary] apparently made it one Friday 20. Dorothy Brant’s reminiscences, afternoon and the P.M. [Baldwin] unfor- organised so skilfully. Colonel did. recorded in conversation with the author, tunately was sitting beside him and Conservative Party Archive. Burdon ended his account of never said a word – really our leaders her Seaham triumph with these With all good wishes, are somewhat casual in their meth- 21. For details, see Anne de Courcy, ods’ (Ball, Parliament and Politics, Society’s Queen, pp251-63, Lord words: Yours very sincerely, p.118). Londonderry was in no position to com- ‘There is no doubt whatever plain. He was a serial adulterer and father 5. R.R. James (ed.), Memoirs of a of a least one illegitimate child. that it was owing to the J. Ramsay MacDonald Conservative: J.C.C. Davidson’s Memoirs Conservative Women’s vote at and Papers 1910-37 (Weidenfeld and 22. Col. Burdon’s testimonial, 22 Nicolson, 1969), p.267. November 1932. the last Election that Mr Ramsay MacDonald was of course MacDonald has been returned as referring here to the lack of any 6. In its early years the Committee does 23. National Government 1931, p.191. not seem to have been a lively body. In 22 24. Quoted in Nicola Tyrer, They Fought our Member’. organisation to assist him per- 1938 the splendidly named Dame Regina in the Fields: The Women’s Land Army, Evans complained that ‘the Advisory Miss Brant predicted a close sonally, following his split with The Story of a Forgotten Victory (Sinclair Committee did not allow anything contro- Stevenson, 1996), p.164 call. In the event the Prime the Labour Party. versial to be brought forward’ (CWAC

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Reclaiming Jane

Helen Szamuely, editor of the Conservative History Journal, discusses Jane Austen as writer and possible Conservative. A version of this article appeared on the Conservative History blog

wo recent film posters In her “Romantics, Rebels and all, very English, rooted in a particu- made one feel slightly Reactionaries” Professor Butler con- lar section of society – gentry, rich queasy: one was of trasts Jane Austen with Maria and poor. She is largely conservative Renée Zellweger pout- Edgeworth, the latter being a repre- in her social attitudes but many of her T ing in a most unlikely sentative of the Enlightenment while own judgements are too radical even fashion as Beatrix Potter, the other of Miss Austen, in her opinion, harks for modern film and TV producers. Anne Hathaway smirking as Jane back to a different set of ideas. While Back in the days the BBC had Austen. The film “Becoming Jane” appreciating that changes are happen- Sunday tea-time serials, which were (what was she before, one might ask) ing in the world she describes, Jane not high-profile, there were several was the latest and, possibly, crassest Austen, nevertheless, glorifies the extremely good adaptations of the development in what one might term old-fashioned community of the Austen novels. They stayed close to the “Mills and Boonification” of Jane countryside with a responsible the books, in plotting, characterization Austen. Having turned all those “leader” at the head of it. and balance, while ensuring that there In this interpretation Jane Austen is were no glaring anachronisms (so far a writer who does not think highly of as I can remember, anyway). The film “Becoming Jane” was the individuals following their own Once the “Classic Serial” became “ instincts, ideas or understanding. Her a flagship programme, everything latest and, possibly, crassest heroines achieve happiness only changed. The high-profile films have development in what one might term when they accept the judgements of not helped. Those clever, witty, the world, a conservative, even Tory extremely hard-hitting novels have the “Mills and Boonification” of Jane idea. On the other hand, as Professor been turned into romantic mush. Just Austen Butler refers to glancingly, but does a couple of examples from the much- ” not elaborate, the world, as represent- lauded film of “Sense and ed by Sir Walter Elliott and Lady Sensibility”, with Emma Thompson’s clever, ironic and very hard-headed Russell (well-meaning though the lat- Oscar-winning script, suffice. novels into mushy romances, the film ter is) or by the Bingley sisters is not Marianne is, in the novel, barely six- world was doing the same to the precisely accurate in its own judge- teen years old and is, therefore, author herself. ments. understandably silly, though her Miss Hathaway told us that she mother encourages her “sensibility”, had spent a month in London, read- that is over-excited emotional reac- ing all Jane Austen’s letters in the Those clever, witty, extremely hard- tion to everything, particularly other British Library. This may even be “ people. true. But why is it that neither she nor hitting novels have been turned into In a crucial scene, she and the cad- the film’s director or designer man- romantic mush dish (as it turns out) Willoughby aged to notice that young ladies of ” drive off together and spend time the period did not wear décolleté alone, examining ruins. When they dresses during the day or go around return, everybody is horrified and bare-headed, as shown most clearly This is the problem with Jane Eleanor is very upset on her sister’s in the well-known drawing made by Austen: it is immensely difficult to fit behalf. The point is, of course, that Cassandra Austen of her sister. her into any category. She is, above had anything of a sexual nature taken

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place during the drive, Marianne’s life would have been destroyed as Lydia Bennett’s very nearly is in “Pride and Prejudice” and Maria Bertram’s is eventually in “Mansfield Park”. Some time later, when Marianne lies at death’s door, having rather foolishly been caught in a torrential storm, Willoughby turns up and assures Eleanor that he had never intended the young girl any harm and had really cared for her, though this did not stop him from marrying a considerably richer young lady. Because it is Willoughby who says that, neither Eleanor nor the reader ever knows the truth. The episode remains doubtful. In the film, it is the entirely dependable Colonel Brandon who assures Eleanor of Willoughby’s basic goodness as far as Marianne is concerned, thus making it immediate- ly the truth. Marianne recovers from her illness and, according to the film, learns to love Colonel Brandon. There is, at the end, a very clear indication that the marriage will probably be a happy one. The book is considerably more ruthless. In the last chapter Marianne’s friends and relations decide that as Colonel Brandon has suffered so much, she should be his consolation prize. A series of mistakes at a very young age has made Marianne less than human in the eyes who love her dearly and her opinion is not even It is clear that the most recent dra- The much-praised TV series of canvassed. The assumption is that she matizers of Jane Austen’s novels are “Pride and Prejudice” with Jennifer is not to be allowed to make any deci- unable to understand or accept that Ehle as Elizabeth Bennett and Colin sions on her own behalf as she is not these are not about romantic couples Firth as Mr Darcy started with the capable of making the right ones. and their misunderstandings but young men riding into town Whether that is a particularly con- about women and their families and (Meryton, one assumes). This places servative point of view, it is certainly social position. The men are second- them at the centre of the subsequent ary, little more than marriage objects. plot. Nothing could be further from Even when they are of importance in the novel, which is about the Bennett Her heroines achieve happiness only the community like Mr Knightley in family and, famously, starts with “ “Emma”, they are seen entirely from them discussing the recent arrival of when they accept the judgements of the the heroine’s point of view. Instead, Mr Bingley about whom they know world, a conservative, even Tory idea there has been an extraordinary pro- very little but whom they suspect to ” motion of Miss Austen’s male char- be extremely eligible. acters. According to all recent drama- “Pride and Prejudice” is a clever tizations, the novels are love stories picture of contemporary society. somewhat ruthless and the ultra-mod- with both members of the main cou- Unlike some Victorian novelists, Jane ern Emma Thompson clearly could ple being of equal importance. Austen had a clear idea of money. Mr not cope with it. At any rate, she Several male actors have acquired the Bennett has £2,000 a year and has did not think her audience could status of a sex symbol by playing in been unable to increase that income cope. an Austen film or TV serial. or to save money for his daughters,

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Reclaiming Jane

privileges. Mr Bennett is a sad failure Then again, it is Mrs Bennett who in this respect as are numerous other is the butt of the Austen sarcasm and “gentlemen” in the novels. It is the only several re-readings of the novel new, rising class of naval officers make one realize that Mr Bennett’s who are shown to be the real gentle- selfish and cavalier attitude is as men in “Persuasion”, not the vain, much at fault as his wife’s silliness. selfish, stupid baronet, Sir Walter Jane, Elizabeth and, above all, Lydia Elliott. very nearly become victims of their It is true, as Professor Butler points parents’ behaviour and are rescued out, that Jane Austen makes it clear by Mr Darcy with the help of Mr that the greatest achievement for a Gardiner. (The Gardiners, inciden- woman is to get married and to have tally, present the only example in all her own establishment, as Charlotte the novels of a genuinely happy and A romanticized and bare-headed Anne Hathaway in the recent film, ‘Becoming Jane’ Lucas, the most commonsensical of her characters, tells Elizabeth largely because of his abdication of Bennett. But, in truth, what were the The last mention we get of him [Mr responsibility. Mr Bingley has alternatives? One could, of course, go “ Bennett] is a remark that he delights £4,000 or £5,000 a year and has not on being the unmarried daughter yet settled down. His sisters have an looking after her parents’ or her to go and visit Elizabeth and Darcy, income of their own, so their father brothers’, as Miss Austen did herself particularly when he is least must have made quite a fortune in together with her sister or to become his business in the Midlands, some- the mother’s companion as Mary expected. Whether that is actually thing that they do not want to Bennett does. One could be a rich what a newly married couple wants is remember. spinster as Emma Woodhouse pro- Mr Darcy is, of course, the repre- poses to be and to meddle in other a question he never bothers to ask sentative of the old aristocracy, relat- people’s affairs as the queen of local ” ed to all sorts of people, the owner of society. Or one could become a gov- a handsome estate that, unlike Mr erness as Jane Fairfax very nearly contented family, apart from, possi- Bennett, he pays attention to (though does. bly, Emma’s sister and brother-in- when exactly is hard to tell) and has If there was not enough money .) For all of that, it is Mrs Bennett £10,000 a year. This is to be viewed for rich spinsterhood, getting mar- who has weighed up the social more in the nature of turn-over in a ried was probably the best career imperatives correctly. With modern business rather than clear prof- choice for most. Jane Austen’s own Longbourn entailed and no money it, as the money has to be used for attitude to it is ambivalent. Her saved, the girls will have very little to the upkeep of Pemberley, the house- novels teem with parents and live on. They need to get married and hold, the estate as well as his parental figures who are clearly Mr Bennett seems unable to recog- lifestyle. unsatisfactory and there is no men- nize this. The last mention we get of No-one can accuse Miss Austen of him is a remark that he delights to being a snob. She may not think go and visit Elizabeth and Darcy, young girls should follow their own “ But the author’s real opinion of particularly when he is least expect- inclination, not being capable of family life remains somewhat ed. Whether that is actually what a making the right decision, but neither newly married couple wants is a is she exactly enamoured of snobbish mysterious, which makes her a more question he never bothers to ask. creatures like Lady Catherine de interesting writer but less of a Individual sensibility is not a cer- Burgh or her toady, Mr Collins. tain guide to behaviour but neither Social wisdom may well be superior conservative are parents, surrogate parents, socie- to individual emotion but most of the ” ty or, for that matter, books. So, we time it is an individual’s hard won do come back to an appreciation of understanding that is superior to soci- tion of a family in connection with individual understanding, honed ety’s arid sayings. any of the young people who achieve by mistakes and learning and In the end, it is being a gentleman matrimony at the end of the various acquired correct attitudes. How to or one of a gentleman’s family that novels. Surely, Mr Darcy intends to live, it seems, is a skill to be learnt counts, as Elizabeth famously tells have an heir. But the author’s real just as painting or music making are, Lady Catherine. But a gentleman has opinion of family life remains some- and a lot more difficult. Not, alas, an to do his duties towards his estate, his what mysterious, which makes her idea that is welcomed by the makers family, his tenants, his servants and a more interesting writer but less of of the ersatz-Austen mushy society in general, as well as enjoy a conservative. romances.

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A Scottish Prime Minister

Charles Dudgeon, a history teacher and chairman of the Paisley and Inverclyde , writes about the Earl of Bute, the first Scottish Prime Minister

war which has dragged washed-out race meeting when he Bute, an intellectual with a keen on longer than expect- was asked to make up a foursome at interest in books and botany, was a ed, rising public debt, cards. He established himself within victim of his own success. His pupil the need to raise taxes; Frederick’s circle, and on his death in was determined to “restore the con- A a dour Scot becomes 1751, was appointed by his widow stitution” and continually pestered Prime Minister, much to the unease Augusta as tutor to her son, the future Bute to promise to take high office on of many Englishmen. George III. Bute also filled the role as his accession. With some reluctance, But this Scot is an eighteenth cen- surrogate father to the impressionable all too aware of his own deficiencies, tury Tory – at least in the eyes of young prince, as is clear from the Bute agreed. Victorian historians. And they were unsettling correspondence between Contemporaries and historians correct, if they were thinking of the George and his "dearest friend" as he have been united in their unflattering called Bute. Bute impressed George view of the rising favourite. with his views on the constitution; Chesterfield stated that he had “hon- “ In one respect at least Bute dif- parties were anathema to good gov- our, honesty and good intentions” but fered markedly from – ernment and the evil politicians of the added “he was too proud to be Old Corps Whigs, led by the Duke of respectable and respected; too cold he had no ambition to be Prime Newcastle, had corrupted the consti- and silent to be amiable; too cunning Minister tution, transferring power from the to have great abilities"(surely no par- ” crown to themselves; George II was allel with his twenty-first century too lazy to care. countryman!). Bute's vanity regard- seventeenth century meaning. The Victorian historians accused Bute ing his appearance is the stuff of leg- third Earl of Bute, John Stuart, was of trying to turn the constitutional end, apparent in the portrait by the only royal “favourite” to be clock back to the time of the Stuarts, Ramsey, in which Bute exposes his Prime Minister, a man who abhorred but many contemporaries agreed that shapely legs. Two centuries later, the the idea of party, and who wished, as the king had a right to exercise more waspish Namier (who had more in he saw it, to rebalance the constitution power than George II cared to use; common with Horace Walpole than by reinstating the power of the King. even William Pitt and the Duke of he cared to think) described his influ- In one respect at least Bute dif- Newcastle, the chief political losers ence as consisting of “fitful, discon- fered markedly from Gordon Brown after the promotion of Bute, were nected, haphazard intervention and – he had no ambition to be Prime clear on the right of George III to sententious, haughty, futile pro- Minister. He made the acquaintance advance his favourite. Many modern nouncements”. Now at least Bute is of the elder son of George II, historians, starting with Sir Lewis too obscure to be regularly insult- Frederick Prince of Wales, at a Namier, accept this view. ed.

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Earl of Bute

George became king when his old share the same name family name as grandfather ignominiously expired in the hated Jacobite pretenders, his closet on 25th October 1760. Hatred of the Scots was rife in although he was a loyal Hanoverian Within two years George had “ London resident during the uprising. removed the two chief ministers of England. Samuel Johnson, despite his The most vicious attacks on Bute the previous reign – William Pitt and affection for Boswell, was famed for came from ’ newspaper the Duke of Newcastle - and in May The North Briton. Horace Walpole, his barbed invectives concerning Scots 1762 Bute became First Lord of the no friend of Bute, described Wilkes Treasury. Both Pitt and Newcastle heading south from their impoverished as “proceeding with an acrimony, a left office over the determination of homeland to enrich themselves at spirit, and a licentiousness never George III and Bute to end the Seven heard of before….Every obsolete Years War. The cost was spiralling English expense anecdote, every illiberal invective, out of control - the national debt ” was raked up and set forth in strong stood at £120 million and the govern- and witty colours against ”. ment was paying interest of £4 mil- made Henry Fox his man in the Wilkes made frequent reference to lion each year. The problem in ending House of Commons. Fox, both the reign of Edward III, when power this war was one the current govern- morally and financially corrupt, lay in the hands of the king's mother ment would love dearly to have: it insisted on taking the office of and her lover Roger Mortimer. The was going too well with an unbroken Paymaster of the Army as it offered obvious inference was that Bute was series of spectacular victories since the best chance of lining his own the lover of George III's mother, 1759 in America, India and the pockets. Fox convinced Bute to purge Augusta. Although without founda- Caribbean. Even Newcastle had the Old Corps Whigs who had tion, the charge still surfaces from observed "the victories hurt us as opposed the peace. In the infamous time-to-time in descriptions of Bute’s they make the peace more difficult". "massacre of the Pelham innocents" ministry. Many contemporaries were Pitt, dazzled by the prospect of kick- (Pelham was the family name of the astounded that Wilkes escaped prose- ing an apparently permanently pros- Duke of Newcastle), Fox gleefully cution, and the mishandled prosecu- trate and making clear his stripped them of every office that tion of number 45 of The North intention to keep nearly all the British they held, even depriving the old Briton, and imprisonment of its gains, skilfully lambasted the new Duke of his lord lieutenancies. author, occurred after Bute’s resigna- ministry as too ready to give up the Newcastle watched his years of spoils of victory. Bute's problems patronage dissolving before his eyes. were compounded by the wily French Yet Bute paid a high price for his Bute instructed his Chancellor of minister Choiseul. Choiseul had only success; he was never popular in “ the Exchequer, Sir Francis Dashwood, two cards left in his hand - the knowl- political circles; his routing of the edge that the British government had Old Corps Whigs exposed him to char- to draw up a tax on cider. There was a lost the will to finance the war and ges of hypocrisy and vindictiveness storm of protest from Bute’s enemies was unable to contemplate the and, of course, made him hated by expense of maintaining all their those he deprived of office. Pitt, who who conjured up images of west gains. But they were good cards. was completely oblivious to the cost country farmers’ doors (and even Bute had some unpleasant moments - of running wars, accused him of the French broke off early peace squandering the fruits of victory. In heads) being kicked in by zealous negotiations in a shrewd bluff, and the eyes of the press he was a throw- excisemen there was much complaint in the back to the days of James I and the ” press about the return of the sugar Duke of Buckingham, when royal island of Guadeloupe. But even his favour led to political power. And of detractors recognise that the Peace of course he was a Scot who held the tion. Cartoons added to Bute’s dis- of November 1763 was a fine highest political office. Hatred of the comfort, which often featured the achievement considering the obsta- Scots was rife in England. Samuel corrupt “Boot” distributing largesse cles in his path. Bute had gained the Johnson, despite his affection for to his countrymen. elusive peace, kicked the French out Boswell, was famed for his barbed Bute still faced the problem of the of Canada and ended their interest in invectives concerning Scots heading bloated national debt. In normal cir- India. south from their impoverished home- cumstances he would have raised the At the end of the peace negotia- land to enrich themselves at English land tax, but this was already too tion, Bute showed a ruthlessness expense. Bute took office only 17 years high. In early 1763 Bute instructed which unsettled George III, who still after the '45, when the Scots had creat- his Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir remembered all the high ideals of his ed mayhem and terror as far south as Francis Dashwood*, to draw up a tax "dearest friend" before 1760. Bute Derby. He even had the misfortune to on cider. There was a storm of protest

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Earl of Bute

from Bute’s enemies who conjured up images of west country farmers’ doors (and even heads) being kicked in by zealous excisemen. Even more invective descended upon Bute, who was depicted as trampling on English liberties. The result of the clamour was momentous - Bute's successors looked to America to raise future revenue. Bute had had enough. Despite the Whig propaganda, he was never very ambitious for high office, and his shyness was often interpreted as arrogance. Exhausted by the abuse heaped on him, Bute began to pester the king to accept his resignation as early as the winter of 1762. Although George tried to talk him out of it, Bute stubbornly persisted, and with reluctance the king made the neces- sary arrangements. Bute stood down in April 1763 after only eleven months as Prime Minister. Contem- the king in 1766, complaining that he Hanoverian reinvention, similar to poraries now charged that Bute was a and his supporters were ignored that of George IV's boast of com- political coward, but Bute himself when Pitt returned to form his own manding troops at the battle of stated that he had done his duty by government. George tartly reminded Waterloo, and demand that the Duke his king in bringing the war to a sat- his former tutor that he had long been of Wellington confirm his story. isfactory close, and more recent his- convinced of the evils of parties in Comparing today and yesterday torians have agreed with him. government! can be misleading but quite fun. Will The king fully intended to keep Bute retired to his English country Gordon Brown escape or share the Bute as an advisor, and Bute had the estates, primarily Luton Hoo in fate of the first Scottish Prime satisfaction of being the only Prime Bedfordshire, and led a worthy retire- Minister? In about two years time it Minister who appointed his succes- ment consisting of foreign travel, is not inconceivable that Brown, if sor and his entire administration, botany and other intellectual pursuits, elected, could escape successfully much to the humiliation of the new until his death in 1792. Ironically for from the war in Iraq, but find himself Prime Minister, George Grenville. a man whose Scottish roots caused ensnared later on questions of debt Not surprisingly Grenville would not him such misery in politics, he rarely and taxation, whilst the English find tolerate Bute's continued interfer- returned to Scotland, although he was it increasingly irksome that a Scot ence, and threatened resignation in buried on the island of Bute. The occupies Number Ten in the age of 1764 unless Bute withdrew from Whigs never forgot or forgave him, devolved government. Will Brown be court. The king eventually agreed, as and for years harked on about the the forgotten Prime Minister in the the alternative was the return of Pitt, “minister behind the curtain”, who age of Thatcher and Blair, as Bute who would not serve, or the hated still pulled the levers of power. was in the age of Pitt and Walpole? Old Corps Whigs. There was spo- Burke’s famed pamphlet “Thoughts Time will tell. on the Cause of the Present Discontent”, published in 1770, was *Dashwood was ironically a drinking Bute was now a bogey man who based on Bute’s supposed continual crony of Wilkes. A group of young “ influence over the monarch and poli- rakes, the Hell-Fire club, met at a scared the Whigs but whose influence tics. Bute was now a bogey man who ruined monastery on Dashwood’s had long gone scared the Whigs but whose influ- estate. Tales of dressing as monks, ” ence had long gone. George III never drinking, whoring and black masses forgave politicians who he believed were probably not without founda- had deserted him, and managed to tion. Dashwood was long-celebrated, radic contact until 1766 but by then persuade himself that he had never rather unfairly, in John Wilkes' remark George was increasingly able to find been a friend of Bute, and had tried to that he became Chancellor after years his own political feet; Bute wrote to keep him from office; a typical of “puzzling over his tavern bills”.

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“Waiting for Winston”

Ian Pendlington, author, member of Conservative Future and a frequent contributor to the Conservative History Journal analyzes a previous great wait for a Prime Minister to step down

his summer, Tony world for his role in defeating unlikely to complete a full term Minister in 1945 following the Blair stepped and would leave in office and was enough per- dissolution of the wartime down as Prime the stage for Eden who had suasion for Churchill that he coalition) actually lasted until Minister after a served loyally as Foreign should remain at the helm for 1955. Eden’s biographer, D.R. T decade in power Secretary for five years. However, "one more push". Eden would Thorpe, wrote that had Eden to be succeeded by his Churchill was in no mood to once again have to be patient. known he would be waiting Chancellor Gordon Brown, retire, although he ill fitted the Another election was called another four years “he would who has played the unenviable role of Leader of the Opposition in 1951, and Churchill's final probably have retired from pol- part of Prime Minister-in-wait- and was distracted by other pri- heave at removing Labour was itics”. However, as Roy ing for that same decade. Not orities, notably writing his war successful. Eden was appoint- Jenkins put it in his biography for over half a century when Sir memoirs and performing on the ed for the on Churchill, “throughout Anthony Eden finally succeed- world stage where he made third time in his career and 1952, 1953 and 1954, he con- ed Sir Winston Churchill has some of his most memorable Churchill, now seventy-seven, ducted one of the most brilliant such a consistently obvious delaying actions in history”. successor waited patiently, and Churchill, now seventy-seven, became the One of the central themes to sometimes impatiently, to suc- “ these delaying actions was ceed a long serving Prime oldest Prime Minister since Gladstone who, as Churchill’s concern over for- Minister. Churchill was fond of pointing out, formed his last eign policy, most notably the There are some intriguing administration at the age of eighty-three and the threat of an parallels between then and ” all-out nuclear war between the now: ranging from the continu- United States and Soviet ous speculation in the media speeches on the state of the became the oldest Prime Union. Perhaps overestimating over alleged reneging on post war world. On the occa- Minister since Gladstone who, Britain’s postwar influence, agreed handover dates, the lin- sions Churchill did undertake as Churchill was fond of point- Churchill saw it as part of his gering doubts of the long serv- his duties in the House, his per- ing out, formed his last admin- legacy to save the world from ing leader over his “heir appar- formances were usually a shad- istration at the age of eighty-three. nuclear annihilation, just as it ent”, the personal strain on ow of his past brilliance which John Colville, who returned had been his destiny to save it their working relationship and led, as observed in to Downing Street with from Nazism in 1940. the wider implications for their his biography, “many of his Churchill as Joint Principal Domestic issues also afford- party. Indeed, just as Brown senior colleagues to think the Private Secretary, noted in his ed him the opportunity to delay has had to wait a decade for the battered Conservative party diary that Churchill intended to his departure. In February 1952 opportunity to lead his Party, would be better off without his “remain Prime Minister for one King George VI died and so did Eden who, following the unsteady leadership”. year only, then hand over to his Churchill took it upon himself Conservatives defeat in 1945 Despite the lacklustre lead- invariably loyal lieutenant to act as wise counsellor to the had hopes of succeeding and ership of the opposition, the Anthony Eden… He just want- young Queen Elizabeth II. emulating Churchill, but ulti- majority Labour achieved in ed to have time to re-establish There could be no question of mately ended up being swal- 1945 was shattered to just 5 in the intimate relationship with his leaving Downing Street lowed up by his shadow. the 1950 election. The result America and...abolish the war- before her Coronation, which Following the election defeat was largely a reaction to the time restrictions and post war took place in June 1953. after the war it was widely austerity and continuing ratio- socialist measures”. Moreover, there were increasing assumed Churchill, now in his ning of many goods. The slim However, Churchill’s third concerns over the health of his seventy-first year, would accept majority ensured the second administration (his second aging successor. Eden had fall- the bouquets from across the Attlee administration would be being as brief caretaker Prime en gravely ill after a botched

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Waiting for Winston

gall bladder operation and visited the Prime Minister in a meeting and with that, as his frail health and shattered his came close to death. Churchill December 1954 and told him, Macmillan noted, “It is now reputation. He stood down in during this time undertook as Eden noted in his diary, “that certain that the crisis of indeci- January 1957, a year and a half Foreign Office responsibilities, it was clear we wanted him out”. sion is over”. Churchill, with into a job he had waited so long flying to Boston in the hope of Under increasing pressure, no further causes to cling onto, for. persuading Eisenhower to open Churchill confirmed April 5th had no alternative but to press Eden’s tragic end had been up dialogue with the Soviet 1955 as his departure date to ahead with his retirement as prophesied by Churchill who, Union following the death of Eden. However, he wanted one planned on April 5th. Eden’s as Colville recorded in his Stalin. Sadly, the additional last chance at securing a meet- time had finally come, ten diary, had said, “I don’t believe strain of the Foreign Office ing between the Superpowers years after the end of the war. Anthony can do it”. He was not proved too much for Churchill, after Eisenhower hinted he Churchill said afterwards: “no alone in his doubts. Macmillan who suffered a near fatal stroke would meet with the Soviets two men changed the guard more was also concerned that in June 1953. and the French and West smoothly”. Unfortunately, the “Eden’s weakness is that he has Churchill’s stroke was a German leaders in London. tensions that had existed over no interests other than politics” turning point in his Premier- The Prime Minister told his the decade had made the drawn (an accusation leveled at ship. Had Eden himself been Brown today who, like Eden, physically able, he would have has dominated only one senior almost certainly seized the government department before moment to take . aspiring to the top job). Moreover, had the public and Macmillan was to muse later the wider Party been aware of that Eden had been “trained to Churchill’s incapacitation (it win the Derby in 1938; unfor- was kept a virtual national tunately he was not let out of secret at Churchill’s request) the starting stalls until 1955”. the mood for change may have In the end much of Eden’s been stronger. However, Eden legacy must rest with was still recovering from his Churchill, who grimly clung operation and Churchill, left to onto the premiership for too recuperate at Chartwell, set long due to personal vanity and himself the test of the Leader’s fears that without the job he speech at the Conference in the would just simply fade away, autumn. If he passed it, he but also due to his growing would continue as Prime Minister. doubts over Eden’s ability to His stamina, not for the first do the job. This was combined

time, confounded his doctors as Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden on their way to Parliament on September 3, with his absolute determination he made a triumphant speech to 1939, the day Britain declared war on Germany the Britain still had a major role the Party faithful in Margate to colleagues (most of whom out period prior to the han- to play in building a peaceful delegates unaware how close to were unaware of his retirement dover anything but smooth. postwar world, most notably as death he had come. date) at a Cabinet meeting on Eden acknowledged the occa- firm ally of the United States. Despite his recuperation, March 14th of the London sion “has not been made easy by The combination of all these Churchill came under renewed Summit in June, at which he Sir Winston’s stature, nor by the factors meant that Eden’s star, pressure to retire. Cabinet would represent Britain as fact I had for so long been his burning since the late 1930s, meetings had degenerated into Prime Minister. Macmillan second in command… My own had long since been extin- long monologues and Eden, noted in his diary that Eden at reflections were mixed”. His guished when he finally took now with growing impatience, this point asked Churchill desire to stamp his own author- over. confided to an advisor that “does this mean the arrange- ity on his administration was It is ironic that in his book Churchill "was gaga; he cannot ments you made with me are at evident when he called an elec- “Great Contemporaries”, even finish his sentences". The an end?”. Churchill replied it tion immediately upon his Churchill said of Lord Curzon, continuing procrastination was was a matter of national inter- appointment and succeeded in who was passed over as Prime even trying the patience of est, which provoked an angry increasing the Government Minister in 1923, that “The Churchill’s closest Cabinet response from Eden, “I have majority, something not morning was gold; the noontide allies. wrote been Foreign Secretary for ten achieved by an incumbent since was bronze and the evening in his diary that Churchill "was years, am I not to be trusted?”. Palmerston in 1865. lead”. However, the words are always an egotist, but a mag- Eventually Eisenhower, per- However, Eden’s success at just as apt for his successor. It nanimous one. Now he has haps underscoring Britain’s the polls was his only notable is a tragically fitting epitaph for become almost a monomaniac". new postwar position in the triumph as Prime Minister. A Anthony Eden and may serve as a A group of senior ministers world, rejected the proposal of year later the Suez Crisis broke stark warning to Gordon Brown.

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What Jonathan did next

Mark Coalter, solicitor and writer of historical articles, interviews , former MP, former guest of Her Majesty’s about his latest book

wrote this book not to be defini- MC: , in his memoirs, tive but to record my angle, my was certainly not unkind to you. take, very often my personal experience of these characters. JA: One of John Major’s many undervalued qualities is his per- MC: I was surprised that you did sonal kindness. He was always not include , as exceptionally kind to me in gov- you were his biographer, or John ernment and I found him a very Major, who finally brought you good colleague. He has been into the Cabinet, amongst your hugely underrated by journalism subjects. but history will be much kinder to him. One small example of his JA: I would have liked to have kindness comes to mind. Almost included Nixon but my publisher the week I came out of prison I was very keen for completely went to the funeral of a great man new material and asked me not of cricket, E.W. Swanton, in to do him. If I had been writing Sandwich. I was feeling pretty for an American audience, I cer- vulnerable and shy to put it light- tainly would have done Nixon. ly. John Major, who was also a LC Images The choice was really an eclectic friend of Swanton’s, was in atten- one. There is a line in Montaigne, dance. I was feeling rather bash- MC: The title and content of more willing to read twenty-five which goes, “I have gathered a ful and sat at the back of the your new book, “Heroes and pages to get a glimpse from an posy of other men’s flowers and church. John Major waited for me Contemporaries”, has Church- angle on say Beaverbrook than only the thread that binds them is to leave and insisted on coming illian undertones. Was this your they would be to go out and my own”. The only thread that out of the church with me inspiration? buy a six hundred-page biogra- ties me together with these peo- because he had thought ahead, phy. ple is that I felt an urge to write more than I had, that there would JA: If I have a trade in the writ- There have been many practi- about them. In respect of Major, be photographers present and he ing world it is to be a biographer. tioners in this field and no one I would actually love to write wanted to be photographed with The trouble, in my view, with does it perfectly because a about him in the future. There his ex-colleague, now an ex-pris- biographies is that they take a miniature usually can’t take in is a gleam in my eye that I oner. So, here was a touch of grace tremendous amount of work and the kind of detail a biography might one day persuade him to and kindness, which he needn’t should be definitive. Biographical does. Among practitioners cooperate with me when we’re have gone out of his way to do. portraiture or miniature biogra- whom I admire I would include both more years distant from phy, however, is much easier and Lytton Strachey, the person that the Major premiership and pos- MC: Turning to your great-uncle in some ways a rather more really started it, and Churchill him- sibly do a full-length biogra- Lord Beaverbrook, you first met attractive art. Many people are self in “Great Contemporaries”. I phy. when you were an undergradu-

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Jonathan Aitken

ate as your family had been estranged JA: Beaverbrook was a great politi- stairs deals, smoke filled rooms or from him for some time. It must have cian in the sense that he affected the more often country house shifts of been quite a daunting experience. course of history in both the First and power and loyalty. There had never Second World Wars. It has been said been much in the way of transparen- JA: It was daunting as well as chal- that we would have lost the First cy, best illustrated by the phrase lenging because I was very much World War if Asquith had not been “Bob’s your uncle” going back to under inspection. But it was also a brought down, which Beaverbrook Lord Salisbury effortlessly handing rather funny and exciting experience did with plots and intrigues in 1916, the premiership to his nephew A.J. and I hope I capture some of that in and we would have lost Second Balfour. the book. He was a character with a World War if the Spitfires had not What began as a rather ordinary, capital ‘C’ and a considerable actor. gone up. dull Conference was electrified by He was also playing a little bit to As Minister of Aircraft Production he the Chairman of the Party announc- what he called “the rising Aitken was responsible for that. So he had a ing that Macmillan had been taken ill generation”. I tell the story of him huge impact on politics, but in a and was going to stand down. This phoning the hotline of The Daily funny way he was not a serious politi- transformed the whole atmosphere Express after having seen a news cian. He was a sort of puck-like fig- and exposed two strands within the ure who skipped around making mis- Conservative Party. One strand, chief. That’s what he loved doing. He which won in the end, were those “ Mr Wood was suitably embarrassed liked intrigues. He liked dramas. He who believed in the customary whilst Beaverbrook winked at me. He wasn’t there for the long assiduous processes of consultation, as it was slog of politics, the hard grind, the called; nothing so vulgar as having then said “Well I think we should put boring nights in committee. So in a the public involved in the choice of this on the front page and I suggest way, he wasn’t a very good role Prime Minister, instead everything model for somebody in politics. My done back stage, with discreet sound- you put it under the headline ‘British father was a much more serious polit- ings. They were the old establishment soldiers slain in German (strong ical figure although he never rose and were going to do it in the time high for all kinds of reasons. In those honoured, magic circle way. The sec- italics) thunderstorm’ ” days a lot of people didn’t want to be ond strand were the vulgarians, the ministers and my father was one of main one being Quintin Hailsham. those. He was an absolutely solid Despite being an aristocrat, he sud- item about a couple of British sol- who took a great interest denly threw his hat in the ring and diers hit by lightning in a jeep in in agricultural matters and the made a huge emotional speech Germany. At that time he was cam- Commonwealth. My great-uncle said renouncing his peerage and announc- paigning against the Common he was just lobby-fodder but my ing his candidature. Pandemonium Market and he asked Mr Wood, the father was a loyalist, a very reliable, broke lose. The struggle between duty editor, if he had seen this story. safe pair of hands, the complete what was going on in public and pri- He had not, which was unsurprising opposite of Lord Beaverbrook. When vate was fascinating. Those watching as it had just come across the ticker my father died, Beaverbrook wrote it in public agreed that Hailsham was tape a few seconds earlier. Lord me a letter saying that you must go going to win, whereas the establish- Beaverbrook said “Mr Wood, I further than your father and my ment was not going to have either advise you to keep up with the news advice to you is to stir up a lot of mis- him or the safe choice, . I, if you’re going to be the editor of The chief, perhaps advice that I took being ’s godson and Daily Express.” Mr Wood was suit- rather too literally in my own politi- nepotistic private secretary, was privy ably embarrassed whilst Beaverbrook cal career. to all these mysterious behind-the- winked at me. He then said “Well I scene deals. think we should put this on the front MC: You attended the 1963 Then there was the slightly comic page and I suggest you put it under Conservative Party Conference as pri- appearance of Randolph Churchill, the headline ‘British soldiers slain in vate secretary to Selwyn Lloyd. The arriving in the middle of it all who German (strong italics) thunder- leadership crisis prompted by Harold didn’t see behind-the-scenes and was storm’. That’ll help our campaign Macmillan’s resignation during the certain that Quintin Hailsham was against the Common Market.” Conference must have given this occa- going to win. He was rushing around sion the feel of an American conven- pinning ‘Q’ buttons on everyone MC: Your father was MP for Bury St tion. Was this your recollection? whether they were Hailsham support- Edmunds and you therefore came ers or not. I always remember the from a political family. Did Lord JA: It was totally unprecedented. moment when he tried to pin a ‘Q’ Beaverbrook provide you with an Previously, Prime Ministers in office button on the lapel of Lord Dilhorne, alternative perspective? have changed as a result of back- the rather pompous Lord Chancellor.

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Jonathan Aitken

Randolph having failed then heard this piercing voice. It was that ended weeks after the 1979 noise. Along with Hugh Fraser saw Dilhorne bending over the Margaret Thatcher who said, General Election. During the and Teddy Taylor we set up a bar of the Imperial Hotel in “that young man needs his wings 1980s you remained on the back- Euro-sceptic group in about Blackpool and decided, as a clipped”. Not sure how quickly benches. Could this have been 1981. Gradually we insisted on schoolboy jape, to pin this ‘Q’ she reversed this view. due to this change in your per- debating these orders late at badge to his trousers. However, sonal circumstances or your night, which made us very in doing so he managed to pierce MC: When Mrs Thatcher became rebellious conduct in the House? unpopular as the House of Lord Dilhorne’s posterior. The leader, did you think she would Commons wanted to go to bed. scream of the Lord Chancellor become the next elected prime JA: Journalists have written The whips got very cross with as this was done plus the hilarity minister? time and again that I remained us, but we actually believed in of the very crowded bar is a scene on the backbenches because what we were doing. Indeed six which lingers in my memory. JA: Probably not at first, but Margaret Thatcher had it in for MPs, of which I was one, voted quite quickly I did, for the same me for “making Carol cry”. against the second reading of the MC: At what stage did you reasons I think Looking back with wisdom of Single European Act and I think realise that Alec Douglas-Home will be today. I thought she was hindsight and a greater sensitivi- that this was a honourable cause. was the preferred candidate? original and interesting, though ty than I possessed in those days The Conservative Party, which not right about everything, how- as a young man I am the first to wasn’t naturally Europhile was JA: I do remember that within wrong in this regard as was two days of leaving Conference I Margaret Thatcher. It was much drove Selwyn Lloyd back from “ They knew there was trouble, but they didn’t more this which prevented pro- Blackpool and he said he think it was big trouble and they thought that the motion, because if you are thought Alec was going to win - organising rebellions three times he was no mean judge of form. challenge from would be seen a week it would have been a slap He had been hobnobbing with off by a comfortable thirty or forty votes...In the in the face for order and disci- everyone up there including the pline if I was promoted as, say event she lost by [four] Chief Whip Martin Redmayne. ” Undersecretary of State of Drains A mere forty-eight hours later he and Sewers. My friends would got back to Westminster where, ever maybe I was wrong in that say that I didn’t come out of the have said it was a bribe to keep behind-the-scenes, this sort of respect. I saw the Labour ending of the Carol relationship me quiet and my enemies would knights of the shires establish- Government getting into deeper well. I handled it insensitively. have thought what on earth were ment bandwagon was rolling. I and deeper quick sands of diffi- We all make mistakes when they rewarding him for. So even remember putting the biggest bet culty. The mood was gradually we’re young and I certainly if she wanted to put me into gov- in my life - forty pounds - on emerging in the country that made a mistake then. But I ernment as a junior minister, it Home at very long odds. I col- change would be a good thing. It always thought that the theory would have had its problems. lected a packet of money. wasn’t really that the electorate that I was denied office because were won over by Margaret Tha- of Margaret Thatcher being full MC: What do you recall of the MC: Moving on, your relation- tcher. The truth of the matter is of personal resentment is not 1990 leadership election that ship with Mrs Thatcher did not that they thought she was good right. I think that Margaret precipitated the fall of Margaret get off to the most propitious enough to be Prime Minister just Thatcher herself was a much Thatcher? start when she remarked that as they think that Cameron is bigger person than that. She had you needed your wings clipped good enough today. They were lots of people in her government JA: Margaret Thatcher and her after a speech you made at a unsure about her politics, but whom she didn’t like personally team really thought that the lead- Conservative event. thought she was quality and that or politically. I think I was too ership election was pretty safe. Labour had had its innings. independent minded for my own They knew there was trouble, JA: I do recall that little episode. Tidal changes in politics happen good. I organised rebellions with but they didn’t think it was big I should think that I was a very and I think that this is the same some frequency and drove the trouble and they thought that the brash and arrogant young man force that will bring Cameron to whips mad. It sounds extraordi- challenge from Michael Hesel- and I gave a speech which got a power just as it did with Thatcher, nary but Margaret Thatcher, for tine would be seen off by a com- bigger round of applause, by not her brilliant policies or won- most of her premiership, was as fortable thirty or forty votes. many decibels if I remember derful speeches. She was actually far as the outward eye could see There were many people who rightly as the new young candi- consistently out-pointed by Call- staunchly pro-European. Indeed, got it wrong partly due to some date for Thanet South, than aghan in the House of Commons she drove the Single European Heseltine supporters being dup- Margaret Thatcher got as between 1977 and 1978, who was Act onto the statute book. Long licitous about which way they Secretary of State for Education. the better performer. before that she introduced a cav- were going to vote. My old friend As I waved which was probably alcade of nonsensical Euro-leg- Peter Morrison, who was not in too long - in those days we saw MC: You had a long-term rela- islation, for example, the har- great health at the time, was far ourselves as Jack Kennedy - I tionship with monisation of lawn mower too complacent and there were

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Jonathan Aitken

other people in the Thatcher camp ing anyway. But could it have with Heath. Nixon had predict- political lives and careers of real who weren’t really at full throt- been handled better by John ed, alone out of the entire White public service - trying to do tle. If Thatcher had said from Major and Richard Ryder? The House staff, he told me privately, things for your country and even day one this is a very dangerous answer is, with hindsight, proba- that Heath would win the 1970 in a small way for the world. So situation for me, I’ve got to fight bly yes. They got too angry with General Election. Nixon being it’s certainly the best game in every inch of the way, then that the rebels and it was a mistake to Nixon studied Gallup polls, read town, the most interesting and would have meant a lot of sort of cast them into outer darkness. all the dispatches, and told his exciting professional life you schmoozing with people who inner circle that Heath was going could have. It’s also the worst of were favourable but neutral. In MC: How poisonous was the to win. They all thought he was lives because, on the whole, you the event she lost by [four] atmosphere at this time? wrong and it was wishful think- get a very rough time from the votes. There is no question in my ing on his part. In the event, media, have a lot of denials to mind that if she had personally JA: I think the atmosphere was Heath was elected and Nixon private enjoyment, and your campaigned, been advised to see certainly becoming very diffi- thought that he was going to family life can get hurt. And of people individually and regard cult. I remember well being a have a terrific relationship with course there are all kinds of trag- this as a serious challenge she new Cabinet Minister, thinking him. Heath was not really inter- ic endings to political careers. would have won by ten or fifteen that Cabinet would involve ested as his dream was the cre- Mine is a rather spectacular, self- votes. There would have been great discussions of strategic ation of a united states of inflicted tragedy. But many peo- no change in leadership. I think issues. However, people would Europe. Wilson, on the other ple have quietly tragic political it was a great miscalculation on say things like “anyone know hand, was a very pragmatic deal- lives. I think of all those people her part. You might have said how Patrick Cormack is going to maker. Nixon, in 1968, slightly in the Labour Party who were that she would have been vote tomorrow night? What is regarded Wilson as though he looking quite promising in the wounded after that but I think Nick Budgen going to do on was a kind of left-wing leader of late 1970s and then were out she would have rallied. After all this?” So it came down to a lot some difficult country that he completely for effectively the there was almost immediately of desperate questions about tac- just had to get along with. next twenty years. So it is a cruel going to be a and at that tical manoeuvres and individu- Fortunately, they were both life and as Enoch Powell said all time she was an experienced war als. Such uncertainty was bad supreme pragmatists. They political careers end in failure. leader. I think she would have for the Government. John Major, wanted to get things done and He also remarked that politicians fought the next election against in my view, would have gone make the Atlantic alliance func- who don’t like the press are like Kinnock and probably won it. down as a very good Prime tion. They were both willing to sea captains that don’t like the Minister if he started with a make concessions and they both sea and one of my huge mistakes MC: Turning to the 1990s, how majority of sixty. Instead he had got on like a house on fire, per- was to take myself terribly seri- would you describe the latter a majority of twenty and there- sonally and politically. Nixon, ously and pompously, which period of John Major’s adminis- fore, very early on, started from a who wasn’t an easy person him- politicians, when they get tration and the way it limped position of weakness made worse self, found it odd that he could- puffed, up often do. They think into minority status in the House by successive by-election defeats. n’t get on with Heath personally press comment is enormously of Commons? but even more so he found it important. In respect of my own MC: I was intrigued that Harold very odd they couldn’t really circumstances I should have JA: Hindsight is a very easy drug Wilson makes an appearance in connect politically. Heath had shrugged my shoulders and said, to get high on. I think John your book, given that you are an this European agenda and was “I don’t think anybody really Major was too much influenced ex-Tory cabinet minister and probably the most anti-American outside the editorial offices of by his time in the Whip’s Office Eurosceptic. You state that prime minister that Britain has seriously believes and became very obsessed with Wilson more than Ted Heath had in the twentieth century. that I am a pimp or a corrupt small pinpricks in parliamen- strengthened the special rela- arms dealer then why should I tary rebellions and votes. They tionship with the United States, MC: Finally, Lord Beaverbrook care what they say”, which should never, in retrospect, have in particular Richard Nixon. once described politics as “the would have been right as they withdrawn the whip from those What was the secret to this rela- best of lives and the worst of were wrong on both counts. rebels over Maastricht. The tionship, especially as both men lives”. Is this your view? However, I think I was too proud, rebels were impossible col- were ideological opposites? too puffed up to see even a front leagues on the European issue JA: I guess so. I don’t think he page headline in proportion. but really only on that. The likes JA: Nixon, whom I knew very had me in mind when he said of Richard Shepherd were fun- well towards the end of his life this but politics is the best of damentally loyal to the basic as his biographer, always told lives because it’s exciting, it’s Jonathan Aitken’s tenets of Conservatism. They me that he really longed to have worthwhile, a great vocation as latest book ‘Heroes were bad boys but only bad on had a closer relationship with you are able to achieve greater and Contemporaries’ is Europe. I think because of the Heath. He had a rather good things in politics than in any out now, published by Continuum length of time we had been in relationship with Wilson, but he other sphere of life. There are International power discipline was disintegrat- longed for a much better one usually fine ideals behind many Publishing Group.

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The Conservative from Ukraine

Stefan Terlezki, Conservative MP for West 1983-87, died in February of last year. Born in Polish-ruled in 1927, he arrived in Britain as a displaced person in 1948. A Thatcherite, Cold War warrior and committed supporter of the European Community, his views could seem eclectic. But Nick Powell argues that Terlezki’s political papers, in the Ukrainian Association Archive in London, show how his beliefs were forged by his experiences.

tefan Terlezki first out of prison after organising a sit- Stefan Terlezki saw the village priest stood for parliament in down strike at a brick-works, so and schoolmaster arrested and February 1974, chal- responded with enthusiasm when a deported to . Then his uncle lenging Jim Callaghan commissar arrived in the Terlezkis’ was denounced as a kulak and suf- S in Cardiff South East. village to deliver Marx’s words, fered the same fate. Several cousins Trade union power was about to cost ‘Proletarians of all lands, unite; were to follow before Nazi Germany his job and at the start shake off your chains and fetters’. invaded the : of the campaign, Terlezki wrote to Subsequent events were less to his the Prime Minister: liking: “Many of us believed that tyranny and oppression would diminish once “...you should introduce … legisla- “We were subjected to barrages of the hammer and sickle was gone. We tion … disallowing Marxists, propaganda from both military and were allowed to re-open our church- Communists, Trotskyists, Maoists, civilian apparatchiks. We learnt how es and community halls, which was anarchists and fellow travellers… children must be educated, agricul- surely a good sign.”3 [from] …office of any kind… where they may be in a position to organ- Years later, Terlezki faced rumours ise or represent a group of people. “In fact, Terlezki was a victim of the that this right-wing politician had a [A] …minority of politically moti- Nazi slave labour programme. In Nazi past. In August 1993 two detec- vated trade union leaders… [are] tives from the Metropolitan Police …trying not only to bring the peo- 1942, when he was just fourteen, he War Crimes Unit called at his home, ple in this country to their knees was part of a consignment of young “telling me that they wished to speak but to bring about a to me about the anonymous call they 1 Ukrainians sent in railway wagons to revolution.” [had] received, alleging… [that I was] …a Nazi war crime suspect”.4 The origin of such intolerance of per- ” He protested to Scotland Yard, who ceived Marxist infiltration is easily replied: traced. Terlezki’s father, Oleksa, ini- ture organised and industry run, and tially welcomed the Russians when we were bombarded with Marxist “The allegation contains obvious Poland was partitioned under the slogans and Leninist errors of fact about your personal 2 1939 Nazi-Soviet pact. He was just propaganda.” circumstances and wartime experi-

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Stefan Terlezki

ences … In our view there is no sub- In May 1945, Voitsberg was occu- stance to the allegation and the mat- pied by the Russians, who promised ter is closed.”5 to repatriate slave labourers. Terlezki only got as far as a camp in the east- In fact, Terlezki was a victim of the ern Austrian province of . Nazi slave labour programme. In He was conscripted into the Red 1942, when he was just fourteen, he Army, to be sent to fight the was part of a consignment of young Japanese. Terlezki escaped and fled Ukrainians sent in railway wagons to back to Voitsberg, sometimes dodg- Austria. At a slave market in ing the Russian patrols, sometimes Voitsberg, near in , bluffing his way past them. In July prospective purchasers 1945 Styria became part of the British Zone and he eventually emi- “picked out a boy or girl whom they grated to Britain. wanted to examine more closely. A As a political refugee, he had no Propaganda poster: Soviet Union embracing the Ukraine young man…beckoned me closer to special empathy with economic the fence”.6 migrants, as he explained in an He came close to winning the South answer to Cardiff West Conser- Wales European seat in 1979 before That young man, named Hansel vatives’ questionnaire: trying again for Westminster. He Böhmer, was looking for a farm- nearly fought Kingswood, near worker. When I produced a television “…immigration to the United Bristol but wouldn’t move his home documentary about Stefan Terlezki in Kingdom should be frozen for a from Cardiff. When he applied for 2002, we found Böhmer’s farm, now period of, say, three to five years. In Cardiff West, the very first question run by his niece, Hilde. Stefan future, the condition should be that to candidates was about leasehold Terlezki remembered her as a ten- the immigrants… (are) …guaranteed reform. Much of the city’s private year old girl. She confirmed that a employment for a period of at least housing stood on land leased for 99 photograph he had kept of his for- three years and without redress to years during the late nineteenth cen- mer owner was indeed of her change employer”.8 tury. The Ukrainian peasant boy uncle. remembered life at the mercy of the Other first hand accounts by for- This was inspired by the conditions Polish landowners and stayed true to mer slaves provide additional details. he had faced: his roots. He proposed extending the It seems that boys commanded better leases by law to 200 years. Even that prices than girls: “Workers will enter Great Britain was a compromise: without restriction as to period, sub- ject to good behaviour and to the “Ideally, we cannot support this He was conscripted into the Red specific condition that they under- archaic and medieval system, “ take only employment approved by although our outright objection Army, to be sent to fight the Japanese. the Ministry of Labour and National could produce political problems for Terlezki escaped and fled back to Service. They will only be allowed to us, because of personal interests. Voitsberg, sometimes dodging the change their employment with the Nevertheless, the [Leasehold consent of that department.”9 Reform] Act should be looked at Russian patrols, sometimes bluffing again.”12 his way past them Another question he answered was ” about Britain’s future in the EEC: Terlezki got the nomination and in 1983, the incumbent MP, the Speaker “Margaret Thatcher …is fully com- George Thomas, stood down. It was a “Vladimir Akulov can remember mitted to Britain’s membership and landslide year for the Conservatives that each farmer paid 100 marks for we must do everything in our power and a boundary change helped too. a worker. Mariya Nauchatskaya to stand by her commitment.”10 Terlezki’s 1,774 majority also owed recalls that a farmer paid 12 marks something to his belief that Cardiff for her in the slave market … After fighting Cardiff South-East West was winnable when most peo- Lyubova Gritsenko knows that she twice in 1974, Terlezki chaired the ple thought that it was beyond the cost 20 marks”.7 local Keep Britain in Europe campaign, Conservatives’ reach. during the 1975 referendum campaign: Britain’s first Ukrainian-born MP (Twenty Reichsmarks were worth “I believed that a strong Western now sought another political miracle, about one pound sterling at pre-war Europe was badly needed to counter- the disintegration of the Soviet exchange rates). balance the unstable Eastern bloc.”11 Union:

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Stefan Terlezki

“Weakening the Soviet Union by months later. Stefan Terlezki had diminishing the potential of Russia heard that his father was seriously ill proper does not appear feasible in and applied for visas for himself, his the foreseeable future. Weakening, wife and his daughters. The visas and even completely neutralising a were not granted in time and by the powerful non-Russian component time they were allowed to travel, the of the USSR, that is Ukraine, family had missed the funeral. …could be achieved within a few He made several happier visits fol- years.”13 lowing Ukrainian independence. However, he refused invitations to Geopolitical goals are more easily become an honorary consul for his Stefan grasped in human terms and Terlezki and homeland, as he deplored President his father Terlezki’s greatest personal triumph Oleska Leonid Kuchma’s policy of staying was also his finest propaganda victo- Terlezki close to Moscow. reunited in ry. In June 1984 he wrote to the 1984. In September 2005, on his final Foreign Secretary, Sir Geoffrey visit to Ukraine, Stefan Terlezki Howe: agreed to accept an honorary consul- although he knew that his mother had ship from Viktor Yushchenko’s gov- “In view of your visit to Moscow died in 1943. Eventually a letter to ernment. He died before the appoint- early next month, I would ask you the village chairman got a brief reply, ment was confirmed. most sincerely and humbly, if you just a scrap of paper with his father’s would be agreeable to speak to the new address, near Lake Baikal in 1. Letter to the Rt. Hon. Edward Heath MP, 1 appropriate Russian officials on my Siberia. February 1974. behalf for them to allow my father to In 1951, the entire family (Oleksa 2. From War to Westminster by Stefan visit me here in Wales… last week, I had remarried and had two young Terlezki. Pen & Sword Books, 2005. received a letter from my father, sons) had been woken at three in the 3. ibid. telling me that once again he has morning and given half an hour to 4. Letter to Detective Chief Inspector David been refused a visit.”14 pack. They became conscript pio- Sibley, New Scotland Yard, 26 August 1993. neers at a lumber camp. At first they 5. Letter from Detective Chief Inspector David On his return from Moscow, Sir lived with other exiles in a barracks, Sibley, New Scotland Yard, 28 September 1993. Geoffrey replied: though later they were allowed a for- mer tractor shed as their home. 6. From War to Westminster. Op. cit. “I specifically drew attention to your Stefan and Oleksa Terlezki were 7. Ein Geschenk für den Führer, Sowjetische Zwangarbeiter in Kärnten und der Steiermark father’s case and emphasised the reunited at Heathrow airport on 1942-1945 by Peter Ruggethaler. Ludwig hardship that had been caused by October 2 1984. The Member of Boltzman Institut, 2002. the Soviet refusal over many years to Parliament was given only a few 8. Reply to Cardiff West Conservative and allow him to come to this country… hours warning of his father’s arrival Unionist Association questionnaire, 15 December 1980. Mr Gromyko said that he would look and it was a very public reunion, with into the question but that the photographers, reporters and camera- 9. Westward Ho! Volunteer Scheme for Recruitment of Displaced Persons for response in each case would depend men in attendance. It was an emo- Employment in Great Britain. Ministry of upon the circumstances of the per- tional and tearful occasion but Labour and National Service, 1947. son concerned. I am afraid this can- Terlezki wanted the world to know 10. Reply to Cardiff West Association ques- not be seen as an encouraging what the Soviet Union had done to tionnaire. Op. cit. response.”15 his family and to millions of others. 11. From War to Westminster. Op. cit. When Oleksa Terlezki flew back to 12. Reply to Cardiff West Association ques- But two months later came joyous Moscow after his month in Britain, tionnaire. Op. cit. news: “…the Soviet authorities have he did not return to Siberia. He had 13. Could the Soviet Empire fall from within? now said that they will issue… an been allowed back to Ukraine in by Stefan Terlezki. The Ukrainian Review, Winter 1985. exit visa”.16 1979 but his sons by his second mar- It was 42 years since father and riage persuaded him to rejoin them in 14. Letter to the Rt. Hon. Sir MP, 2 June 1984. son had been separated. At first they Angarsk, near Irkutsk, because he 15. Letter from the Rt. Hon. Sir Geoffrey had been able to write to one another “…was not allowed to settle in his Howe MP, 13 July 1984. but all communication was lost when village nor even in the region where 16. Letter from the Rt. Hon. Sir Geoffrey 17 the re-conquered Ukraine the village was situated”. Howe MP, 3 September 1984. in 1944. Until 1960, Terlezki had no This time the old man was taken 17. Letter to Sally R Jones, 5 January 2002. information about what had hap- by the KGB to his brother’s house in Jones was helping Terlezki write his memoirs. pened to his father and sister, their village, where he died 14 He excluded all reference to his step-mother and half-brothers from the published version.

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Conservative Scottish Secretaries

As the subject of further Scottish devolution, possibly leading to Scotland’s withdrawal from the Union, is discussed, the historian David Torrance, author of The Scottish Secretaries, a collection of biographies, published last year in , reviews the Conservatives’ record on Scotland.

he Conservative Party a dedicated minister. Oddly for a that it is quite unnecessary,’ wrote has a surprisingly con- staunch unionist, Salisbury thought Richmond on accepting Salisbury’s structive record when it the reform both practical and desir- invitation, ‘but the Country and comes to Scottish con- able: ‘...on the whole, it is better to Parliament think otherwise – and the stitutional reform. localize as far as possible, rather than office has been created, and someone T 2 Although it held out against the centralize, a business of this must fill it’. devolutionists until the bitter end, kind...those vast administrative mec- He did fill it, but not for long. Scotland – or rather the Scottish hanisms which we are building up are When the Conservatives returned to Office – owed both its creation and not without their inconvenience, and government in mid-1886 following a all its most significant reforms to a even not without their danger; and I brief Liberal administration, a reluc- party which (unjustly in the author’s should be, therefore, prepared to see tant Arthur James Balfour arrived at opinion) came to be viewed as incon- them divided into smaller Depar- Dover House, the Whitehall home of trovertibly ‘anti-Scottish’ by the tments.’1 the , but soon proved dying days of Westminster rule. an inspired choice. While his Liberal 1885 was one of those fascinating predecessors had tried to appease years in which old political certain- “1885 was one of those fascinating Highland unrest from crofters unhap- ties die. The Grand Old Man, years in which old political py at rising rents, Balfour sent in the William Gladstone, was preparing to gunboats and zealously quelled the articulate his case for Irish Home certainties die land raiders. Within a year he was Rule which was to split his party, and ” promoted to become Chief Secretary Scottish public opinion was also for , where he put his Scottish going through a periodic burst of This sentiment, of course, did not Office reputation as a tough operator nationalist sentiment. Gladstone extend to Ireland, although Salisbury to effective use. The 9th Marquis of eventually acquiesced with a reform- was at great pains to be seen to take Lothian replaced him as Secretary for ing Bill but when his government fell his new department seriously. The Scotland and finally brought some in the summer of 1885 it was left to first Secretary for Scotland (not yet a stability to the fledgling Scottish Lord Salisbury to carry through the Secretary of State), however, was the Office, holding the post for the next Secretary for Scotland Bill, which Duke of Richmond, who did not five years. Despite the initially limit- established both a new territorial share his chief’s enthusiasm. ‘You ed powers of the department, Lothian department (the first of its kind) and know my opinion of the office, and enthusiastically reformed the four

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Conservative Scottish Secretaries

Scottish universities, virtually government was by now on its Novar did not have long in administration had to wait created democratic local govern- last legs and two short-lived office and tension between him another ten years. This was also ment in Scotland, and where Scottish Secretaries, the former and the new prime minister, driven by Gilmour, but this time Balfour had rejected romantic Lord Advocate Andrew Graham Stanley Baldwin, meant that he as the chairman of an independ- pleas to help the Highlands, Murray and the first Governor- was left out of government when ent committee. Its recommenda- Lothian showered the region General of the Marquis Baldwin returned to Downing tions – the abolition of the board with public money. Most impor- of Linlithgow, were sympto- Street in late 1924. Instead Sir system and the wholesale trans- John Gilmour, a popular former fer of Scottish Office staff to soldier from Montrave in Fife, Edinburgh – were implemented Graham Murray only accepted the position became Secretary for Scotland; by two pre-war Scottish “ and, two years later, the first Secretaries, Walter Elliot and on the condition that he be allowed to Secretary of State for Scotland David John Colville. The former become a judge when a vacancy arose, and since the position had been abol- was by far the more interesting: ished following the ’45 uprising. erudite, witty and full of ideas, Linlithgow begged Balfour to let him quit after A visit to Glasgow’s slums had Elliot was the first ostentatiously just a month, still physically weak from the convinced Baldwin that the Scottish secretary of state, and long-demanded elevation was unusually for a Conservative typhoid fever he had contracted en route to timely. It was also contrived to had even been educated in his Australia keep a growing Scottish native land. He championed ” Nationalist movement in check; housing and social reform with they, however, were not the zeal of a Middle-Way Tory, impressed by Conservatives pos- while his successor, Colville, tantly, and encouraged by matic of the party’s political turing as the guardians of focused on the all-important task Balfour’s efforts, Lothian decline. Graham Murray only Scottish nationhood. of preparing Scotland for war. amended the original Secretary accepted the position on the con- Sir John Gilmour’s legacy lies With the opening of St Andrew’s for Scotland Act to transfer more dition that he be allowed to chiefly in administrative reform. House in Edinburgh just as powers to the Scottish Office, become a judge when a vacancy As Scottish Secretary, he stream- bombs started to fall on London, including law and order from the arose, and Linlithgow begged lined Scotland’s disparate local the . Balfour to let him quit after just authorities and also attempted to (more popularly known as Lord Balfour of Burleigh, a month, still physically weak modernise the old board system Unionists) had fulfilled their who became Secretary for from the typhoid fever he had (basically semi-autonomous dream of a consolidated and Scotland in 1895, was very contracted en route to Australia. quangos) which had governed identifiably Scottish seat of much in the Lothian mould of No Conservative occupied the Scotland for much of the previ- administration in the nation’s paternalistic Toryism. He was Scottish Office for the next 17 ous century. Sir John wanted to ancient Capital. committed to education in years. The 1906 Liberal land- Scotland, then controlled by the slide and subsequent Liberal-led very Victorian sounding Scotch coalitions ensured that the Education Department, and pur- Unionists, with their limited With the opening of St Andrew’s House in sued many enduring reforms numbers in Scotland, did not “ which impacted in Scotland’s steer the affairs of Scotland until Edinburgh just as bombs started to fall on schoolrooms. Lord Balfour dom- the dramatic meet- London, the Scottish Conservatives (more inated Scottish politics for eight ing of 1922. Even then, the first popularly known as Unionists) had fulfilled years, passing numerous Bills Conservative Scottish Secretary from the House of Lords and for a generation was only a their dream of a consolidated and identifiably chairing several committees of recent convert. Viscount Novar, Scottish seat of administration in the nation’s inquiry. But his rigid free-market like Linlithgow a former views were out of kilter with that Australian Governor-General, ancient Capital of the Liberal Unionist Joseph had been a Liberal MP and a fol- ” Chamberlain, and increasingly lower of Lord Rosebery until his those of (from old friend Andrew 1902 the Unionist leader and asked him to join his govern- replace two of them – the Board The Conservatives returned to prime minister). When the party ment as Secretary for Scotland. of Agriculture for Scotland and government in 1951 and James split over tariff reform in the ‘A truly amazing appointment the Board of Health – with civil Stuart, Churchill’s wartime chief summer of 1903, Lord Balfour showing our poverty in Scotland,’ servant-run departments along whip, became Scottish Secretary was effectively sacked from the judged the Earl of Crawford. Whitehall lines. He eventually in the first exclusively Tory Cabinet and never again held ‘While he joins us… there are still succeeded, but the more funda- Cabinet since 1929. Together Ministerial office. The Unionist practical proofs of coalition!’3 mental overhaul of Scottish with his two immediate succes-

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Conservative Scottish Secretaries

sors, Jack Maclay and Michael the 1974-79 Parliament but failed to later. A spirited defence of the Union Noble, Stuart tried hard to prepare produce an assembly following an and a pledge to ‘take stock’ of Scotland for the post-industrial age. inconclusive referendum. Scotland’s place within it, produced The trio had mixed results, although not only a slight increase in the Ravenscraig, Linwood and Bathgate Tories’ share of the Scottish vote, but 4 all witnessed major investment dur- The number of Scottish Tory MPs an additional two MPs. It was, how- ing Maclay’s tenure at the Scottish “ ever, a final reprieve. Lang’s tinker- Office (1957-62). Stuart was patri- halved and an admirably ebullient ing with the powers of the Scottish cian yet shrewd, and shored up an Rifkind faced a torrid few years of Grand Committee did not convince ever-expanding ministerial team at St anyone, least of all the SNP, that the Andrew’s House with the young Earl party infighting, a periodically hostile Conservatives were serious about of Home. He became the depart- Mrs Thatcher and worst of all, the constitutional reform. Michael ment’s first Minister of State, based Forsyth, who replaced Lang in 1995, in Edinburgh with a roving brief to disastrous . Gone was the was an altogether different kind of bring the Scottish Office closer to the party’s creative instinct for Tory Scottish Secretary. Unapol- people. That, together with a commit- ogetically right-wing and working- ment to a royal commission on constitutional reform; all that mattered class by background, Forsyth repre- Scottish affairs, formed the basis of now was holding on to power sented the last colourful roar of the Tories’ 1951 manifesto, which in ” Scottish Unionism. He attacked turn was derived from a pseudo- Labour’s (by now fully-developed) nationalist party policy paper called plans for a devolved Scottish Scottish Control of Scottish Affairs. George Younger, Mrs Thatcher’s Parliament, coining the phrase ‘tartan The Royal Commission, chaired by first Scottish Secretary and a great tax’ to describe the proposed institu- the Earl of Balfour (A.J.’s son) nephew of Sir John Gilmour, repre- tion’s tax-raising powers. But no reported in 1954, and recommended sented a Scottish Office at the peak of amount of imaginative rhetoric could the transfer of additional powers its powers. The 1979 Parliament saw prevent wipeout at the 1997 general from other government departments Bills to sell council houses, reform election and with it the demise of the and advocated the undisputed status local government, overhaul the Scottish Office as a powerful institu- of the secretary of state as ‘Scotland’s Scottish criminal justice system and tion. Minister’. introduce parental choice into The irony of devolution in 1999 The Scottish Office was now (and Scotland’s schools. Younger exuded was palpable. The Conservatives had had been since the war) a major bonhomie and charmed hitherto hos- opposed it, but through the creation department of state with a finger in tile trade unionists and delegations of the Scottish Office and the steady every conceivable Whitehall pie. with tales of woe; this approach transfer of powers to it over the fol- Jack Maclay assumed greater control worked for a while, but by the mid lowing century had done more than over Scotland’s industrial life, while 1980s both the prime minister’s any other party to produce a distinct Michael Noble acted upon a wide- unpopularity and growing industrial administration for Scotland. In 2006, ranging report into the Scottish econ- decline hastened the seemingly ter- 80 years after Sir John Gilmour took omy, the so-called Toothill Report, in minal decline of the Conservative the oath as secretary of state, the the dying days of the Macmillan/ vote in Scotland. The 1987 general position still exists, albeit on a tenu- Douglas-Home government. From election, by which point Malcolm ous basis. If ever another Conser- 1964 until 1979 only one other Rifkind had replaced Younger post- vative becomes Scottish Secretary, Conservative graced St Andrew’s Westland, was the inevitable out- he or she will find a department House, and that was the former diplo- come. The number of Scottish Tory which bears little relation to that mat and civil servant Gordon MPs halved and an admirably ebul- familiar to Arthur Balfour, James Campbell. He was the first Conser- lient Rifkind faced a torrid few years Stuart or even Sir . vative Scottish Secretary since the of party infighting, a periodically The song, as they say, is ended, but 1920s to be faced with the problem of hostile Mrs Thatcher and worst of all, the melody lingers on. a minority Tory mandate north of the the disastrous Poll Tax. Gone was the

border. This was neutered slightly by party’s creative instinct for constitu- 1. 3rd Hansard p. 299 c.95 an outstanding Heathite commitment tional reform; all that mattered now 2. Hanham, ‘The Creation of the Scottish to a devolved Scottish Assembly, yet was holding on to power. Office 1881-87’, Juridical Review 10 (1965),p. another example of the Unionists The laconic Ian Lang, who arrived 229 leading the way with constitutional at the Scottish Office following John 3. Vincent, The Crawford Papers, pp. 460-61 reform. This, despite all-party sup- Major’s accession to the leadership in 4. The 1992 election produced 11 MPs. The port until 1976 (when Mrs Thatcher 1990, seemingly achieved the impos- Conservatives had ten Scottish MPs after the 1987 poll, but had lost one in the Kincardine u-turned on devolution), dominated sible at the general election two years by-election of 1991.

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Obituaries Lord Rawlinson of Ewell, 1919 - 2006 by Ronald Porter

e can now know a lot better. Rawlinson of Law Officers in an adminis- ‘Rivers of Blood' speech and had “ expect no in his autobiography, 'A Price tration. He never really saw he not tried to sink the boat with preferment Too High', pointed out that he them as a Prime Minister or his 'vote Labour' advice in 1974, from me” was one of the small group of leading Cabinet Minister sees Rawlinson thought that Powell H was Marg- ministers who interviewed Pro- them. All they want - and have could have taken over the leader- aret Thatcher's magisterial fumo about his relationship with ever really wanted - from these ship. I think this is an absurd response on Peter Rawlinson's Christine Keeler and helped to legal luminaries is advice on the view. Powell was always some- hint to Sir Robert Armstrong, draw up that infamous state- law as it affects a particular situ- thing of a maverick in the Secretary to the Cabinet, that he ment. It is always said that ation. The fact that POLITICAL Conservative Party. He never would be available for some Profumo did not really appreciate considerations conflict with the really enjoyed strong support on modest, voluntary public service what he was really saying or legal ones, does not mean to say the back benches. Unlike when he retired from the Bar in doing the previous night because that a Prime Minister should Thatcher, he was never able to 1985. Of course, the problem was he had taken some strong sleep- always give way automatically gather round him a loyal and that Rawlinson and Thatcher ing tablets before going to bed. to what the legal advisers want. devoted team of supporters which never hit it off. The chemistry Rawlinson impressively dis- Lawyers frequently have a blind could be used as a spring board between them was all wrong. misses this load of old twaddle : - spot when it comes to com- for greater things. Airey Neave She could sometimes bury the “At the time I did not gain any monsense political or human put together for Thatcher a small hatchet when she needed to. But impression of drowsiness; his considerations. That explains team of loyal and devoted fol- if there was no reason to, as interjection [on the wording of why very few law officers ever lowers who helped her no end there was none with Rawlinson, the statement] belied any lack of end up as occupants of No.10 when it came to her leadership then that was that. This explains understanding. There was also Downing Street. A legal answer battle with Heath in 1975. Powell why The Lord Chancellorship plenty of time later that morning to a problem may have all sorts was essentially a one man band. went to the dotty and doddery to recant if there was to be any of practical political ramifica- The derisory number of votes he Quintin Hailsham in 1979 and recantation, for the statement tions which lawyers sometimes got when he stood against Heath not, as some had expected, to the would not be made until 11 am; cannot foresee. A classic exam- in the 1965 leadership battle much younger, and more lucid, several hours away. I certainly ple is the industrial relations leg- clearly demonstrated this . Peter Rawlinson. Rawlinson had did not expect any as I went islation which the Heath admin- Rawlinson's obsessive desire all the right qualifications.A home and got into bed at 5 am.” istration introduced in the early never to be without a watch - Tory MP since 1955, he was Mac- During Heath's administra- 1970s. It was to some extent chain in his lapel, even when millan's, and later, Home's tion, as his Attorney-General, unworkable. It served to make wearing a dinner jacket, is the Solicitor-General from 1962 until Rawlinson had some famous industrial relations worse in one abiding memory I have of 1964. From 1970 to 1974 he was legal cases to handle. He prose- many instances. It increased the him. His natural elegance may Edward Heath's Attorney-General cuted the monstrous Hosein number of days lost through have been one of the reasons and then a leading member of brothers, who had kidnapped strikes. And it brought forth why he was chosen, by the late the Bar for the next ten years. and murdered Mrs. McKay in strong accusations of political Michael Dennison, as the model As Macmillan's Solicitor- mistake for Mrs. Rupert bias on the part of judges like Sir for his portrayal of the television General, Rawlinson was closely Murdoch. He also prosecuted, John Donaldson, who had to character, Boyd QC. “I do involved in the government's amongst other, some leading interpret it. Both Rawlinson and know”, he once remarked, “that handling of the Profumo affair. IRA bombers, Rudi Dutschke, his deputy [the Solicitor-General] both Boyd and I fiddled with our The Profumo Apologists - and and a number of spies. When the had beavered away to produce watch-chains when engaged in that includes, to some extent, Tories left office on March 4, something which the nation as a cross-examination”. His sartori- David Profumo in his book 1974, Rawlinson returned to a whole was not ready for. al elegance, quick brain and dis- ‘Bringing The House Down’ - lucrative career at the Bar. A few Another dreadful blind spot in tinguished air could have would have us all believe that days later he was “instructed to Rawlinson's political thinking prompted the solicitor acting for Profumo would never had lied to advise the ruler of a Gulf State concerned the late Enoch Powell Ruth Ellis to choose the young the House had not the statement and earned, in a few hours, half a Rawlinson really did see Enoch Rawlinson to represent her after been dragged from him, in a Law Officer 's annual salary”. as a future leader of the she had shot her lover outside drugged condition, during the Rawlinson had a somewhat Conservative Party! Had he not the Magdala public house in early hours of the morning. We inflated view of the importance fallen out with Heath over the in 1955.

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Obituaries

Lord Harris of High Cross, 1924 - 2006 Leading early monetarist and free marketeer by Ronald Porter

aret Thatcher has freely admitted as a leader-writer for the Glasgow free enterprise and the market that Harris played a crucial role Herald. From an early age, he economy. With his hair parted in helping her crystallise her disagreed with many of his fel- down the middle, he was always economic policies during her low economists who thought a bit of a showman and had a period as Leader of the Opp- that state intervention was inev- great sense of humour. His pipe osition from 1975 to 1979. The itable. They accepted, without was a good prop. And so were Life Peerage she gave him in 1979 question, that the state should the watches he wore on BOTH was a very public way of thank- play a dominant role in the lives wrists! Milton Friedman ing him for his past help and of its citizens, from the cradle to believed that there was no such egging him on to even greater the grave. The pervading philoso- thing as a free lunch. Harris efforts in smashing to smithereens phy of ' Butskellism ' was abhor- thought so too, but only up to a the cosy but stultifying political rent to him. Free markets were point. His luncheon parties at the consensus which had bedevilled what he believed in, along with IEA, and the debates they eynes taught British politics since the less government, balanced budg- encouraged, were famous and governments Churchill Coalition of 1940. ets, strict money supply, less gov- were always well attended by how to spend Like Margaret Thatcher, ernment expenditure and less leading editors, politicians, jour- their way out of Ralph Harris made his way to taxation. Union power distorted nalists, businessmen, academics K recessions. But the top without any inherited markets and needed to be broken and important diplomats. He he died too soon to tell us all money. He was educated at completely. More economic free- had a great talent for attracting how to deal with inflation. That Tottenham Grammar School in dom should be given to the ordi- publicity for his ideas and the task was left to the late Milton North London and then went up nary man in the street.He was ‘pamhleteering ' side of the IEA. Friedman in the United States to Queen's College, Cambridge into “Rolling Back the Frontiers He had a unique gift for friend- and to Ralph Harris in Britain. to read Political Economy. A of the State” long before William ship, young and old. Hayek and From the mid 1950s, until Foundation Scholarship provid- Hague was even born. Milton Friedman were not simply recently, Ralph Harris was the ed some of the money to finance Harris was made General “fellow travellers” but became his the leading monetarist light in his time there. He gained a Director of the IEA in 1957 and trusted confidants. In later years, the Institute of Economic Affairs. Double First. Then he took up a played a leading role in its Margaret Thatcher, Norman The IEA, under Harris's leader- lecturing post, in Political affairs right up to the time of his Tebbit, Geoffrey Howe, Norman ship, became a highly respected Economy, at the University of St death. Over the years, Harris Lamont and Neil Hamilton were Think Tank, which helped under- Andrews between 1949 and 1956. turned the IEA from an obscure, to look on him not just as their pin much of the intellectual basis And it was at about this time that right-wing little pressure group mentor or Guiding Light but as a of Thatcherite economics. Marg- he started to dabble in journalism into a serious crusading force for close ally and friend as well.

Lord Biffen of Tanat, 1930 - 2007 by Colin Baillieu

wedding of John and Sarah While he would not have liked to government. He more than any- Biffen to share his memories be thought ‘modern’ - and cer- one else, though there were oth- with our readers. tainly not ‘post-modern’ - he had ers like the unsung Peter Hordern, “History is now and a mind that explored and who schooled the Leader of the England”: if you want to get a colonised concepts way beyond Opposition in the relevance of feel of the essence of John the imaginings of most politi- monetarism to the desperate Biffen, read T. S. Eliot’s ‘Little cians, let alone the intellectual woes of the British economy. Gidding’. Here was a man root- chatterers with the latest fads. He never reneged on that rele- ed physically in the soil of His unique place in the politi- vance at that time; merely he he death of Lord England, rooted spiritually in the cal history of the second half of saw, sooner than others, the bat- Biffen was announced , imbued with the twentieth century will be as tle won and the time to move on. as this issue was the history of England but total- the bridge builder between the His firm opposition to the drift being prepared. We ly aware, again in Eliot’s words, passionate economic theories of to Europe was not, as some have Tstill had time to ask “We cannot restore old poli- Enoch Powell and the hard poli- hinted, a dislike of foreigners Colin Baillieu, best man at the cies/Or follow an antique drum”. cy decisions of the Thatcher but his love and loyalty to the

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Book reviews

whole history of English sover- total disregard for spin – though leadership of the party. In John’s a care for the condition of the eignty, expressed in the marriage did smarten him up words “it was becoming like a people - a challenging but not supremacy of ‘The Queen in considerably. Nuremburg rally”. impossible combination. Parliament’. Any arrangement Yes, he was a consolidator but He was genial to all, loyal and Along with his faith in the that chipped away at his beloved not a compromiser. He never happy-making to his friends, robustness of the political insti- House of Commons - and later wanted to push a policy to the loving and tender to Sarah and tutions of this country and in the his beloved House of Lords - point of zealotry. In the eigh- his step-children. Here was no ultimate good sense and decency had to be resisted. This was the teenth century sense he distrust- dry intellectual. In our youth he of its people went a profound basis of his friendship with ed enthusiasm. He was one of yearned after some improbable faith in a loving and redemptive ; it also helped the few who remained firmly in blondes as often as he espoused God. To end with Little that they would come equal bot- their seats at that moment of some political cause. He was, to Gidding: tom in any poll for the best great political theatre when Lord the last, typical of the 1950’s dressed man. His wife Sarah’s Hailsham, at the end of the CPC ethos, which he did And all shall be well and anguished “How can I marry a meeting at the Conservative much to shape; a respect for free All manner of thing shall be well man who buys his shirts at Conference at Blackpool, renou- markets and small government By the purification of the motive Littlewood” sums up John’s nced his title and stood for the allied to high social concern and In the ground of our beseeching

Book Reviews

The Queen of Westminster Mark Coalter, a regular contributor to the Journal reviews Andrew Hosken’s Nothing Like a Dame – The Scandals of Shirley Porter

Nothing Like A Dame - The John Major’s General Election and foibles of the flesh, howev- heiress, whose husband Scandals of victory in 1992 gave the er, were largely small fry in eventually became chairman, Shirley Porter Conservative Party a fourth con- comparison to the misuse of money was never in short sup- Andrew Hoskins secutive term of office. Such an power that was taking place on ply, however, as a woman she Granta achievement was, within the Victoria Street, a mere five was expected to look after ISBN 1 8620 7922 6 context of the twentieth-century, minute stroll from the Palace of domestic matters and leave busi- £9.99 unprecedented. It did not take Westminster, in City Hall, the ness to the men of the family. long for the gilt of this triumph headquarters of Westminster Politics therefore provided an to fade as individual members of City Council, the local authority alternative outlet and in the late the administration became em- responsible for most of central 1950s she briefly contemplated broiled in a wide array of scan- London. Presiding over this scan- a career in this field only to be dals whilst by-elections took dal of immense proportions was rejected as a Conservative par- their toll on the government’s Shirley Porter, the leader of the liamentary candidate partially minuscule majority. No doubt Council and subject of Nothing on the grounds of not being the unethical side of some of Like A Dame - “The Scandals of “bright enough”, a rebuff which these dealings stemmed from Shirley Porter”, a riveting new led her to the Liberal Party for a the longevity of the Conser- study of this politically polarised few years. It was not until she vative Party’s uninterrupted stint era by Andrew Hosken. moved to Westminster from in office and the accompanying Shirley Porter was the first Hampstead Garden Suburb in arrogance associated with feel- female to ‘lead’ Westminster. the early 1970s that she became ings of invincibility, particularly Before entering politics in the involved again with the Conser- when viewed from a 1980s per- mid-1970s she had an affluent vatives, this time securing a spective. Stuffed brown envelopes yet frustrating existence. As a council seat in 1974.

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Book reviews

Local government in Westminster was in many ways typical of the ide- It is difficult to make local govern- was a fairly sedate affair until ological divisions that plagued the ment interesting, however, Hosken, Porter’s election as leader. She nar- first half of the 1980s. Unfortunately, an investigative journalist with BBC rowly defeated an establishment so was her conversion to privatisa- Radio 4’s Today programme, suc- Tory, who thought it bad form to can- tion, which inspired the exceptional- ceeds with a tale of one woman’s lust vass votes from one’s colleagues, in ly callous decision to sell three for power to the detriment, not just of the leadership election to replace one cemeteries owned by the Council, the standards expected of an elected of the Party’s loyal retainers. Her seen as loss making burdens, to ruth- representative but also to large num- autocratic rule over Westminster, less asset strippers. The consideration bers of Westminster ratepayers. from 1983 to 1991, coincided with for this transaction was a paltry 15p Hosken’s narrative captures the the majority of Margaret Thatcher’s and within months of the sale the essence of the 1980s. Shirley’s hard- term in office and unsurprisingly cemeteries became run-down and a headed approach to dealing with comparisons were made between the haven for anti-social activity. public servants, her eye-catching ini- two women, not least their fathers’ Embarrassingly one of the three tiatives and vulgar materialism backgrounds in the grocery trade. cemeteries was located in the Prime (which included owning a gold plat- However, this connection is less than Minister’s constituency and ed toilet seat) all conjure up the more perfect when one considers that aggrieved constituents drew Mrs undesirable attributes of that decade. ’ commercial fiefdom Thatcher into this debacle. This is reinforced by the cabal of extended no further than the corner Eventually the Council reacquired unpleasant right-wingers Porter sur- shop in Grantham, whilst Jack Cohen the three cemeteries, minus the more rounded herself with in office plus co-founded and managed Tesco. As valuable assets, for 4.2 million, a sig- the aspirant Alan B’stard’s who Hosken notes, in marked contrast to nificant loss to ratepayers, not to packed the Council’s public gallery Mrs Thatcher, “Porter came to mention the considerable heartache to jeer at single mothers and the believe that the ends always justified caused to the families of the homeless. Indeed, the latter brings to the means, that the possession of deceased. mind Rowan Atkinson’s spoof Party power came with the right to abuse it, More notoriously Shirley Porter is Conference speech on immigration and that it would protect her from remembered for the ‘homes for and curry in a contemporaneous Not censure”. votes’ scandal. After the shock elec- the Nine O’Clock News sketch. The Porter’s first years in office were a tion result in 1986, when Labour author should be given immense significant departure from her prede- nearly won control of the Council, credit for his extensive research, cessors and initially boasted a num- Porter decided to take steps to regain detailing the minutiae of local gov- ber of headline-grabbing successes. the Conservative’s large majority. In ernment in all its parochial glory. His Clamping down on the sex trade in short, this involved selling council conclusions, however, are on occa- and turning City Hall into a housing at a discount to people per- sions questionable. Westminster was ‘one stop shop’ where residents could ceived more likely to vote no gangster state, still less a have all their queries addressed under Conservative whilst shifting council Tammany Hall. It should be empha- one roof allowed some to draw the tenants to accommodation in solidly sised that Shirley Porter intended to conclusion that the ‘magic of Tesco’ Labour wards where their presence benefit politically from her schemes. had indeed rubbed off on would have little impact or moving Whilst funds were grossly misman- Westminster. Contrast that with her them to seedy hotels and B&Bs out- aged and prime real estate sold at a abrasive style, love of vacuous slo- side Westminster’s boundaries. In discount for partisan purposes there gans and initiatives, the inability to respect of the former some residents is no suggestion that Porter or her master detail or relate to people and were knowingly relocated to two colleagues profited personally. the gradual politicisation of local tower blocks contaminated with However, this should not detract government staff, who were either asbestos. The so-called ‘eight target from what is a fine piece of inves- too supine or demoralised to oppose, wards’ were ruthlessly targeted by tigative journalism and for this meant that the seeds for future disas- Porter and received significant coun- Hosken should be congratulated. ter were already being sowed. cil investment in subsequent years. There are undoubtedly other less Typical of someone with limited Although her strategy proved suc- prominent but more cunning and intellectual acumen in the political cessful on polling day, ethically her venal Shirley Porters in local govern- arena, Porter was extremely ambi- leadership was found wanting and ment, past and present. Maybe tious and a noted self-publicist, from the mid-1990s until relatively Nothing Like A Dame will encourage envisaging the House of Lords and a recently she was hounded to make journalists to re-orientate their focus ministerial position as the next logi- good, financially, the extraordinary away from the Westminster Village to cal step in her career. Her (very) pub- losses suffered by Westminster in scrutinise town halls and the great lic feud with and his implementing her politically partisan municipal authorities where perhaps pseudo-Trotskyite chums in the GLC strategy. the real corruption is festering.

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Book reviews

Very Deeply Dyed in Black: Sir Oswald Mosley and the Resurrection of British Fascism after 1945 Review by Nicholas Hillman, who has written on political extremism for the Journal of Contemporary British History and International Searchlight magazine

Very Deeply This fascinating new book by ered they were even more risible The Union Movement’s woe- Dyed in Black: Sir Oswald Graham Macklin, who works at than they had been before the ful electoral record is indicative Mosley and the the National Archives, provides war, when P.G. Wodehouse was of its various weaknesses. The Resurrection of British Fascism a vivid account of British fas- writing about Roderick Spode party declined to put forward after 1945 cism after the Second World and his Black Shorts. candidates in the 1950 election, Graham Macklin War. It focuses particularly on This unenviable reputation using the uninspiring slogan I.B. Tauris the activities of Sir Oswald did not stop Mosley from recon- ‘Vote Union Next Time’ – a ISBN 1 8451 1284 9 Mosley (1896-1980), the pre- stituting his old party as the repeat of Mosley’s 1935 slogan £45.00 eminent British fascist, who had Union Movement in February ‘Fascism Next Time’. In the already been a Conservative MP, 1948. Although it limped on in event, they did not contest the an Independent MP and a one form or another until 1978 1951 election either. Labour Minister when he found- (and the Friends of Oswald When Mosley did finally put ed the British Union of Fascists Mosley survives to this day), himself forward – in North in 1932. Macklin argues the party was on Kensington, an area affected by A huge amount has been writ- the verge of collapse as early as race riots – in the 1959 general ten about the activities of November 1949. Mosley’s per- election, he achieved just 8.1 per Mosley’s British Union during sonal commitment was notably cent of the vote. He refused to the 1930s and also about the lacking. As soon as he was accept the result and unsuccess- National Front during the 1970s, allowed a passport, he left for a fully challenged the outcome in as well as the BNP today. But long trip around Europe that court. He stood again in far-right extremism in the imme- took up much of the second half Shoreditch in 1966 and achieved diate post-war period has gener- of 1949. The following year he an even worse result with only ally been neglected. In one spent only 60 days in Britain. 4.6 per cent of the vote. In his respect, this is unsurprising Then, in 1951, he moved to memoirs, Mosley unconvincing- because fascism was particularly Ireland and, two years later, to ly defended the Union Move- unpopular then. Yet this book France where he lived for the ment’s dire results in the 1966 provides a wealth of detail to rest of his life. election by claiming that they show that there is a tale worth The other weaknesses of the were better than the Nazis’ telling. Without an understand- Union Movement were essen- results in the German election ing of the 1940s, it is impossible tially the same as those of the of 1928. to explain the links between pre- pre-war British Union. Supp- Macklin shows persuasively war fascism and post-war fas- orters were limited in number that the most important differ- cism or to understand the path and calibre and resources were ence between British fascism in that right-wing extremists have lacking. Blunt racism attracted a the 1930s and British fascism taken in more recent years – few people, but it repelled far in the 1940s was not one of ide- events during the 1940s and more. While Mosley claimed his ology or personnel. The main 1950s, for example, explain the ideas had matured, this was difference was the wider envi- inability of the British far right only of limited truth and his ronment. Fascism faced even to decide whether to be pro- newer ideas, such as a united less propitious circumstances European (as Mosley became) or fascist Europe (with Africa as a once the Second World War had more isolationist in outlook. huge colony), found little trac- revealed its true nature, and it Macklin starts by showing tion. Even the links to the Nazis became even less mainstream. that the wartime internment of were not repudiated – the Union This explains why Mosley was British fascists often increased Movement’s ‘European Marching unable to translate either the their fervour. But at the same Song’ took the tune of the Nazis’ anti-Jewish views prompted by time, it confirmed suspicions ‘Horst Wessel Lied’ – and the situation in Palestine in the among the public about their Mosley kept in touch with late 1940s or the anti-immi- loyalty and sanity. After their many long-standing fascists grant feeling of the 1950s and release, British fascists discov- abroad. 1960s into popular support. The

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absence of a serious economic failures, his internment and the political sewers are worth study- judgements, but they are dis- downturn also hindered him, racist violence that he had encou- ing because they illuminate tracting. especially as he persistently pre- raged. Later generations of right- important historical themes, Historians studying political dicted such a crisis. wing extremists, who tended to including the treatment of poten- extremism tend to pepper their Mosley kept the flame of be much less charismatic than tial traitors, the limits of free words with insulting remarks in British fascism flickering after Mosley, had less baggage and speech and the resilience of order to highlight their own anti- 1945. Just as he had run the most managed to win greater sup- democracy. fascist credentials. Macklin important pre-war fascist party, port. The book’s most serious flaw shows convincingly that this is so he also ran the most important Although the text is a mite is that it is strewn with typo- totally unnecessary as the facts fascist party in the immediate repetitive, this fascinating story graphical, grammatical and stand up for themselves. The post-war period. But his back- is well told in this book. A few spelling errors. There is no rea- true record of British fascism is ground also limited the far right’s elements may seem inconse- son to believe these mistakes are one of mean racism, strange potential support: people could quential to some people, but the reflected by weaknesses in the egotistical people and repeated recall all too well his pre-war author shows convincingly that research or in the historical failure.

The Decent Prime Minister Harshan Kumarasingham, Doctoral Candidate in Political History at Victoria University of Wellington, reviews the reissued biography of Alec Douglas-Home by D. R. Thorpe

Alec Douglas- Lord Home during his long and ing his own and maintaining a the Macmillan and Home private Home (Great Statesman) remarkable life had almost as legitimate claim to high office papers (including those of Lady D.R. Thorpe many roles as he did names. well into the 1970s. Home) we can glimpse into the Politico’s Alexander Frederick Douglas- Thorpe argues and presents event, but also more importantly ISBN 1 8427 5191 3 Home was at times in his life unmistakable evidence of Home’s the context. Thorpe furnishes £14.99 Viscount Dunglass, Earl of political activity that belies his the reader with information that Home, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, sleepy reputation. From his cuts the accepted historical Baron Home of the Hirsel – but involvement as PPS to hegemony of Home’s supposed always Alec. In his political Chamberlain, Suez, arms deals inefficacy and redundancy pilot- career he was PPS to Neville and decolonisation, Home’s role ed by calls like Wilson’s claim- Chamberlain, Scottish Secretary, and involvement becomes more ing, mischievously, that “the Commonwealth Secretary, For- appreciated than hitherto noticed whole process has ground to a eign Secretary (twice), and thanks to Thorpe’s tireless halt with a 14th Earl” or the Prime Minister amongst other research. Though as a person embittered Macleod’s allusion things – but always serving his Home was heavily motivated by of a “Magic Circle”, which country. The reissue of D. R. service he was also motivated by argued that the Peer’s appoint- Thorpe’s biography as part of the realities and objectives of ment showed contempt for the Politico’s “Great Statesmen” power. Thorpe cleverly presents elected Commons and was the series on one of Britain’s most Home as an “Unexpected Prime worst example of the archaic and underrated statesmen allows a Minister” rather than a reluctant privileged leadership rituals of fascinating view of twentieth or innocent one. As John Ram- the Conservatives. Such impres- British political history through sden has written it is “foolish to sions are powerful, but as the career of a man whose life present Home as a political vir- Thorpe shows they are not not only spanned much of it but gin unaware of his opportunity, absolute. Though an easy target was also intimately involved in for unambitious men do not for satirists as someone who it from Munich to Margaret. devote forty years to politics, awkwardly juxtaposed tweed Though famously described by however strong their sense of and , Sir Alec (as he an Etonian contemporary as duty”. became on renouncing his peer- being “honourably ineligible Home’s rise to the premier- age thanks in part to Tony for the struggle of life” Home ship is without question the most Benn’s efforts) was a hardwork- showed throughout his lengthy dramatic episode of his political ing and straight campaigner. career “soundness”, an attribute life and a seminal one for the Labour leaders including Wilson prized by Conservatives, and Conservative Party. Through and voluble deputy George was more than capable of hold- Thorpe’s invaluable access to Brown were fearful of his appeal

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to the electorate as someone of opponent’s former career as a ing contributions to make after had haunted his brief premier- integrity and decency and dextrous Economics Don. losing his position at Downing ship, could never happen again devoid of spin and vanity. Though so close, Thorpe shows St. Apart from contributions to and were certainly instrumental Thorpe shows how close the that Home was no innovator or his old school, to Scotland he in the selection and rejection of 1964 election, which with philosopher-king that could con- also took on the Presidency of his successors as Leader of the Wilson’s “white hot” confidence jure exciting and bold ideas or the MCC (during the D’Olivera Conservative Party. is easy to forget. However, as radical policies to convince the time) and became a familiar Thorpe’s analysis is always the book argues Home himself electorate of the virtue of keep- sight on the red leather benches fresh, always erudite and always was singularly ill at ease with the ing the Government in power of the Lords – which he much engaging; never suffering from modern demands of campaign- after thirteen long years of old preferred to the Commons. As a lack of material or research. ing. Happy hustling on the vil- school Tory rule, and that ulti- respected and largely non-parti- This is a true political biography lage greens this lithe Scottish mately the challenge was too san elder statesman his views and the author is one of Britain’s liege was handicapped by his great for any in the Tory leader- were sought by all his successors most gifted proponents of this incapacities on television, brought ship. as Prime Minister to varying essential literary art. I am sure to fever pitch when he mistaken- Thorpe’s biography is illumi- degrees, especially on Foreign all readers of his work (including ly, but patronisingly, referred on nated by comprehensive atten- and Commonwealth affairs. His his recent elegant reappraisal of air to pensions as “donations” or tion to Home’s post-premiership greatest legacy arguably, which Eden) await the release of his the famous “matchsticks” com- life. Apart from doing a Balfour Thorpe describes well, was his biography on Macmillan and ment, which unfairly, but popu- and diligently returning to be renovation to the procedures to thus complete his rich biograph- larly was used to show the Prime Foreign Secretary in his succes- the Conservative Party leader- ical triptych of Churchill’s three Minister’s lack of financial sor’s administration Home (now ship so that the “customary immediate successors as Leader sophistication compared to his of the Hirsel) had many fascinat- processes” of emergence, which of the Conservative Party.

The Forgotten Crisis Helen Szamuely reviews two books that deal with the Suez crisis of 1956 and wonders why there was so little attention paid to the fiftieth anniversary.

Stab in the STAB I N Last year saw the fiftieth intensity in Britain. After all, the first post-Suez by-election, THE FRONT Front THE SUEZ The Suez anniversary of two supremely crisis and its aftermath played a writes a good deal about it in his Conflict - 1956 CONFLICT - important events in European crucial part in British foreign paper but even he seems not to 1956 Sir Philip history, which took place almost policy and self-perception. I was mention the so-called Suez Goodhart Conservative simultaneously in the autumn of wrong. A great deal was written Group, the rebel MPs who History Group Sir Philip 1956: the Hungarian Revolution about the Hungarian Revolution, caused the Prime Minister as Goodhart ISBN 1 9050 60068 and the Suez Crisis, caused by an event that just over fifty years much trouble as the Maastricht Nasser’s nationalization of the ago touched Britain only tangen- rebels were to do at a later date. Canal. In a sense the two crises tially, though, apparently, left As Alistair Cooke pointed out seemed to be similar as they dark memories of impotence for when I discussed this matter Nassar at War consisted of an attempt by vari- many people. Very little was with him, eight MPs resigned Arab images of the Enemy ous European countries to re- written about the Suez crisis. the whip after abstaining in the Laura M. James assert themselves against the There were academic confer- Suez vote as early as May 1956. Palgrave two superpowers, the United ences and a few articles on the “The eight were: Viscount Macmillan States and the Soviet Union. relevant dates but the expected Hinchingbrooke [South Dorset], ISBN 0 2300 06434 Both attempts failed though, plethora of volumes did not John Biggs-Davison [Chigwell], clearly, the suppression of the materialize. And yet, “Suez” had [Ealing South], Hungarian Revolution was a a big impact on British politics. Sir Victor Raikes [Garston], considerably more brutal affair To begin with, there was a Anthony Fell [Yarmouth], than the humiliation inflicted by multiple crisis in the Cons- Patrick Maitland [Lanark], Paul the Americans on the French and ervative Party. Sir Philip Williams [Sunderland South], the British. Goodhart, who landed in Port and Lawrence Turner [Oxford].” I had assumed that of the two Said with the 1st Parachute The subsequent manoeuvrings it would be Suez that would be Battalion on November 6 and around these eight and possible noted and discussed with greater subsequently fought and won the other rebels are shown quite

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amusingly by the two cartoons we publish in the Journal. They are the property of Lady Biggs-Davison and have not seen the light of published day since those heady days of the Suez debates. Then there was the question of European power and the rising anti- colonial movement, led by Colonel Gamal Abdul Nasser, President of . The rather dismal ending of the Suez crisis showed the former in retreat and the latter ascendant. Fifty years on we can look at the anti-colo- nial movement and realize that, far from liberating the people of Africa and the Middle East, it has led them This long unseen cartoon is reproduced with the kind permission of Lady-Biggs Davison into a cul-de-sac. In particular, as Laura James shows in her fascinating One of the oddest aspects of the action, by its own problems in whole saga, as described by Dr Eastern Europe. James, is the opacity of Nasser’s Perhaps, the most important fall- Fifty years on we can look at the “ motives for his behaviour both in out from the Suez Crisis was the anti-colonial movement and realize 1956 and 1967. None of the people change in the balance of power in the she interviewed, many of whom were West. Sir Philip Goodhart deals with that, far from liberating the people of participants or, at least, onlookers all the details and problems of the Africa and the Middle East, it has led could explain how the situation, American involvement and the diffi- them into a cul-de-sac which can only be described as disas- culties, often personal, between the ” trous, came about. two European players and the United Recent research, published by States, allies so recently and now on Isabella Ginor and Gideon Remez in opposing sides of a major interna- book on Nasser, it was his policies, “Foxbats over Dimona” indicates that tional crisis. By the end of it all, there socialist at home and impossibly the Soviet Union’s involvement in was no question in anybody’s mind: aggressive abroad, that made Egypt the months before the Six-Day War as far as the West was concerned, something of a basket case and the may have been more extensive and politics revolved round the new Middle East a seemingly insoluble more deliberate than it had been real- superpower, the United States. The problem. Much of that was the after- ized in the West. Indeed, the Soviet reaction to this was different in math of Suez. Because of the triumph Britain and in France. Britain and over the western colonial powers – her leaders saw the country’s destiny France and Britain – in which Nasser to stay as close as possible to that By the end of it all, there was no had American support, a veil was “ new superpower, relying, sometimes drawn over the fact that the Israelis question in anybody’s mind: as far as correctly, sometimes less so, on the actually won the war on the ground the West was concerned, politics historic links between the two coun- in the Sinai. Had that been remem- tries. bered, it is possible that the catastro- revolved round the new superpower, France reacted differently. As phe (for the Arab countries) of the the United States Konrad Adenauer, the German Six-Day War could have been avert- ” Chancellor, suggested the French ed. political leaders decided to make “Europe” their revenge for Suez. If Union, motivated partly by feelings there is any event in the second half of antagonism towards and of the twentieth century that can be partly by the assumption that Egypt said to be a trigger for the long, could be its close satellite in that part painful and probably unsuccessful of the world, was much around even process of European integration into in 1956 (if not on the scene then a state, it was the Suez Crisis, the one behind the scenes), though somewhat that seems to have been forgotten by distracted during the actual military both Britain and France.

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The Little Book of Boris P Just released! Brandnew from Harriman House is a collection of the best Boris-isms:

“Voting Tory will cause your wife to have bigger breasts and increase yourchances of owning a BMW M3.” “I’m a rugby player, really, and I knew I was going to get to him, and when he was about two yards away I just put my head down. There was no malice. I was going forthe ball with my head, which I understand is a legitimate move in soccer.”

On his tackle on German midfielder Maurizio Gaudino in a charity football match, May 2006. “My chances of being PM are about as good as the chances of finding Elvis on Mars, or my being reincarnated as an olive.”

Order your copy now for just £4.99 FREE p&p Go to: www.politicos.co.uk or call: 01730 233870 Politico’s Bookshop, 3A Penns Road, Petersfield, Hampshire GU32 2EW www.politicos.co.uk