The journal of the Conservative History Group | Summer 2004 | £7.50 Conservative History Journal ANDREW ROBERTS A TORY HISTORIAN SPEAKS OUT

GEOFFREY HICKS LORD DERBY’S SHADOWY FOREIGN SECRETARY

MARK COALTER DISRAELI’S 1872 BLUEPRINT FOR ELECTORAL SUCCESS

BENDOR GROSVENOR SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTE: THE MAN WHO WOULD BE PRIME MINISTER

HARSHAN KUMARASINGHAM THE POLITICAL DEMISE OF NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN THATCHER NORMAN TEBBIT and GEOFFREY HOWE on the Iron Lady’s legacy twentyfive years since she swept to power

Plus: Helen Szamuely on Margaret Thatcher’s speeches; John Barnes on political party colours; Nicholas Hillman on Thatcher’s musical legacy; Mark Garnett reviews four new books on Michael Oakeshott and Ronald Porter reviews Anne de Courcy’s biography of Diana Mosley Contents

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

ISSN 14798026 Definitely not a farewell 1 Iain Dale Advertisements To advertise in the next issue Good try, but must do better 2 call Helen Szamuely on 07733 018999 Helen Szamuely

Editorial/Correspondence A Tory historian speaks out 3 Contributions to the Journal – letters, articles and Helen Szamuely talks to Andrew Roberts book reviews are invited. The Journal is a refereed publication; all articles submitted will be reviewed Thatcher 7 and publication is not guaranteed. Contributions Norman Tebbit and Geoffrey Howe on the Iron Lady’s legacy should be emailed or posted to the addresses below. All articles remain copyright © their authors Hilda’s Cabinet Band 9 Nicholas Hillman Subscriptions/Membership An annual subscription to the Conservative History A strangely familiar voice 12 Group costs £15. Copies of the Journal are included Helen Szamuely in the membership fee. The political demise of Neville Chamberlain 13 The Conservative History Group Harshan Kumarasingham Chairman: Keith Simpson MP Deputy Chairman: Professor John Charmley Capturing the middle ground: Director: Iain Dale Disraeli’s 1872 Blueprint for electoral success 17 Treasurer: John Strafford Mark Coalter Secretary: Martin Ball Membership Secretary: Peter Just Lord Derby’s shadowy Foreign Secretary 22 Journal Editors: John Barnes & Helen Szamuely Geoffrey Hicks

Committee: The man who would be Prime Minister: Christina Dykes Sir Stafford Northcote Bart 24 Lord Norton of Louth Bendor Grosvenor Lord Brooke Jonathan Collett Party colours 27 Simon Gordon John Barnes Mark Garnett Ian Pendlington Book Reviews David Ruffley MP Mark Garnett on four new books about Michael Oakshott 30 Quentin Davies MP William Dorman Diana Mosley by Anne de Courcy 31 Graham Smith reviewed by Ronald Porter Jeremy Savage Lord Henley William McDougall Tricia Gurnett

Conservative History Group PO Box 42119 London SW8 1WJ Telephone: 07768 254690 Email: [email protected] Website: www.conservativehistory.org.uk www.conservativehistory.org.uk Definitely not a farewell Iain Dale

fter a mere two isues I have decided Conservative Candidate in a mock election at my to step down as co-editor of the High School in Essex and romped home with a 27% Conservative History Journal but I majority over....the National Front! Margaret am delighted that Helen Szamuely Thatcher inspired me to get involved in politics. In A has agreed to step into the breach. her day we used to win elections almost at will. I She will bring a degree of thoroughness and histori- remember what it was like standing on people's cal perspective which I could never match. While I doorsteps knowing that what I was doing was helping shall remain Director of the CHG I must devote my her retain power. It's that kind of pride which we time now to my business and, perhaps more impor- Conservatives now have to instill into our party tantly, to winning back North Norfolk at the next workers up and down the country. They have to know election. This issue of the magazine is particularly that Michael Howard and candidates like me are not Iain Dale is the important as it marks the 25th anniversary of the only worth campaigning for but, once we are suc- Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman election of the Thatcher Government in May 1979. I cessful, we will do justice to the legacy which for North Norfolk. Email remember it especially well as I stood as the Margaret Thatcher has left us. him on [email protected].

Conservative History Group Party Conference Fringe William Hague will speak on William Pitt the Younger

Monday 4 October 17.45–19.00 Purbeck Bar in the Bournemouth International Conference Centre

Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 | 1 Good try, but must do better Helen Szamuely

t is not, perhaps, the most auspicious way to events and the theme of Churchill’s government is start one’s stint as co-editor of this Journal, taken up by Ronald Porter, if somewhat obliquely, in having to apologize for the issue’s late appear- his review of the latest biography of Diana Mosley. ance. All I can say in my self-defence is that A characteristically entertaining piece by the co-edi- I the last few months have been a steep learning tor of this Journal, John Barnes, deals with the impor- curve. However, that is all behind me and I hope that tant but somewhat neglected subject of party colours. the quality of this and future issues will live up to the Conservative history has to look beyond the twen- excellent reputation the Conservative History Journal tieth century and there is a section in this issue on deservedly acquired under Iain Dale’s editorship. Disraeli, another great Conservative Prime Minister Though a couple of months late we are celebrating and two of his colleagues. In future editions we hope Helen Szamuely is the new in this issue the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first to cover many other aspects of Conservative and Tory co-editor of the Conservative Thatcher government and we decided that the best history and historiography, going back certainly to the History Journal. Email her way to do so would be to ask two of her colleagues, eighteenth but, even, the seventeenth century. on [email protected]. Lord Howe and Lord Tebbit, to give us their views on We hope to write about Conservative political the phenomenon of Thatcherism. We are proud to thought as in the review of several books on Michael present their insight along with a couple of other arti- Oakeshott and we shall have entertaining and, who cles that cover other aspects of the subject. knows, perhaps slightly scurrillous pieces about Tory The fascinating, entertaining and instructive inter- and Conservative politicians, as well as forgotten or view with Andrew Roberts, one of our leading histo- little known aspects of party history. We have great rians, will, we hope be the first of a whole series of plans to expand our subject matter to include subjects interviews on the subject of Conservative or Tory his- to do with Conservative history in the United States tory. Roberts, a widely respected historian and a bril- and the Commonwealth countries. liant wordsmith, is also a supporter of the The next issue will appear at the end of September Conservative History Group and of this Journal. - timing will be constrained by the Party Conference From the successful to the unsuccessful twentieth - and thereafter the Journal will be published twice century Prime Minister. May also saw the anniveras- yearly at the end of March and September. We are ry of the fall of Chamberlain’s government and with it looking for contributions, articles, ideas, suggestions. the destruction of his political reputation. We have an The Conservative History Journal had a great start. article from an historian in New Zealand on those After a slight hiccup it will have a great future.

The Conservative History Group As the Conservative Party regroups after two general election defeats, learning from history is perhaps more vital than ever, We formed the Conservative History Group in the Autumn of 2002 to promote the discussion and debate of all aspects of Conservative history. We have organised a wide-ranging programme of speaker meetings in our first year and with the bi-annual publication of the Conservative History Journal, we hope to provide a forum for serious and indepth articles on Conservative history, biographies of leading and more obscure Conservative figures, as well as book reviews and profiles. For an annual subscription of only £15 you will receive invites to all our events as well as complimentary copies of the Conservative History Journal twice a year. We very much hope you will want to join us and become part of one of the Conservative Party's most vibrant discussion groups.

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2| Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 HS: Andrew, thank you very much for agreeing to this interview. To start with, let’s go back to basics, as a cer- A Tory historian tain Conservative Prime Minister once said.

AR: You’re right to say that he was a speaks . . . Conservative Prime Minister but he was not in any sense a Tory Prime Minister.

In the first of a new series of interviews with HS: That is very true, of course. Let’s say a Prime Minister who led the Conservative historians Helen Szamuely Conservative Party, though I suppose meets Andrew Roberts we could quibble about that as well. AR: I think the word “leadership” is Andrew Roberts is one of the new insists that there is no such thing as a something I would pick you up on. group of historians that has made conservative historian. But he is Sorry. modern British historiography inter- proud of his political views (under- nationally respected and domestical- standably) and is active in a number HS: Well, let us get past that one. You ly popular. As a man of the right, he of organizations, such as the Bruges have been described by friend and has had various insults heaped on Group, the Freedom Association, the foe, and we are definitely friends, as him by the more left-leaning media. British Weights and Measures a “conservative historian”. Would Among other things he has been Association and the Centre for Policy you describe yourself as a “conserva- called a warmonger, an extremist Studies. What they all have in com- tive historian”? (naturally) and a conservative histo- mon is a high regard for the tradi- rian, thus implying that his writings tional liberties that have long been AR: No, I emphatically would not. I lack objectivity. Noticeably, none of associated with Britain and the think that the methods that conserva- the detractors have managed to point British people and are now under tives as historians use, should be pre- to any lack of research or objectivity threat from inside and outside. Here cisely the same as those used by a but this has not lessened their ardour. Andrew Roberts gives his views on socialist or a whig or a marxist. We Mr Roberts says that he is a Tory history, its study and its writing, as have to use exactly the same rigorous rather than a Conservative and well as politics to Helen Szamuely. level of objectivity and so to be described as an historian who is com- ing from any angle at all is, I think, damaging and unfair. However, I am an historian who is a Conservative. And I am also an historian who writes more often about Conservatives and Conservative governments than other kinds, but I think that once you attempt to pigeonhole an historian for his political views you get into very dangerous territory with regards to his objectivity, which is an absolute prerequisite for his professionalism.

HS: So, would you say that there is no such thing as Conservative history writing. Most people would know what we mean by Whig history writ- ing. Is there a similar idea of Conservative history writing?

AR: This is a very interesting point. Very roughly, Whigs believe in a

Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 | 3 Andrew Roberts sense of progress, Marxists believe AR: His History of Liberty was AR: Precisely. Nothing was more in dialectical materialism and class one of the great unwritten books of conservative than the National Union warfare and there is, in my view, a the world. Had he written a major of Mineworkers, for example. strand of Tory historicism, or histo- work of history, I think it would riography, in which mankind is not have been one that would have HS: Except, maybe the TUC. This seen as moving towards any preor- emphasised the dangers and the brings us rather neatly to the dained end and is certainly not seen threats to liberty as much as the Thatcher government. With a bit of as moving in any straight direction benefits. luck when this issue of the Journal either. History, in my view, zig-zags. comes out, we shall be celebrating, Instead of being a locomotive that is HS: A lot of people would say: oh or, perhaps, some people will be moving to a destination, it can be yes, Tories, they do not, unlike, say mourning, the twenty-fifth anniver- shunted into sidings as it was, for Whigs or Liberals, believe in the sary of Mrs Thatcher winning her instance, between 1914 and 1989; it concept of freedom, of liberty. first election. If you were to write the can go into reverse as it has done Would you consider liberty an history of the Thatcher government, several times. I think that should be important subject for Tory historiog- not perhaps now, but, say in ten the Tory philosophy of history. raphy? years’ time, how would you approach Without getting too much into it? What would be the good things semantics, the words Tory and AR: I think it very much is and it is a you’d say about it, what would be the Conservative, I have always great shame that nobody of Acton’s not so good things? believed, should be kept rigidly stature has written a history of liber- apart. The way they are interchange- ty. Nor is there a particularly good AR: My view is that the book cannot able in journalism, I think, does the biography of John Wilkes, the early be written until the thirty year rule is Tories a great disservice because the progenitor of eighteenth century lib- up for the 1979 to 1990 period. So it Conservative party in parliament - in erty. What men then called a real opposition as well as in government and manly liberty. I would like to History, in my view, zigzags. Instead - very rarely sticks to rigid Tory take issue with you over the idea that “ principles, more’s the shame. And it we as Tories think more about order of being a locomotive that is moving to is possible to be a Tory, as one could and established power than liberty. I a destination, it can be shunted into be between November 1990 and think, for example, that John May 1997, without believing that Hampden was a Tory before the sidings as it was, for instance, between the Conservative party is doing very Tory party came into existence and I 1914 and 1989; it can go into reverse much good. think that there is a very, very strong tradition, especially in terms of as it has done several times ” HS: If you look back on historians of jurisprudence, a very strong Tory the past, whom would you describe belief in the kind of liberty that is as Tory historians? enunciated in the English can’t even be researched until January Revolution and in the common law. 2011. And after that it would take a AR: Interestingly, several of the ones What common law gives us - and it good four or five years just to work I would call Tory historians, would is, of course, now under threat from your way through the various papers. not have considered themselves to New Labour and from the European I think that an intelligent biographer be Tories or, indeed, Conservatives. Union - is a massive ancient codifi- of Mrs Thatcher - and luckily we But I would look to the people, who cation of customs and traditions and have Charles Moore doing that, a per- really stand up against whiggish and precedent, that does not circum- fect example of a Tory who isn’t marxist views of history. I’d mention scribe a Briton’s liberty but allows always a Conservative - of her gov- Norman Stone, J.D.C.Clark, him to act in a way that does not ernment as well as of her, will look at Maurice Cowling, Niall Ferguson, damage or threaten his neighbour. the fascinating dichotomy between going back a bit, I think Edward And you can’t get more Tory than rhetoric and practice, which happens Gibbon, G.R.Elton, Hugh Dacre, that. in every government, of course, but A.L.Rowse, and others. People, was there even more startlingly with who, like me, do not believe that HS: I think we’ll stick to the word Margaret Thatcher. Her rhetoric was mankind is on a natural progression “Tory”. Once you start getting on to so powerful and so, too, was her prac- to the betterment or the brotherhood the Conservative Party and the tice, but there were several occasions of man. notion of “conservative” with a (one thinks of the threat of the min- small “c”, you get into serious ers’ strike in 1981, for instance) when HS: Most people would mention problems. Some of the most con- she backed down. And she had been Lord Acton. What is your view on servative organizations are actually much tougher in opposition on sub- him? socialist. jects like Rhodesia and immigration

4| Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 Andrew Roberts than she turned out to be when she election of 1979: not as a predestined HS: I haven’t seen any. Questions tend got into power. So I think there is an event but just as another election. to be along the lines of would you angle for a Tory historian to take Most of us, I think, except maybe the agree to pay more tax if the money Margaret Thatcher to task from the few people close to Margaret went to the health service and every- Right and to ask what happened to Thatcher, probably did not realize body says yes and then votes for the many of the hopes. However, one has that this was going to be a very dif- party that says no more tax rises. to remember at all times that she was ferent premiership. five hundred per cent better than any- AR: Well, I consider that a very one could have possibly hoped for in AR: No, that’s right. I am rather scep- healthy thing, of course. Hypocrisy to any political period for the Tories tical of what Jim Callaghan said pollsters is a very emotionally uplift- from 1945 up to her election in 1975. because … well, first of all, a losing ing concept. It was an astonishing stroke of luck politician is going to blame what T. S. that she won the party leadership and Eliot called “the vast impersonal HS: It is. And I think most people although an historian must be objec- forces” for his defeat. But, in fact, have got to the stage of not telling tive, that element of luck is a very when one looks at general elections, pollsters the truth. Just to go back to important one. I am just about to pub- any number of tiny, perhaps at the history as a subject. We are in a very lish a book called What Might Have time inconsequential factors, could strange situation in this country in Been, which is going to talk about the be playing on the minds of the elec- that the teaching of history has virtu- power of luck in history. We have torate. Pollsters should be really ally died out in schools. Certainly, in some good Tories writing for it. I am quizzing people as they come out of the state sector it is hardly ever taught thinking of Simon Heffer, Norman the polling booths, not the day before and in some universities, when one Stone, Conrad Black, David Frum. elections or the day before that, but as looks at what they teach one shud- Though it is not a Conservative or a they come out. They should be asking ders. At the same time, the writing of right-wing book, it does have a few people precisely what mattered to history and the reading of history them, why they voted and instead of have become very popular. People giving them lists to choose from, buy books, people watch serious pro- “ I think there is an angle for a Tory where the person automatically grammes about history. How do you historian to take Margaret Thatcher to chooses the most high-minded rea- see the connection between these two son, they should simply wait until developments? task from the Right and to ask what they get the reply. We do this a bit happened to many of the hopes with book-buying. When somebody AR: I think there is a direct correla- ” comes out of a bookshop, he might be tion between the second-rate teach- asked by a polling organization: was ing of history in schools and the sound people writing for it and it does it the review; was it the front cover; thirst for historical knowledge that bring it home to me again and again, was it the fact that he had read the people have by the time they leave the element of luck. Simon Heffer author before; what was the reason full-time education. It is a sad reflec- writes about Margaret Thatcher being for buying this book. And the results tion that I am probably making a liv- blown up in Brighton and what would you get are very very different usual- ing out of the collapse of history have happened had she died back in ly from the ones you are expecting. teaching in primary and secondary 1984. When one thinks of those years People go into bookshops and buy and, to a large extent, tertiary educa- from 1979 to 1990, any number of completely different books from the tion. But there we are. I am and so chance occurrences could have one they were intending to as they are an awful lot of other people. I derailed the Thatcher experiment. We walk through. And I wonder to what think that history ought to be taught see it, perhaps because it also extent that is true of politics that peo- in narrative terms; I think it ought to spanned the decade of the eighties, as ple wind up at the end of an election be taught chronologically; I think a great monolithic, almost predes- campaign voting in a completely dif- that the older a child gets the further tined, ministry. ferent way from the way they were down the story he ought to be intending to at the beginning of it. So brought. So the Tudors and Stuarts HS: Yes, there is a tendency to when people get very aerated about are ideal for children at the age of emphasise that, partly by her and things a year or two before the cam- thirteen and fourteen and the Second partly by that famous story of paign, I wonder to what extent those World War and the First World War Callaghan’s about him driving home kind of issues really matter compared shouldn’t be really taught until the on the night of the election and say- to the ones that are actually being children are just about to take their ing that it did not matter, there was fought over during the campaign final leaving exams. And when chil- nothing he could do, there was a itself. There ought to be really serious dren are at primary school, then wat- wind blowing the other way; but that and practical studies of this, but if tle-and-daub houses and motte-and- is not at all how one remembers the there are I haven’t read any. bailey castles are ideal, too. I really

Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 | 5 Andrew Roberts do think that unless you see history I am convinced that there is an Conservative government, as it is in its full chronological narrative external as well as an internal threat unlikely to be a Tory government, sense you can’t really appreciate it. I to British understanding of British came to you and said: “Why do you hate the way that first of all school- history. It’s constantly being debelli- think we should concentrate on teach- children are constantly taught the cised. The kind of propaganda that ing history at school?”, what would Nazis again and again when it hasn’t we keep getting out of the European you answer? been put into proper historical per- Union, and some of our newspapers spective. There is an amazing gold- are very good at spotting this, others AR: I would say: “Why do you think aren’t, constantly tries to make it is important for your brain to have Britain out to be yet another a memory?” And I would also argue Tony Blair basically believes that “ European country that does not have to those - and this is a truly Tory history began on the morning of the a completely unique historical back- argument, one that Burke would 2nd May 1997 ground. And that’s tremendously have appreciated: I would say that ” dangerous because after a generation why should experiences of the living of being taught this a new generation be given any superiroity over those en age of history writing at the of schoolchildren will come to matu- of the dead? Society is a combina- moment. This has to be related in rity and voting age believing it. And tion of the living, the dead and those some way to the collapse of history if they do, that will not only betray yet to be born. And so history is a teaching in our education system. them because that is untrue - Britain part of society’s present day exis- Having said that, I am not sure that does have a history unlike any other tence as much as that of the past. it is not just going to be a fad. It has nation - but it is also going to let the Especially in a country like this one. been around for only five or six or country down. Tony Blair says we’re a new country. seven years and all it would take, I No, we’re not! Of course we’re not a think, would be for some big and HS: I think one of the sad things about new country. You walk out into any powerful people in the BBC and var- the study of history is that one is end- street and you will immediately see ious other places to say: “Right, lessly asked - I am sure you were that we are not a new country. We that’s enough history. Let’s now when you first started studying it and are not Arizona. It is completely move on to science.” Or “We ought I remember it - why does one want to absurd to argue that we are because to be concentrating now on some study it. It’s just lots of stories about every step we take reminds us that other area of human endeavour.” for dead people. What does it matter? A we are not. And the other thing, of the tap to be turned off. Obviously, particularly dangerous part of that is course, is that we never learn from that can’t be done in book publish- that politicians are very apt to say history. You look again and again at ing but it certainly can be in the TV this. Now, one might say who cares problems and the way in which the world. And so, all that we can do is what politicians have to say but they world tries to deal with them is pret- to keep our fingers crossed that real- do have a lot of power. ty much the way it has done in the ly talented historians who can make past. The same problems, in fact, first-class TV series, like Simon AR: Well, Charles Clarke has, of that face Tony Blair at the moment Schama, David Starkey and Niall course, spoken against the teaching in terms of House of Lords reform, Ferguson, should continue to do so, of mediaeval history. devolution, the Balkans, faced Lord Rosebery. And, don’t think that Mr HS: Indeed back in the sixties, I think Blair’s answers to them are any more “ Society is a combination of the it was Edward Short, who was well-informed or likely to be suc- living, the dead and those yet to be Education Secretary under Wilson, cessful than were Rosebery’s. If we who said that it was more important didn’t know what had been done in born. And so history is a part of for children to know about the the past, we would be like the chap society’s present day existence as Vietnam War, which was still going who wakes up every morning in the much as that of the past on at the time than about the Wars of movie Memento. He’d lost his mem- ” the Roses. So the rot set in, perhaps, ory and he wakes up every morning with that government. and remembers nothing and has to because I think there is a huge find his way forward from snapshots knock-on effect for people who will AR: And also, of course, Tony Blair he had taken. That would be what we watch, say, Niall’s programmes on basically believes that history began would be like if a future minister empire, will then take one of the on the morning of the 2nd May 1997. tries to axe history even more than it fifty or so ideas that come from it has been deleted already from the and look more closely into them and HS: Yes, that is an extremely unfortu- national curriculum. buy books on some of them. That nate part of it all. Now if a Minister of has to be a good thing, especially as Education from a forthcoming HS: Andrew, thank you very much.

6| Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 THATCHER Her legacy for the Conservatives and for Britain 25 years on from Margaret Thatcher’s 1979 general election victory the Conservative History Journal examines her legacy. In this first article Norman Tebbit and Geoffrey Howe offer their different perspectives on her premiership; in further articles Nicholas Hillman examines the Iron Lady’s surprising influence on the world of pop music and Helen Szamuely reflects on the speeches of one of the twentieth century’s finest orators.

Norman Tebbit was a close ally of strategy behind the third argaret Thatcher Margaret Thatcher both in opposition Conservative electoral victory. took office as and in government. He served as her During the Brighton hotel bombing Prime Minister of a Secretary of State for Employment, Norman Tebbit was seriously injured country possessed Secretary of State for Trade and and his wife, Margaret, permanently M by both hope and Industry and President of the Board disabled. He retired from the House fear. The Heath government had been of Trade. Between 1985 and 1987 he of Commons in 1992 and became defeated following its failure to was Chancellor of the Duchy of Baron Tebbit of Chingford. Here he defeat a miners’ strike in 1974. The Lancaster and Party Chairman. As gives his perspective on the Thatcher Callaghan government fell in 1979 , the latter, he was credited with the government. following the “winter of discontent” during the strike of local government workers. Many voters hoped she would go the same way. Rather more hoped she would not - but many even of these feared that she might. Foreign embassies were reporting to their governments that Britain had become ungovernable. Multi-nation- al companies had all but ceased to invest as the English Disease, a lem- ming-like propensity to strike, sav- aged businesses. The vast state-

Norman Tebbit owned sector of industry gorged recieves a standing itself on taxpayers’ money with no ovation after his speech to the prospects of profitability. Conservative Party Inflation was endemic and conven- Conference in 1981. Margaret tional wisdom held that it could be Thatcher and Cecil restrained only by a state sponsored Parkinson join in the applause. “prices and incomes policy”, that is

Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 | 7 Thatcher either voluntary or state control of of the “working classes” had become competent Ministers with courage to prices and incomes. homeowners and shareholders and resolve other issues. Neither educa- During Margaret Thatcher’s term Britain’s occupational pension tion, the Health Service, nor the wel- British industrial relations changed schemes were the envy of Europe. fare system were properly reformed. from the worst in the developed free In passing Margaret Thatcher Local government finance reform world to the best. defeated Argentina, bringing down was botched by Christopher Patten. She went on to win two further elec- the junta and by a military operation Reform of the European Community tions, defeated the unions’ “nuclear was sabotaged by Geoffrey Howe. option” of a miners’ strike, and was Living standards soared, millions of Nor did Thatcherism cure the sick- brought down not by an ungovernable “ ness of the permissive society, which nation - but an ungovernable cabinet. the “working classes” had become has - as some forecast - become the In the meantime inflation had been homeownders and shareholders yob society of the 21st century. controlled by monetarism - not ” Abroad Margaret Thatcher stiff- incomes policy - and foreign ivest- ened the resolve of President Reagan ment had poured into Britain. The pursued with purpose, skill and dar- to defeat the challenge of the Soviet financial haemorrhage of the nation- ing, established that Britain still had Union and bring a decisive victory in alised industries had been stanched. the will and power to defend unilater- the Cold War. “Thatcherism” was After privatisation they became prof- ally its people and its interest. widely adopted throughout the world. itable corporation taxpayers. She left a great deal still undone, So much achieved - so much more Living standards soared, millions having had neither time - nor enough to be done.

Geoffrey Howe was Margaret the House of Commons that is widely o government, in my Thatcher’s longest standing Cabinet thought to have hastened Thatcher’s judgment, did more in minister, serving as Chancellor of the own downfall three weeks later. the last quarter of the Exchequer, Secretary of State for Geoffrey Howe retired from the twentieth century to Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs House of Commons in 1992 and N change the shape of and Leader of the House of became Baron Howe of Aberavon. our world. Some mistakes, of course Commons. He resigned on November Here he gives his views of the - but overall it was fundamental and 1, 1990 with a thunderous speech in Thatcher government. enduring change for the better. Margaret Thatcher’s most important domestic achievement was the disman- tling of the unspoken, but crippling, compact between state ownership and monopoly trade unionism. Almost as crucial was the recovery of control over the public finances and the key switch of Britain’s tax structure away from on “ The one sadness is that Michael Heseltine might have done better still ”

which positively obstructed enterprise. The real triumph was to have transformed not just one party but two - so that when Labour did finally return, these changes were accepted as irreversible. The irony is that Margeret Thatcher Thatcherism might never have sur- and Foreign Secretary Geoffrey vived at all, had it not been for John cross the tarmac at Major’s success in consolidating it. Heathrow on the way to the Stuttgart The one sadness is that Michael Summit in 1983. Heseltine might have done better Press Secretary Bernard Ingham still, by securing as well the and Cabinet European role for Britain, which Ted Secretary Robin Butler look on. Heath had made possible.

8| Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 taking our tax for murdering, The only thing I know, She’ll have to go’. Not surprisingly, given the title, many of the songs on She Was Only a Grocer’s Daughter, the second Hilda’s album by The Blow Monkeys, were inspired by Thatcherism. One of the singles from the album, the luxuri- ant (Celebrate) The Day After You focussed on the time when Mrs Thatcher would no longer be Prime cabinet Minister. The song was only in the Songs inspired by charts for two weeks and peaked at Margaret Thatcher Number 52 - forty-seven places lower than an earlier politically- Nicholas motivated single from the same Hillman album. This relative failure appears band to have been partly due to the con- cerns of broadcasters, such as the Nicholas Hillman worked for David a number of think-tanks. Here he BBC, who were reluctant to play Willetts between 1999 and 2003. He analyzes the impact Margaret such an explicitly political song in has written for the Journal of Thatcher’s personality and political the run-up to the 1987 General Contemporary History, Searchlight achievements had on the pop songs Election. and the Birmingham Post as well as of the period. Margaret on the Guillotine For other artists, it was not enough simply to wish Mrs Thatcher out of t is often assumed that pop nise that the devil does have all the office. Elvis Costello, who would music was depoliticised in best tunes. sometimes play Stand Down the 1980s. The theory goes Margaret in his sets, expressed even that once punk had flowed its Stand Down Margaret harsher sentiments in Tramp the Dirt I full course, then politics and It is not particularly easy to cate- Down on his 1989 album Spike. The pop music disassociated themselves gorise the songs for which Margaret song begins with an image of Mrs from one another. One journalist, for Thatcher was the primary target. But Thatcher kissing a crying child in a example, recently claimed that one recurring theme was a simple hospital and continues with Costello Ghost Town, the 1981 Number 1 sin- desire to see her leave office. hoping that he will live long enough gle by The Specials - a ska band who The Beat’s Stand Down Margaret, to taunt the Prime Minister even emerged out of punk - marked the which reached Number 22 in the after her death. When playing the final moment when popular culture charts in 1980, is an early example. song live in later years, Costello and politics came together ‘as one’. Simply Red expressed the same sen- sometimes introduced it with a But, while some of the general quick burst of Ding Dong the Witch political heat might have dissipated is Dead from The Wizard of Oz and It is not particularly easy to out of the music scene during the “ added a verse about John Major. 1980s, there was one subject that categorise the songs for which Margaret Margaret on the Guillotine was could still tempt even the most indo- Thatcher was the primary target. But included as the final track on Viva lent songwriters to put pen to paper: Hate, the first solo album by Margaret Thatcher. one recurring theme was a simple Morrissey, previously lead singer of Many of the songs inspired by desire to see her leave office The Smiths. The song had originally Mrs Thatcher and her breed of ” been intended as the title track of Conservatism are undeniably puerile what became the seminal 1986 and naïve and some are also remark- timent in their song She’ll Have to album The Queen is Dead and, when ably unmemorable. The chance of Go from the 1989 album A New it finally saw the light of day in them having any measurable impact Flame. The avowedly political - and 1988, Morrissey was interviewed by on British politics was always going now Blairite - lead singer, Mick the police because the lyrics were to be remote. But Conservative sup- Hucknall sang in the chorus: regarded as menacing. While the porters nonetheless have to recog- ‘Breaking our backs with slurs, And music for Margaret on the

Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 | 9 Hilda’s cabinet band

Guillotine lacks the power of many Robert Wyatt, formerly of Soft injured in battle: ‘My mind of Morrissey’s other songs, the Machine, after reading about the war ingrained, I came home maimed, So lyrics contain an unmistakeably vit- in the Australian press, and the song was kept away from the Easter riolic anger. The same is true of the was a minor hit in 1983. Less direct Parade. … The mother of the nation only chart entry by the band than many anti-Thatcher tracks, the cries “Rejoice”, And I can hardly song cleverly contrasts the addition- shuffle, Struck down for what the al employment from new shipbuild- mean can do for political ambition’. No assessment of modern British ing with the use of the ships in war - “ the words lament that ‘Within weeks Mother knows best political songwriting is complete without they’ll be re-opening the shipyard, No assessment of modern British some mention of Billy Bragg And notifying the next of kin once political song-writing is complete ” again, It’s all we’re skilled in, We without some mention of Billy will be shipbuilding’. The song is Bragg. Along with Paul Weller of S*M*A*S*H. Their 1994 single I perhaps the most enduring and influ- The Style Council, he led the Want to Kill Somebody, which ential of all anti-Thatcher songs; it Labour-supporting Red Wedge in reached Number 26, is also notable was also recorded by Costello him- the mid-1980s and his songs cover for finding something to rhyme with self, Tasmin Archer, who issued it as topics as diverse as the recent Iraq Virginia Bottomley and for the a single in the first half of the 1990s, war (The Price of Oil), the inter-war band’s incomplete grasp of spelling and Suede. slump (Between the Wars) and right- and grammar: ‘Whoever’s in power, Other songs that refer to the wing newspapers (It Says Here); in I’ll be the opposition, I want to kill Falklands conflict range from the 1990, his manager, Peter Jenner, was somebody, Margaret thatcher, ironic Happy Days by The Shamen, reported to have said, ‘If you have a Jefferey archer, Michael heseltine, to the strange War by The Rugburns: good, right on cause, don’t ask Billy John Major, Virginia Bottomeley ‘The Falklands was cool but it was to play a benefit for it because you’ll especially’ (sic). too damn short, I want a real war lose.’ Bragg’s song Thatcherites lays cause I built a bitchin fort’. The dour wide-ranging criticism on top of the Below: Stephen Shipbuilding Patrick Morrissey. Mentioned in Dispatches by tune to a much earlier political song Another theme popular among in his album Viva Television Personalities and the Ye Jacobites By Name: ‘You priva- Hate, the former musicians opposed to Thatcher was Smiths frontman Faith Brothers’ Easter Parade were tise away what is ours, what is ours, wanted to see the Falklands War. Elvis Costello ‘Margaret on the more direct in their criticism. The You privatise away what is ours, You wrote the lyrics to Shipbuilding for Guillotine’. latter tells of a 19 year old who is privatise away and then you make us

10 | Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 Hilda’s cabinet band pay, We’ll take it back someday, much part of life, really. And when whole is somewhat less antagonistic mark my words, mark my words, they want to get Mrs Thatcher out of to Thatcherism than this review We’ll take it back some day mark my Number 10 - I’ve usually not met might suggest. The influential words’. most of them. … it’s nice they know Happy Mondays are supposed to Other prominent folk singers also your name.’ have said that Mrs Thatcher was produced broad critiques of Besides, Mrs Thatcher is in very ‘alright. She’s a heavy dude.’ Prior Thatcherism. Lal Waterson’s Hilda’s good company. The Queen is also to the 1997 General Election, two of Cabinet Band is perhaps the clever- the five members of the most suc- est anti-Thatcher song of all. The cessful band of the day, The Spice Cabinet is portrayed as a band who “ Some Conservatives would no Girls, spoke highly of Mrs Thatcher are leading a dance and the lyrics doubt consider many of the songs in an interview in The Spectator. invert the traditional instructions of Geri Halliwell, aka Ginger Spice, band leaders. Recalling ‘the lady’s targeted at Mrs Thatcher to be highly said, ‘We Spice Girls are true not for turning’, the song starts with offensive, but she was not too Thatcherites. Thatcher was the first ‘the one where you never turn concerned about them Spice Girl, the pioneer of our ideol- around’ and continues with the com- ” ogy - Girl Power.’ mand to ‘Put your right boot in, put Ten years earlier, Smash Hits had it in again, Poll tax your girl in the the target of a number of powerful asked a number of pop stars which middle of the ring, Privatise your songs, such as God Save the Queen way they intended to vote in the partner, do it on your own, Kick the by The Sex Pistols and the afore- forthcoming General Election. Only smallest one among you, promenade mentioned The Queen is Dead, as one said he would be voting home’. well as Elizabeth My Dear, a 59-sec- Conservative - Gary Numan bravely Richard Thompson, originally of ond pastiche of Scarborough Fair on confirmed his support for Mrs Fairport Convention, played at one The Stone Roses’ debut album (‘My Thatcher, even though it had already time with Lal Waterson’s band, The aim is true, my purpose is clear, It’s seriously damaged his credibility Watersons, and he penned his own curtains for you Elizabeth my dear’). among the music press. But the arti- anti-Thatcher song, Mother Knows If anything, these songs are more cle also showed that, even if the vast Best. Lyrically, it, too, is a step effective than those targeted at Mrs majority of 1980s pop stars were not above many other comparable songs. Thatcher, yet they have done next to inclined towards Thatcherism, they But it seeks to challenge nothing to popularise republicanism. were not overwhelmingly supportive Thatcherism head-on at its strongest Tony Blair is also the subject of of the Labour Party either. Despite point - the championing of freedom some critical songs, despite New the supposed credibility of initia- and the retreat of the nanny state - Labour’s promotion of Cool tives such as Red Wedge, fewer than and many of the lyrics are ultimately Britannia. In You and Whose Army, half of the 14 stars interviewed said unpersuasive: ‘So you think you Radiohead challenge the Prime they would definitely vote Labour know how to wipe your nose, So you and most of the six that did were think you know how to button your already known to be outspoken on Tony Blair is also the subject of some clothes, You don’t know shit, If you “ political issues. The article even hadn’t already guessed, You’re just a critical songs, despite New Labour’s pours doubt on the claim that is bump on the log of life, Cos mother often made by journalists that promotion of Cool Britannia. In You and knows best’. George Michael was a ‘lifelong Whose Army, Radiohead challenge the Labour voter until 2001’ for he told God Save the Queen the magazine ‘I’ll probably vote for Prime Minister to a fight Some Conservatives would no doubt ” the SDP/Liberal Alliance’. consider many of the songs targeted Most significantly of all, the vari- at Mrs Thatcher to be highly offen- Minister to a fight. And in the much ous anti-Thatcher songs are not the sive, but she was not too concerned cleverer Cocaine Socialism, Pulp’s only evidence that pop music con- about them. When, in the run-up to lead singer Jarvis Cocker derides the tinued to reflect political culture the 1987 General Election, Mrs Labour Party for the desperate during the 1980s. It is sometimes Thatcher was asked by Smash Hits, nature of their campaign to win sup- forgotten that many of the most suc- the leading pop music magazine of port from celebrities. His mother, cessful bands of the decade, such as the day, what she thought of left- who - like Madonna’s mother-in-law Duran Duran with their slick videos wing pop stars ‘who can’t wait to get - is a Conservative activist, unsur- and ostentatious wealth, summed up you out of Number 10’, she replied: prisingly approved of the song. the economic boom just as effective- ‘Can’t they? Ha ha ha! … most ly as the protest songs encapsulated young people rebel and then gradu- Girl Power the more negative aspects of ally become more realistic. It’s very Moreover, the pop music scene as a Thatcherism.

Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 | 11 A strangely familiar voice Helen Szamuely

There is nothing like hearing rises to become a force in the "frit" and many others. But there Thatcher's clothes, Thatcher's speeches by a politician to bring Conservative Party. is something else there. Well, two interview, what Thatcher said back memories and to evolve We plunge into a rapid trip other things, to be precise. and where Thatcher went. comparisons with the present through the years that came to be One is Thatcher's ability to There is something else in day. Helen Szamuely, co-editor dominated by this extraordinary adapt her speech to whatever those speeches: the constant of the Conservative History political figure: her tussles with goes on in the audience, whether theme of liberty and patriotism. Journal listens to the 3 CDs pro- the teachers' unions, her election it is friendly laughter or Somehow, one forgets how often duced by Politico's of Margaret as leader of the party, that fateful unfriendly heckling. As time she spoke passionately of free- Thatcher's great speeches. election of 1979; and the years went on she got better at it, as dom and its importance for of the premiership: the fights did many politicians of the older everyone, whether in Britain or ot long ago I was with the unions and with infla- generation. She was, perhaps, other countries. Listening telling a young tion, with the Labour Party and better than most in the way she through the speeches, one after American, who her own so-called supporters, the almost flirted with her audience, another, I was struck by the fact works at one of the fraught and finally glorious days with the journalists, the camera- that she had, with some deviation Nmany think-tanks in of the Falklands War, the fight men. I cannot help remembering and hesitation in her actions, Washington DC, that there was against the Communist enemy Thatcher's visit to the then kept faith with that early something about Margaret and its sympathizers at home; Soviet Union and the long TV announcement that what she Thatcher that made all the men the lows of her political career: inteview she gave. Facing believed in was liberty. who had worked with her or just the Westland affair, the terrible numerous journalists she A few weeks ago I saw Lady met her go weak at the knees. Brighton bomb and, finally, the answered them firmly and Thatcher in the House of Lords. "Well," - he said rather sheepish- last struggle over Europe and the severely but with just a hint of She came out of the Chamber ly, - "funny you should say that. I defeat at the hands of her own flirtatiousness, finding the ques- and went through Peers' Lobby met her at a dinner last week and party. There are other speeches tions they thought very daring, chatting to somebody. I am a thought she was amazing." Not of her political life after extremely easy to handle. By the strong, though not uncritical for the first time I wondered how November 22, 1990 but it is all a end of the hour she had them eat- admirer of the Lady, but I was the Lady managed to captivate sad coda to a glittering career. ing out of her hand. The rest of amazed to see that every head every male that came into her The third CD (a bonus, as it is the country was swooning as turned to watch her go. "What do orbit. Listening to the speeches described by the publisher) gives well. When I went to Moscow a you expect?" - said my compan- systematically I began to under- full versions of a couple of few weeks after her visit, I heard ion. - "There has been no other stand a little. speeches, a specially produced nothing but politician since her time." Two of the CDs chart sketch from Yes Prime Minister, accounts of Thatcher's career from the first in which Thatcher demands the Margaret Thatcher - The Great interview for ITN, given imme- abolition of economists on the Speeches, 3 CDs, £19.99, diately after her maiden speech grounds that they just fill politi- published by Politico’s in February 1960. She sounds cians' heads with ridiculous Media and available from hesitant and rather prissy. Her notions, and a couple of other www.politicos.co.uk slightly high, girlish gush curios. would have been enough to Listening to the speeches one is irritate anyone. By the time of reminded of all the famous the second interview on her occasions and phrases: the first day as Parliamentary Iron Lady of the Western Secretary to the Ministry of World, the Lady is not Pensions, in October 1961, the for turning, the gushing is less obvious, but famous No! No! No! there is still that high-pitched to the back door tone, that girlish breathless- socialism of Delors's ness. Both disappear very plans, the Labour quickly as Margaret Thatcher Chancellor being

12 | Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 s the Prime Minister The political demise of drove through the hal- lowed avenue to Buckingham Palace he A was rapturously wel- comed by streets 'lined from one end to the other with people of every class, shouting themselves hoarse, leaping on the running board, banging on the Neville windows, and thrusting their hands into the car to be shaken'.’ The read- er would be forgiven to believe that Chamberlain these were the words describing Winston Churchill at the end of the Second World War about to present himself to the exuberant multitudes that awaited him to celebrate victory Harshan Kumarasingham in Europe in May 1945. In fact these were the words depicting Neville Chamberlain as he returned from Harshan Kumarasingham is a PhD Fall of British Conservative Party Munich, infamously, with that little student in Political History at Leaders from Chamberlain to piece of paper that he assumed tri- Victoria University of Wellington, Thatcher". Here he looks at the umphantly, and in the end tragically, New Zealand. He has recently com- events that led to the end of Neville would mean 'peace in our time' peted an MA thesis, entitled "For the Chamberlain's government and polit- The sixty-eight year old Good of the Party - An Analysis of the ical career in 1940. Chamberlain had been the "natural choice" to succeed the lethargic Stanley Baldwin and become Prime Minister and leader in 1937, his lead- ership seconded by no less a person than Winston Churchill. The second son of the great Joseph Chamberlain had a keen administrative talent that had been proven through his effective tenure at the Health Ministry and his financial acumen had enabled him to show a steady and businesslike com- petence when at the Exchequer during the Great Depression era. Yet for all his domestic compe- tence, his years of patient and prudent financial and social policy, his reliable Conservative statecraft, it is one poli- cy that is forever entwined with his name - appeasement. This would ini- tially earn the applause of Conservatives but would eventually compel them to assent to Chamberlain's dramatic dethronement in 1940. History (and perhaps Winston Churchill) has often glorified Chamberlain boards an aircraft Chamberlain's downfall as an event bound for Munich that corrected past mistakes and injus- to have talks with Adolf Hitler, over tices. However, Chamberlain, just the future of the months before his resignation, was disputed Czech Sudetenland, 1938. recording some of the highest

Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 | 13 Neville Chamberlain approval ratings in British political Duncan Sandys, Harold Nicolson and made sure no ministers with defence history and seemed to have silenced Churchill. portfolios sat on it any opposition to his leadership. This The anti-appeasers, at this point, Chamberlain's supremacy could last enigmatic figure's leadership is too were more like a debating society and only as long as his personally stamped easily discarded by populist historical lacked cohesion and unity. appeasement policy continued to misunderstanding. Chamberlain, believing in his infalli- deliver peace and the status quo. The Chamberlain had returned tri- bility, was able with his popularity to Nazi occupation of Prague in March umphant from Munich, as the saviour deflate their most prominent member, 1939 provided a sharp jolt to of peace, greeted by relieved and the 'alarmist' Churchill. The normally Chamberlain and eroded his credibili- delirious crowds the size of which stoic Prime Minister, to the lustrous ty. Recording in his diary Harold were not seen again till VE day. The amusement of the Treasury benches, Nicolson wrote, 'the feeling in the lob- pact vindicated appeasement and mockingly exclaimed 'If I were asked bies is that Chamberlain will either sealed the ascendance of Chamberlain whether judgement is the first of my have to go or completely reverse his over his detractors. The only isolated Rt Hon. Friend's many admirable policy. Unless in his speech tonight casualty was the meek resignation of qualities I should ask the House of [in Birmingham] he admits that he Alfred Duff Cooper, who had no wish Commons not to press the point'.3 was wrong, they feel that resignation to bring down the Government. The The threat to other potential rebel is the only alternative…The majority shared the concerted sense of members was de-selection and a snap Opposition refuse absolutely to serve alleviation that war had been fore- election on an issue that the majority under him. The idea is that Halifax stalled, which proved intoxicating for of the public and Party supported. should become Prime Minister and Chamberlain and his followers. Rebel MPs faced reprimand not only Eden Leader of the House'.5 Chamberlain had staked much on from the Whips but, dispiritingly, from Six months earlier Chamberlain had Munich as a populist method to con- their own constituencies. In the been able to pursue his appeasement tain his enemies at home as well as Munich debate, with a majority of policy almost without hindrance. abroad. In the Cabinet the Prime over two hundred, the abstention of Now he was forced to make a public Minister could rely upon Sir Samuel twenty-two Conservatives was softly turnaround if he wished to carry on. Hoare, Sir John Simon and Lord recorded. Writing to his sister, At Birmingham, Chamberlain came Halifax. These three most senior min- Chamberlain admitted the debate had out of his appeasement hypnosis by isters, especially Hoare and Simon, been 'trying' and that he 'tried occa- publicly stating that Britain would would act as loyal Chamberlainites sionally to take an antidote to the poi- resist further Nazi territorial aggran- who buttressed and guarded their son gas by reading a few of the count- disement. The concession that Hitler leader and with whom Chamberlain less letters & telegrams which contin- had made a grave mistake and that the could compel the Cabinet towards his ued to pour in expressing in moving old negotiations could not continue objectives. Subsequently, with their accents the writer's heartfelt relief & appeased some of the old detractors power entwined with Chamberlain's gratitude. All the world seemed to full and figures that had invested political they would also share their leader's of my praises except the House of capital in Chamberlain's appeasement fate and for ever lose their centrality to Commons'.4 This exception would policy. However, the very real contra- power - Simon relegated to the wilder- prove fatal. vention of Munich by Germany had ness of the Woolsack while Hoare and Chamberlain, taking the praise and already struck a cogent blow to his Halifax were effectively exiled as plaudits from Britain and across the domestic and Party standing adding to emissaries to Madrid and Washington world began to believe himself above his assailants fuel. respectively. the petty frays of the Commons. He Yet Chamberlain was certainly not But in 1938 their power was sub- feared the Germans but not domestic about to hand over the premiership. stantial and Munich had, albeit fleet- opposition. His ascendancy in The Prime Minister was in fact ingly, strengthened their hold on the Cabinet was almost absolute. answering many of his critics' reins. With the chorus of support for Chamberlain craftily exercised his demands on issues like rearmament, the Prime Minister, Conservative power to ensure his policies were the creation of a ministry of supply Central Office urged Chamberlain to implemented. Using advisors, like and guarantees to European nations. dissolve Parliament and secure an the more recent occupants of Though these retractions somewhat increased majority under his leader- Downing St, he created separate belatedly mitigated his long-term crit- ship that was predicated to be on the channels of information and imple- ics like Churchill and Eden, it still scale of victories in 1931 and 1935.2 mentation, such as Sir Horace Wilson amounted to a messy reversal of his Indeed, when the Prime Minister who would work over the heads of policy as the Prime Minister now hur- entered the Commons for the Munich Halifax's Foreign Office. riedly mimicked his opponents' poli- debate the entire Government benches Responding to Simon's demands for a cies that he had previously caustically rose in ovation for Chamberlain with Committee of Control to examine dismissed. This did not stop the Prime five notable exceptions that included defence expenditure Chamberlain Minister from allowing Sir Joseph

14 | Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 Neville Chamberlain

Ball, Director of the Conservative 1940, said that 'I don't see that other to weights. The group, though not want- Research Department, using friends in whom I could hand over with any con- ing to bring down the Government or MI5 for wire-tapping the private tele- fidence that he would do other than I'.8 Chamberlain, was at the very least dis- phone conversations of Churchill, These were not the words of someone comforted by Chamberlain's policy Eden and their allies to check rumours who intended to retire despite the and poor direction. All these groups of a 'palace coup' and whether they repudiation of the central plank of his had oscillated between stances that could be quietened with the ‘prospect very personal foreign policy. By wanted to reform the ançien regime of office’.6 emphasising, as many Conservative with the disposal of Simon and Hoare The August Non-Aggression Pact leaders had before and since, the inad- but keep Chamberlain, to demanding between Germany and the Soviet visability and paucity of worthy suc- the complete radical reformation of the Union, and the invasion of Poland cessors Chamberlain sought the con- government to include all parties. compelled serious reactions from tinuance of his leadership and pre- Norway now united the groups and Chamberlain that he would have miership. During the period of the gave the cohesion that was lacking scoffed at a few months previously. 'Phoney War' Chamberlain, despite before regarding Chamberlain's posi- War spelled the clear failure of the meeting quarters of dissent in the tion that would soon dramatically crys- Government's and therefore scuttled Commons, could still appeal to a tallise. Chamberlain's existing policies. The nation that did not want full-scale war. Chamberlain began the debate on reputations of the inner circle, espe- Some opinion polls even as late as Norway in less than convincing style cially Hoare and Simon, never recov- April 1940 still indicated key support and interestingly stated, alluding per- ered from this clear indictment that the for Chamberlain at a level close to haps to Churchill's disaster in the outbreak of War brought. sixty per cent.9 Great War, that Norway was 'not com- Chamberlain was now compelled to The calamity of the Norwegian parable to the withdrawal from invite Churchill into the War Cabinet campaign and the German onslaught Gallipoli'. The infamous onslaught in while Eden became Dominions into Western Europe would draw the May is perhaps best remembered for Secretary. curtain of Chamberlain's infallibility Leo Amery's historic and venomous Yet Chamberlain, still hanging on down theatrically. The spectre of a diatribe against Chamberlain and the for control, only dropped two minis- positive and effective, though still pre- Chamberlainites. Amery talked of the ters, and made minimal changes with carious, campaign convinced present Cabinet being filled with twenty-four of the thirty one ministers Chamberlain of the need of Norway to 'peace-time statesmen who are not too from peacetime keeping their posts.7 demonstrate his capability of being the well fitted for the conduct of war'… These infinitesimal changes did little leader who could bring victory not 'This is what Cromwell said to the to rejuvenate Chamberlain's power, vacillation. Chamberlain perhaps also Long Parliament when he thought it nor did it endear his reputation to the had an eye across the Channel where was no longer fit to conduct the affairs nation at a time of international crisis. the tenacious Churchill-like figure, of the nation: "You have sat too long The inclusion of Churchill and Eden Reynaud had usurped his fellow for any good you have been doing. meant there were two key ministers Munich signatory Daladier, as Prime Depart, I say, and let us have done that did not owe their allegiance to Minister of France. with you. In the name of God, go!"' him. Dangerously for Chamberlain, The consequent failure of Norway, Figures on the Opposition like both, especially Churchill, were fig- rearmament deficiencies, and the lack- Herbert Morrison and Chamberlain's ures seen as viable alternative Prime lustre conduct of war enabled the vari- old adversary Lloyd George, sensing Ministers. ous opposition groups an opportunity blood, roused the ready passions of Churchill, rather than continue to be to apply real pressure on Chamberlain the Commons, which fast turned into parodied as a troublemaker and adver- during the debates scheduled for 7-8 an internecine chamber of obloquy. sary of the government worked strong- May. Clement Davies, a future Liberal Chamberlain jolted by this, responded ly in its defence. The new First Lord leader, headed the All-Party Action to the open attacks from Tories and of the Admiralty, far from attacking Group, which contained "progressive" others by stating with embattled fer- his former critics, enhanced his posi- Tory MPs and Centre-Left MPs that vour that 'I do not seek to evade criti- tion cleverly by praising his old had shown little loyalty to Chamberlain cism, but I can say this to my friends detractors, and thereby raised his cred- and were presumed averse to his conti- in the House - and I have friends in the ibility. Now Churchill far from being nuity. The Eden Group, containing fig- House. No Government can prose- perceived as extreme, established him- ures like Amery, had shown antipathy cute a war efficiently unless it has self as a statesman and thus chal- towards Chamberlain's policy but had public and Parliamentary support. I lenged the Prime Minister and con- loyalty to the Party. There was also accept the challenge. I welcome it tributed to the atrophy of the Lord Salisbury's 'Watching indeed. At least we shall see who is Chamberlain's leadership. Committee', which contained upcom- with us and who is against us, and I Chamberlain, writing (rather con- ing Conservatives like Macmillan as call upon my friends to support us in volutedly) to his sister in January well as being filled with Tory heavy- the Lobby tonight'.

Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 | 15 Neville Chamberlain

Lloyd George seized upon the Opposition while eighty-eight Labour leaders who only delayed impressive but the fact remained these exasperated and ill chosen abstained. Labour MPs and the their inevitable negative response that a decisive minority had lost words that erroneously called for likes of Harold Macmillan sang to coalition under him by their confidence in him. Chamberlain's 'friends' at a time when everyone 'Rule Britannia' and chants of requirement to defer the choice to career ended in ignominy and else was talking of unity and 'Go, go, go' resounded in the their National Executive. tragedy. nation building. The mercurial Chamber as Chamberlain, stiff Early next morning As Chamberlain tragically old Welsh orator capitalised on and inflamed, walked silently Chamberlain was awoken with recognised - 'Only a few months this by asking Churchill not be an from this infamous gladiatorial the news that the Low Countries ago I was Prime Minister in the 'air raid shelter' for Chamberlain spectacle. had been struck by Blitzkrieg. fullest enjoyment of mental and and then vehemently launched a As evidence of his impotence Chamberlain thought that this physical health and with what was forceful attack on Chamberlain - Chamberlain even tried to offer may not be the time to change the described as an unprecedented 'He is not in a position to appeal high office to Tory rebels like old guard, but in the Cabinet only hold on the H[ouse] of on the grounds of friendship. He Amery with the Treasury or Hoare defended this position, C[ommons]. Then came the has appealed for sacrifice. The Foreign Office. Coalition gov- while his ally Sir Kingsley Wood Norwegian withdrawal, the pan- nation is prepared for every sacri- ernment was essential for sur- advised the Prime Minister to icky resentful vote which brought fice so long as it has leader- vival. Not only were the public step down and was supported by down the majority in such spectac- ship…I say solemnly that the and the House demanding it, but no less than Halifax.13 Later a ular fashion, my instant realisation Prime Minister should give an also any government would need call came through from that the loss of prestige could only example of sacrifice, because the support of Labour and their Bournemouth from Labour con- be countered by a gesture of there is nothing which can con- Trade Union links to mobilise firming that its politicians could increased unity here and that unity tribute more to victory in this war fully the workforce for the unique not serve under him, which final- could not be achieved by me in the than that he should sacrifice the requirements of war. With the ly destroyed any illusion of face of Labour and Liberal oppo- seals of office.'10 distinct and real animus between Chamberlain continuing. A sition to myself'.14 The The ensuing vote saw detrac- Chamberlain and Labour the dispirited Chamberlain immedi- Conservatives sacrificed tors openly herald the fall of chances were at best remote. ately proceeded to hand over the Chamberlain for not being able to Chamberlain and gave confi- In an interview at 10.15, the seals of office to a saddened King provide that unity and obtained the dence to Conservatives, who nor- morning after the momentous who soon formally ushered in the ultimate censurable price for being mally feared the wrath of the debate, Chamberlain discussed contrasting Churchill era. the principal prophet of appease- Whips, to vote against their own with the Foreign Secretary, the Importantly, Chamberlain ment when that policy had long Government. Not for the last possibility of him taking over. retained the leadership of the ceased to pay political dividends time Parliament would be instru- Though his reluctance and peer- Conservative Party and stayed in for the Conservative Party. mental in bringing down a Tory age usually discount the possibil- the five-member War Cabinet as leader. According to Jörgen ity of Halifax's succession - the Lord President. Chamberlain 1 David Dutton, Neville Chamberlain, London: Rasmussen, Chamberlain, like details are not as neat. Andrew played a key role in the adminis- Arnold, 2001, p 52 many of his successors, had Roberts argues that 'Halifax sim- tration of the war and worked 2 Andrew Roberts, The Holy Fox A showed a 'persistent refusal to ply calculated that he would be in well with Churchill in whose Biography of Lord Halifax, London: heed constructive criticism' a more powerful position stand- absence he chaired meetings until Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1991, p 123 3 John Charmley, Chamberlain and the Lost which did 'frustrate even staunch ing behind the throne than sitting his terminal cancer made resigna- Peace, London: Macmillan, 1991, p 153 supporters' who 'in on it' and still be 'heir-apparent' tion unavoidable in October. He 4 Graham Stewart, Burying Caesar Churchill, despair…were driven to vote and as Halifax himself stated in died only a month later. Yet any Chamberlain and the Battle for the against their leaders'.11 that inimitable patrician, High power that he retained was due to Conservative Party, London: Phoenix, 1999, The ineffectual war leadership Tory nonchalant way, 'he felt he Churchill, and not the p 336 5 Ibid. pp 348355 and direction, distaste of continu- could do the job'.12 Conservatives who had ruthlessly 6 Ibid. p 368 ing prevarication, lingering Perhaps Halifax not only want- allowed the downfall of their 7 John Ramsden, The Age of Balfour and stench of appeasement, the ed to restrain the excesses of leader who could not give the Baldwin 19021940, London: Longman, Government's defeatism, and Churchill, but step in at a later nation or the Conservatives the 1978, p 370 years of adversarial politics ren- date - but at this point he had no leadership required with war after 8 Op. Cit. p 397 dered the demanded coalition wish to emulate Asquith in the being emblazoned by the failure 9 Paul Addison, The Road to 1945: British Politics and the Second World War, London: government under a Chamberlain previous war (with Lloyd George of appeasement. Cape, 1975, p 78 banner implausible, and thus making all the noise and finally Chamberlain's leadership of 10 Stewart, Burying Caesar, pp 402 412 struck against the possibility of usurping him from the premier- the Party was now largely nomi- 11 Jörgen Rasmussen, "Party Discipline in Conservative hegemony. The ship). Halifax finally abnegated nal since its efficacy had plum- WarTime: The Downfall of the Chamberlain Government, who could normally from taking the mighty responsi- meted as so many of the Government", The Journal of Politics, Vol. 32, 1970, p 382 count on a majority of around two bility and told Chamberlain to Parliamentary Party had deserted 12 Roberts, The Holy Fox A Biography of Lord hundred twenty, now humiliating- advise the King to send for their leader's direction at such a Halifax, PP 199201 ly collapsed to eighty-one. Forty- Churchill. In the evening the crucial time. On paper his pow- 13 Stewart, Burying Caesar, p 419 two Government MPs voted with weary Prime Minister met with ers as Conservative leader appear 14 Dutton, Neville Chamberlain, pp 56

16 | Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 Capturing the Middle Ground Disraeli’s 1872 Blueprint for Electoral Success

Mark Coalter, currently a solicitor practising in London, is a Mark Coalter regular contributor to the Conservative History Journal.

he leader of the indeed well founded. Conversely, office merely interrupted the thank- Conservative Party . . . opinion in 1872 was slightly more less task of almost permanent opposi- ‘ did not reward his fol- sceptical about the significance, if tion, and confirmed their inability to lowers by any very any, of Disraeli's platform pro- shape the national agenda. Compared T startling originality. nouncements. The Times, then, as with the zealous reforming spirit that Perhaps it is unfair to be always look- now, was one of the key tenets of was alive in Westminster with ing for something profound or para- what might be described as the 'liber- Gladstone's first administration iron- doxical or mystical when he makes a al' establishment and, at best, was ing out ancient abuses and anomalies popular oration, but we cannot help it; lukewarm to the Tories. It claimed, in ranging from the disestablishment of he has created the curiosity, and we late 1871, that Conservative majority the Church of Ireland to the introduc- are disappointed if it be not satisfied" government was impossible because tion of the secret ballot and the aboli- "the leaders of the Party do not tion of the purchase of army commis- The Times, 25 June 1872 believe in it. The country gives them sions, the Tories' somewhat lacklustre no confidence. The majority is opposition to these measures gave the Benjamin Disraeli's speeches at the against them. All the forces of time impression that the Liberals were in Free Trade Hall in Manchester and are strained in an opposite direction"; control. The publication of Lothair, the Crystal Palace in 1872 have been and noted, on the eve of the Disraeli's first novel in a generation, discussed widely by historians and Manchester speech, that "Mr Disraeli coupled with a lack of parliamentary granted a far-reaching significance is achieving a great success by his activity and leadership, raised ques- by a number of twentieth and twenty- visit to Lancashire. If he were the tions about his political commitment first century politicians. Remarkably, most potent of Ministers, instead of and future. Rumours of a leadership a consensus of sorts exists between the chief of the weakest Opposition plot by Party grandees sponsoring the these two diverse groups and inter- which Parliament has known for Earl of Derby, the son of Disraeli's pretations have revolved around the many years, he could not have been predecessor, which in the event were dual themes of Conservative Party met with a more hearty welcome." not wholly without foundation, fortunes and social reform. Beyond Why this negative tone, one may fuelled such speculation. Disraeli's dispute is that events after 1872 illus- ask, in commenting on one of the birth, fashion and even aspects of his trate the extent to which the speeches greater figures of nineteenth-century ideological outlook allowed him to be constituted part of the Conservative public life, compared with the meas- cast in the role of outsider, though revival and allowed the Party to raise ured assessment of historians? The with Party apparatchiks this was not itself from the political graveyard of answer lies in the former quotation, always advantageous. When times opposition thereby setting the scene, dealing with the perceived state of the were electorally lean, such attitudes in 1874, for the first Conservative Party by mainstream opinion, a view could become hostile, particularly in majority administration since that of confirmed, no doubt, by the fortunes the surroundings of Hatfield House. Peel in 1841. Such common ground, of the Tories since the split of 1846, Therefore, aside from individual with the benefit of hindsight, is when three short spells of minority friendships, he did not benefit from

Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 | 17 Disraeli unconditional loyalty from any specif- point, when governments tend to be government, a dispute with Russia ic strand within the Party. Of course, judged on their programme and over the Crimean settlement, and the his position as leader was secure when achievements. His first term as pre- fallout from the Franco-Prussian War, the Party triumphed at the polls in mier was notable for reform, but the compounded Gladstone's difficulties. 1874, but in the aftermath of electoral manner in which these legislative suc- As 1872 progressed from winter into defeat in 1868 and until 1872, Disraeli cesses were attained and implemented spring there was a sense that with the was vulnerable. made the government unpopular, not Liberals running out of steam, Disraeli From 1870, however, there were just with the special interests that they was being presented with an unprece- developments occurring within the offended, but also the general public. dented opportunity. As Cairns put it inner workings of the Party machine As well as making enemies of ele- memorably to Richmond, "you know that bolstered the leader's position. ments within the Church, the House of that last year, and in 1870, he was With the retirement of Lord Cairns, Lords and, of course, the breweries - down in the mouth and rather Disraeli neutralised the conspirators although not all at the same time - the repelling meetings to concert plans in the Upper House by appointing the liberal and reforming ideology that etc: now he thinks things are looking more amenable Duke of Richmond to gave each piece of legislation its own up, and awakening himself, he turns lead the Tory peers in the Lords, there- interventionist and, in the eyes of the round and insists that every one else is by stifling the campaign in favour of general public, meddling characteris- asleep". Lord Salisbury. Party organisation tics was proving unpalatable to the A mass Tory demonstration at was strengthened, if not profession- middle ground. Manchester had been discussed since alised, by the creation of Conservative Separate foreign crises involving the election defeat of 1868. However, Central Office and the National Union arbitration proceedings with the US the timing of such an event and the of Conservative and Constitutional Associations, the umbrella organisa- tion for local Conservative organisa- tions under the able stewardship of John Gorst. On a personal level, Disraeli secured a triumph by being elected Rector of Glasgow University in late 1871, defeating John Ruskin. Perhaps the turning point in his fortunes occurred in February 1872 with his reception at St Paul's Cathedral, at a service of thanksgiving for the return to health of the Prince of Wales, when he was cheered by throngs of Londoners from the City to the Carlton Club. As the late Lord Blake put it "there occurred one of those seemingly inexplicable gusts of public opinion which now and then by some freak of political weather came down from a calm sky to ruffle the hitherto still political waters". Sir William Fraser speculated that as Disraeli sat in the morning-room of the Carlton Club, staring into the distance, rather than participating in a discussion on Napoleon, his thoughts were focused on a return to high office. The frosty and occasionally hostile reception the same crowd accorded Gladstone per- haps gave such thoughts a hint of real- ism and allowed Disraeli to develop ‘New Crowns for them further. Old Ones’. John By 1872, Gladstone's administra- Tenniel’s Punch cartoon of April tion was reaching that crucial midterm 1876.

18 | Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 Disraeli choice of principal speaker had created At the Crystal Palace he spoke to a monarchy as the pinnacle of Britain's some controversy. Lord Sandon, a much smaller audience of 2,000 dele- institutions, the Conservatives were Lancashire grandee and future cabinet gates, after a banquet held at the championing the maintenance of a minister, stated in 1871 that "I do not National Union Conference. This constitutional norm that was theoreti- myself like the idea of a public appear- speech built on the key messages cally above Party politics, yet high- ance of the members of the late Cabinet announced at Manchester, particularly lighting an area of Liberal vulnerabil- in Lancashire . . . I do not hold a very social reform and empire. It should be ity . high opinion of their capacity and I feel noted that whilst Disraeli did not par- In this post-1867 world, with a sure that such an appearance would tell ticipate in the art of mass oratory much enlarged electorate, Disraeli against us in the country." Disraeli's often, when he did, he was not just was making a play for the votes of the reassertion as leader and the extent of addressing the delegates in the hall, middle and upper working classes, Liberal unpopularity signalled that but more significantly, utilising the whose instincts were naturally conser- such a meeting was now opportune. platform as a forum to reach a nation- vative - that is, with a small 'c' - and Through the medium of Disraeli's al audience. who would be more likely to rally to a speeches, certain key initiatives were The Manchester speech had been national rather than a class-based ban- launched at both the Manchester much hyped in the press and politi- ner. Not since the death of Palmerston meeting on 3 April 1872 and that held cal circles in advance, and The Times in 1865, had the Conservatives been at the Crystal Palace on 24 June 1872. noted that, "we should be glad to presented with such a perfect opportu- As there is a certain amount of overlap hear something like a statement of nity, in the words of Blake, to "find a between the contents of both speeches, principle," but sounded a warning voice and not an echo". it would be appropriate to deal with note to the effect that "if it be clear Disraeli gave credit to the Liberals them collectively; firstly, by setting that this programme will consist of for carrying out reform in areas where the context in which each speech was nothing else than the appropriation it was necessary, but observed that the delivered, and secondly, assessing the of the chief ideas of those very radi- government were running out of key issues which were addressed, i.e. cals [i.e. the Liberal government], steam. In a fine turn of phrase which the constitution and nation, social then the enthusiasm which today deserves to be quoted in full, and was reform and empire. calls forth will very soon pass away considered by Lord Morley, even among Lancashire Galdstone's official biographer, to be The Speeches Orangemen". "one of the finest classic pieces of the Disraeli's experience of mass oratory oratory of the century" he warned, "as was certainly limited, compared to that The Constitution and I sat opposite the Treasury Bench the of Gladstone. He had, of course, dab- the Nation Ministers reminded me of one of bled, but gained no reputation for Disraeli initially concentrated on core those marine landscapes not very speaking outside the familiar environs Tory beliefs, using the speeches as a unusual on the coasts of South of House of Commons and constituen- means of restating basic Conservative America. You behold a range of cy, although in mid-Victorian public principles. There was a reaffirmation exhausted volcanoes. Not a flame life this was not such a handicap. As of allegiance to Crown, established flickers on a single pallid crest. But he said at Manchester, "I have never in church and House of Lords. The mes- the situation is still dangerous. There the course of my life obtruded myself sage was indeed timely, as this tri- are occasional earthquakes, and ever upon any meeting of my fellow-coun- umvirate of institutions had been and anon the dark rumbling of the trymen unless I was locally connected under attack from the fringes of the sea". with them, or there were peculiar cir- Liberal Party, particularly Sir Charles Liberalism, in practice, could not cumstances which might vindicate me Dilke, without so much as a public be trusted to maintain the constitu- from the imputation of thrusting rebuke from Gladstone. As Disraeli tional status quo or govern responsi- myself unnecessarily on their atten- observed, "Her Majesty's new bly, rather "it is to attack the institu- tion." In spite of being a 'novice' he Ministers proceeded in their career tions of the country under the name of managed to speak for three and quar- like a body of men under the influence reform and to make war on the man- ter hours to an audience in excess of of some deleterious drug. Not satiated ners and customs of the people of this 30,000 delegates, though his delivery with the spoliation and anarchy of country under the pretext of began to fade as he approached the Ireland, they began to attack every progress". Disraeli dismissed end of his discourse. We can, of institution and every interest, every Liberalism as 'cosmopolitan' and 'con- course, only speculate as to the extent class and calling in the country." The tinental', an ideology based on to which Disraeli's consumption of Conservatives were, by contrast, offer- abstract principles, rather than one "two bottles of white brandy, indistin- ing a tranquil and measured alterna- grounded in reality and serving the guishable by onlookers from the water tive to the unstoppable juggernaut of collective interests of the nation. taken with it" affected the final hour of Gladstonian Liberalism. By re- Whilst social reform and adherence to his speech. emphasising their loyalty to the empire were certainly of importance,

Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 | 19 Disraeli the 'national' theme was perhaps, in duced a subtle caveat, as he mentioned ground when championing the the short term, the more pertinent in the difficulties of "achieving such empire, as he had famously likened persuading uncommitted electors to results without violating those princi- the colonies, in an earlier age, to “mill- support the Conservatives, in many ples of economic truth upon which the stones.” Politics may be the art of the instances for the first time. prosperity of all States depends," that possible, although, in reality, it is more is, cautioning against interference often the art of pragmatism, and by Social Reform with the free market. As the Party was 1872 Disraeli's imperial ideal had At Manchester Disraeli stated that, "the to discover to its electoral chagrin a evolved to that of an empire "with the first consideration of a Minister should generation later, laissez-faire, as the durability of Rome with the adventure be the health of the people". This cer- economic model and provider of mid- of Carthage". In this era, with late tainly appeared to be new ground for Victorian largesse, had acquired a near Victorian imperial expansion but a the Party, although Disraeli had spent a infallible and divine status, with which few years away, he was linking patriot- large portion of his youthful intellectu- only the foolhardy tampered. ism with the allure of empire and mak- al energies in developing his own It is easy to be cynical about ing a bid for the imaginations of the unique One Nation brand of Toryism, Disraeli's motives in addressing social urban working class. Disraeli sensed with responsibility for the welfare of reform. The Times noted that "Mr that the Liberals were vulnerable on the working man placed on the shoul- Disraeli evidently knows the advan- this issue, as their past conduct had ders of his social betters, who, as a tages of making new alliances" and affected "the disintegration of the result of their lofty positions, had a there is, indeed, an element of truth in empire," pointing to colonial self-gov- duty to look after the lower orders. The this. Yet in a lofty and idealistic sense, ernment as an example. He was not message from both speeches to the he was conscious that Britain's pros- opposed to granting self-government newly enfranchised working man was perity and continued international but asserted that this should be in tan- not to concern himself with political position depended upon a healthy and dem with "a great policy of imperial fit population. In turn, for the consti- consolidation" and "accompanied by Disraeli was making a play for the tutional status quo to continue and an imperial tariff, by securities for the “ receive fresh impetus, it was essential people of England for the enjoyment votes of the middle and upper working to bring the working classes into the of unappropriated lands which belong classes, whose instincts were naturally Tory fold and give them a stake in the to the Sovereign as their trustee, and forging of the nation. If it meant that by a military code which should have conservative ” working class concerns and griev- precisely defined the means and the ances would be dealt with by a responsibilities by which the Colonies activity and agitation, but instead to Conservative Party that was seen to be should be defended, and by which, if trust the Conservatives to act on his listening and acting responsibly, rather necessary, this country should call for behalf. Disraeli, in jest, placed key than interfering in their lives and pas- aid from the Colonies themselves". A Conservative principles in the narrow times - as was the case with the representative council was canvassed context of the Liberal legislative agen- Liberal government and associated "which would have brought the da by stating that, "the policy of the puritan killjoys - then perhaps this was Colonies into constant and continuous Tory Party - the hereditary, the tradi- preferable. As Professor Smith relations with the Home tionary policy of the Tory Party, that observes, in relation to the social Government". would improve the condition of the reform strand of the speeches, "there As with social reform, Disraeli people - is more appreciated by the was more of the politics of mass seda- shied away from outlining a detailed people than all the ineffable mysteries tion than of those of mass arousal". imperial strategy. By highlighting and all the pains and penalties of the these two topical and populist areas he Ballot Bill". Indeed, the people of The Empire was giving the electorate a taste of England would be "idiots . . . if, with For Disraeli, the choice England was what would follow under a future their experience and acuteness, they facing was "whether you will be con- Conservative administration, rather had not long seen that the time has tent to be a comfortable England, than compromising his room for arrived when social and not political modelled and moulded upon manoeuvre at this early stage. Perhaps improvement is the object at which Continental principles and meeting in he was heeding the advice of his pred- they should aim". due course an inevitable fate, or ecessor, Lord Derby, to Lord George Of course, Disraeli was scant on whether you will be a great country, an Bentinck not to start "detailed projects detail, preferring to focus on the Imperial country, a country where in opposition". broader picture not delving into your sons, when they rise, rise to para- specifics. On the question of affect- mount positions and obtain not merely A Precursor for ing some reduction of the working the esteem of their countrymen, but Electoral Success? man's hours of labour and improving command the respect of the world". "Excellent generalship is a character- working conditions his musings intro- Disraeli was certainly on shaky istic of the Conservative Party, and

20 | Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 Disraeli has often compensated for numerical unquenchable thirst for reform, ways of resolving social problems that inferiority", noted The Times after the enabled Disraeli to claim the had come to a head in the Edwardian Crystal Palace speech. Whilst for Palmerstonian mantle for the period. The purpose of such a body, Disraeli this statement may have Conservatives and assure a harassed according to F.E., was "not only to seemed obvious - indeed, he had electorate that a future Tory govern- expose and correct the usual crudities established the parliamentary prece- ment would augur in a more tranquil of Radical-Socialist legislation, but to dent after the 1868 General Election and stable age. give form to a comprehensive policy defeat by resigning rather than facing The other facets of the 1872 of social reform". Indeed, echoes with the House as head of a minority speeches - social reform and imperial- the past were still audible in the 1980s administration - he was also con- ism - add a distinct contemporary with the implementation of the scious that it was the Party's Achilles’ flavour: the former raising issues Children Act 1989 and the Heel. It was, therefore, imperative regarding the health and welfare of the Community Care Act 1990, two for the Party's parliamentary base to British people and a precursor to the measures in the Disraelian tradition be expanded. Party organisation was Edwardian national efficiency cam- which illustrate that Margaret obviously one way of connecting paigns, whilst the latter policy was one Thatcher's administration was not with the ordinary elector in a local with which the Party was to be closely quite so uncaring as her critics would sense. The other method of reaching identified under Disraeli's successors. have us believe. In respect of the new voters was by devising a pro- It is fair to say that Disraeli's 1874-80 imperial tariff and representative gramme that was in keeping with the administration is remembered less for council as a means of imperial consol- instincts and interests of the more social reform and more for diplomacy idation, Disraeli was airing views that numerically significant and and colonial unrest. In fact, the hand- would be given greater impetus and unaligned portion of the electorate, ful of social measures introduced, intellectual credence by Joseph whilst retaining the Party's core sup- owed more to the imagination of Chamberlain. porters. Individual policies and choice Disraeli proclaimed at Manchester soundbites give the 1872 speeches a "the Conservative Party are accused of “ As with social reform, Disraeli shied contemporary feel but Disraeli's most having no programme of policy. If by away from outlining a detailed imperial significant point was that it was only a programme is meant a plan to the Conservatives who could deliver despoil churches and plunder land- strategy ” responsible government, preserve lords, I admit we have no programme. ancient institutions, particularly the If by a programme is meant a policy monarchy, and restore national har- which assails or menaces every insti- Richard Cross, the Home Secretary, mony. The seizing of the middle tution and every interest, every class than the Prime Minister. Michael ground and the long overdue pitch for and every calling in the country, I Howard, in a recent speech to the the bourgeois and working class vote admit we have no programme." With Charities Aid Foundation, discussed provided the Conservatives with the Gladstone's gravitation to a radical Disraeli's social legislation, as laying foundation from which to build a agenda, politics finally became com- the foundations for future Tory com- long-term electoral base that ultimate- petitive, with the role of champion of mitment to social reform, in the con- ly reached its Victorian zenith under the national interest now up for grabs. text of housing, a process which con- Salisbury. With the Liberals plunging The Conservatives, under Disraeli's tinued through the policies of from crisis to crisis in the remaining stewardship, were well placed to capi- Conservative governments in the years of Gladstone's first administra- talise on the vacuum at the centre and, 1920s and 1930s, to the establishment tion, Conservative tactics were to sit quite crucially, provide choice, a luxu- of local authority social service back and give the government enough ry denied to the electorate during the departments by Keith Joseph in the rope to hang itself. Disraeli had estab- mid-Victorian period by the presence 1970s. In a symbolic, rather than lished his Party's credibility in 1872, of Palmerston. From his conduct of practical sense, Howard is correct to and by early 1874 the Party gained, for foreign policy down to his physical identify Disraeli as the source of this the first time in a generation, a major- form, Pam was the epitome of John Conservative social reform tradition, ity, and a respectable one at that, of Bull, therefore making it exceptional- especially as this policy area has never fifty seats. ly difficult for a Conservative opposi- been the exclusive domain of the cen- And what of Disraeli? A Punch car- tion to oppose policies that on the tre left. With memories of Disraeli toon published in February 1874 is per- whole were in line with measures that still relatively fresh, F. E. Smith and a haps a fitting epitaph. The new Prime they might have implemented in gov- future generation of Conservatives Minister is cast in the form of an angel ernment. Pam's death in 1865 created established the Unionist Social in the ascendant, holding his majority a new electoral opportunity, which by Reform Committee in 1911, with aloft with the caption reading, "Joy, joy 1872, with Liberal ineptitude in for- membership including Stanley for ever! My task is done - the gates are eign affairs, coupled with their Baldwin and Samuel Hoare, to discuss passed, and Heaven is won!"

Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 | 21 in June 1850. The Whig Foreign Secretary, Viscount Palmerston, had instigated a blockade of Piraeus har- bour after the Greek government had Lord Derby’s failed to settle various minor British claims for compensation, not least those of the unsavoury 'Don' Pacifico. At the culmination of the Lords debate on the affair, it fell to Malmesbury to marshall the opposi- shadowy tion votes. The Conservatives defeat- ed the Whig Government in the divi- sion. Though the success was of Foreign Secretary course the result of a broad Conservative attack on the govern- ment in the Lords, Malmesbury was nevertheless proving himself a useful lieutenant. This was of no small importance during a period when the party had lost prominent front- benchers such as Gladstone and Sir Geoffrey Hicks James Graham after the split over the Corn Laws, and they could call upon few able men. More importantly in terms of his Geoffrey Hicks, Associate Tutor at the tion reveals a rather different picture career trajectory, Malmesbury had a School of History, University of East of mid-Victorian Conservatism from long acquaintance with and interest in Anglia, looks at the career of an the Disraeli-dominated one with foreign affairs. In 1837, for example, unjustly forgotten Conservative which we are all familiar. the young Conservative had published Foreign Secretary. Lord Malmesbury first came to a pamphlet attacking Palmerston's for- public prominence in 1852. To the eign policy. Palmerston had sent aid surprise of many contemporaries, he to the Spanish government, embroiled osterity has not been was appointed Foreign Secretary in in a civil war. Malmesbury had vigor- kind to James Howard Lord Derby's first government. ously opposed such interventionism. Harris, third Earl of Historians have suggested The principle of 'non-interference' in Malmesbury. That is, Malmesbury was an odd, even desper- the internal affairs of other countries P when he has been called ate choice. But he was in many ways was to remain an article of faith for to the attention of posterity at all. the obvious person for the job. He him throughout his career. But his Twice Foreign Secretary and a mem- was, firstly, a confidant of the most important asset was his other ber of four Conservative Cabinets, he Conservative leader, and remained so great lifelong friendship, with Louis was at the centre of British politics, until Derby's death in 1869. The two Napoleon Bonaparte, better known to and intermittently European affairs, aristocrats, strong opponents of Sir history as Emperor Napoleon III of for twenty years. Yet many would Robert Peel after he embraced free France. The two had been friends struggle to name his party's leader, trade in 1846, were close contempo- since they had met as young men, his great friend and colleague the raries (Derby was born in 1799; when Malmesbury had been on the fourteenth Earl of Derby, let alone the Malmesbury in 1807). They shared a nineteenth century equivalent of the self-effacing Hampshire nobleman passion for country sports and built up 'grand tour'. He had even interceded who was his closest lieutenant. a firm friendship, both personally and on Napoleon's behalf whilst the latter Malmesbury's more famous col- politically. Malmesbury's first signif- had been imprisoned by King Louis league, Disraeli, has long overshad- icant demonstration of his support for Philippe's regime. Bonaparte had owed both men. Disraeli's great elec- Derby had been as one of his whips in become French president in 1848. toral victory in 1874, his powerful the House of Lords in the late 1840s, When Derby's Conservatives took rhetoric, political showmanship and when Derby was leading the anti- power in 1852, Louis Napoleon had novel-writing have understandably Peelite Protectionist wing of the just overthrown the Second Republic made him an object of fascination for Conservative party. Perhaps in a coup d'état. Malmesbury's historians. Yet a study of Malmesbury's most important, if friendship with the French dictator Malmesbury's career and contribu- unsung, achievement in that role was made Derby's close ally the obvious

22 | Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 Malmesbury

Napoleon III of France. After his Derby were unsuccessful in prevent- successful coup, in ing the Franco-Austrian war of 1859, 1852, Malmesbury as Britain’s they did prevent their critical col- Foreign Secretary league Disraeli (the Chancellor of the worked hard to maintain Exchequer) from initiating a more Anglo-French flamboyant policy. Though Disraeli's relations ideas were vague, he favoured a "sig- nificant demonstration" by Britain, to prevent war, instead of Malmesbury's quieter diplomatic approach. He even secretly worked behind Malmesbury's and Derby's backs to undermine the government's foreign policy. The Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary, however, feared the consequences of bellicose postur- ing. They were determined to avoid Britain being drawn into a conflict. They firmly rejected Disraeli's criti- cisms and exposed the flaws in his hazy diplomatic logic. Until he became Prime Minister in 1868, Disraeli played no significant role in choice for the Foreign Office. Malmesbury brought his experience foreign policy. Significantly, the mild-mannered con- to bear in opposition. Most impor- When Derby formed his last gov- ciliatory peer also represented the tantly, he was one of the few ernment in 1866, Malmesbury's ill- antithesis of Palmerston, who revelled Conservatives who kept up a sus- health prevented a return to the in controversy and whose confronta- tained critique of the Aberdeen's Foreign Office. Instead, his post went tional approach in foreign policy left coalition's foreign policy as it drifted to Derby's son, who maintained the many Conservatives distinctly uneasy. into the Crimean War. He also same neutral, conciliatory policies. In office, Malmesbury cultivated an assisted and encouraged Disraeli in Although Malmesbury was Lord entente cordiale with France. He used his efforts to set up a Conservative Privy Seal between 1866 and 1868, his Bonapartist connections. When it publication, the Press. In his spare and in 1874-6, he never returned to came to the controversial declaration time, he even amused himself by prominence. In retirement in the of Napoleon's Second Empire in late writing for Punch. In 1855, when 1880s, he nevertheless attracted a 1852, Malmesbury worked hard to Lord Aberdeen's government col- brief flurry of publicity when - maintain European peace. He reas- lapsed in the Crimean quagmire, strapped for cash after a late second sured Napoleon of Britain's peaceful Derby tried - unsuccessfully - to marriage - he published his two-vol- intentions, and the British public of form another administration. He ume 'Memoirs of an Ex-Minister'. Napoleon's desire for close alliance named Malmesbury as his first The memoir, written in diary form, with Britain. By the time Malmesbury choice for the Foreign Office. When was the only record of the mid- left office in December 1852 one the Conservatives unexpectedly Victorian Conservative party pub- French diplomat boasted of "une returned to power in February 1858, lished by one of its leading partici- entente parfaite" with Britain. But the after Palmerston's government was pants; Derby left no similar volume, Foreign Secretary had worked closely defeated on the Conspiracy to and Disraeli left only sketchy, unedit- with other Great Powers too. Anglo- Murder Bill, it was a foregone con- ed notes. But, while references to the Austrian friendship had been renewed. clusion that he would once more memoirs regularly pop up in histori- With Russian assistance Britain had oversee foreign policy. ans' footnotes, Malmesbury himself discouraged Napoleon from attacking In 1858, Malmesbury again suc- has largely been forgotten. Yet for Belgium. Malmesbury's patient skills cessfully resolved several minor twenty years he played a key role in had also helped to resolve European European disputes. He also worked Conservative politics, diplomacy, disputes over Greece, Switzerland, hard to restrain France as it became strategy, organisation and propaganda. Tuscany and Schleswig-Holstein. clear that Napoleon and the Examination of his policies and career After the defeat of the Piedmontese leader Cavour were col- help illuminate an important strand of Conservative government in luding to oust the Austrians from British political opinion with a long December 1852, while most of the their Italian puppet and satellite pedigree and a contemporary reso- ousted ministers licked their wounds, states. Though Malmesbury and nance.

Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 | 23 civil service, which was a profession The man who would be reserved for “the unambitious and the indolent and incapable”. Positions were awarded by posses- sors of patronage, who would “bestow the office upon the son or dependent of some one having per- sonal and political claims upon him.”3 Though this last criticism bore PRIME a marked similarity to contemporary political practice, the Northcote/Trevelyan suggestion of competitive entry was accepted, and the modern civil service was born. MINISTER In the winter of 1855 Northcote Sir Stafford Northcote Bart received the following telegram from Gladstone; “If you wish for parlia- 1st Earl of Iddesleigh 18181887 ment, come up instantly without fail to me; if not, answer by telegraph.”4 A seat at Dudley, the rather rotten borough in the pocket of Lord Ward, Bendor Grosvenor had fallen vacant following the death of its Trollopian incumbent, the 87 year old Mr Benbow. Within two weeks (and would that it were this ost politicians do followed Balliol, a scholarship, and a easy today) Northcote was an MP. not reach the top of call at the Inner Temple in 1840. Though a free-trader, fear of the the greasy pole. Lawyerly life was cut short, how- Radicals and an admission that he They are either ever, when in 1842 Northcote's cane was “a rather stiff Conservative” M then honest in wielding former headmaster, one Rev obliged Northcote to join those acknowledging their political short- Coleridge, recommended him as pri- Tories who followed the 14th Earl of comings, or have a ready excuse as to vate secretary to William Gladstone, Derby. why they never quite made it. We the already proven genius then Northcote's early Parliamentary sympathise, blame or applaud. But President of the Board of Trade in career was uneventful, for which we occasionally we are confronted with Peel's government. “There is no sin- can blame Palmerston's political those who really could have become gle statesman of the present day”, domination from 1855-65. Three Prime Minister, but either chose to wrote Northcote, “to whom I would events are perhaps worth noting: in ignore the ultimate prize, or were more gladly attach myself.”1 His new 1856 he voted against the Jew Bill; in denied it by peculiar twists of fate. job opened up the prospect of a 1859 he was appointed Financial Though such figures are difficult to career he had “always secretly Secretary to the Treasury in Lord categorize, and harder to judge, they desired” - politics - “…a seat in par- Derby's brief second administration; allow us an unusual insight into the liament,” he modestly noted, “will and in 1861 his stinging attack politics of power. probably be considered by-and-by against Gladstone's budget cemented Stafford Northcote was born the desirable”.2 his reputation as a politician of the grandson of a Devon Baronet of dis- Before he entered the Commons, first rank. Lord Stanley, no flatterer tinctly modest means. Though his and besides his secretarial duties, he, thought the speech “the most Victorian hagiographer assures us Northcote became closely involved complete parliamentary success that that at birth his “planets were all in with the Great Exhibition and Civil I have heard in the twelve years I the ascendant”, and that he could read Service reform. Characteristic over- have sat in the House,” and he noted, by the age of two, the future did not exertion in the former brought on the prophetically, that Northcote was seem particularly bright. At Eton he first signs of a heart condition that “marked out for a Chancellor of the was beaten regularly for no particular would mark his character and dog the Exchequer”.5 reason, and developed, though not as rest of his life, whilst the latter gave Palmerston's death in 1865 was as a consequence of the cane, a pro- him a platform on which to make his the uncoiling of a political spring. found religiosity. Severe shortness of political reputation. The 1853 “He held a great bundle of sticks sight too struck at an early age - Northcote/Trevelyan report high- together”, Lord Clarendon observed, cricket was out, rowing in. There then lighted the absurd jobbery within the “They are now unloosed, and there is

24 | Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 Northcote nobody to tie them up again.”6 don, Robert Lowe. But unfortu- It is as Chancellor of the line of his own.”10 In the event For the last decade Palmerston nately for Disraeli, and even for Exchequer in Disraeli's second Derby, ever the reluctant politi- had been the one barrier between Lord Derby, the Adullamites' government (1874-80) that cian, refused to oust his friend of England and the Democratic preferred option was “fusion” - a Northcote is perhaps best 30 years standing, and remained flood. As soon as the septuage- coalition under the leadership of remembered. It was he who first instead the brake within Cabinet narian Lord Russell began his Derby's son, Lord Stanley. It is in made the income tax permanent, on Disraeli's febrile imagination. second spell in Downing Street, Northcote's diary that we see it being still improbably collect- Both Derby and Northcote thirteen years after the first, it Disraeli at his duplicitous best, ed as a 'temporary measure'. His were critical of Disraeli's policy became clear that a Reform bill at once denying Stanley's ability budgets are notable for radically on grounds that we might now would be introduced to or wish to become Premier - reducing the national debt, regard as unusual - cost. Today Parliament. The Conservatives while in Stanley's diary we read through an annual sinking fund, we never consider the cost of had merely to find the 40 of Disraeli pressing “strongly the whilst at the same time facilitat- foreign policy. But during the Whig/Liberal MPs opposed to necessity of my [Stanley’s] ing the social legislation passed Eastern Crisis Northcote's total reform and power would be accepting office as Premier if by Disraeli's visionary Home annual tax revenue was just £75 theirs. Few could have predicted, called upon.”8 In Disraeli's Secretary Richard Cross. million. If you feared, as Derby however, that within eighteen favour, however, were the many But war, or the threat of war, did, that Disraeli “would think it months Derby and Disraeli Conservative MPs, chief among played havoc with Northcote's quite sincerely in the interests of would have passed their own them Northcote, to whom finances (not to mention his the country to spend 200 million Reform bill, one more far reach- Stanley, an agnostic, was unac- political loyalties) in the latter on a war if the result of it was to ing than anything Russell had ceptable because of his 'unsound' half of the government. The make foreign states think more dared propose. The conservative stance on Church matters. It is Eastern Crisis of 1875-8 threat- highly of us as a military power”, liberalism that, in Whig hands, thanks largely to these ened at several moments to then it was easy to see how a had governed Britain since 'Churchmen' that 'fusion' failed, destroy Disraeli's Premiership. “spirited foreign policy” could Russell's first ministry of 1846 and a purely Conservative gov- Following a rebellion in the severely upset Britain's econom- would soon be at an end. ernment was formed. Northcote Balkans Russia had declared war ic prosperity. In addition it Perhaps mindful of his own was Disraeli's Vir pietate gravis. on the Ottoman Empire in April became apparent from about importance in the events about to Northcote joined Derby's third 1877. In England the Cabinet 1876 onwards that Britain was unfold throughout 1865-6 government as President of the was split between the Foreign entering a serious depression. Northcote began to keep a diary. Board of Trade - his first Cabinet Secretary, the 15th Earl of Derby Consequently, the £6million vote It is worth dwelling for a post. He seems not have a played (previously Lord Stanley), and of credit (raised by the govern- moment on what he observed in any significant role in shaping the Prime Minister. The former, ment in 1878 to pay for potential his role as one of Disraeli's key the Conservatives own reform concerned with what he saw as war preparations), and the £5 lieutenants in the parliamentary bill of 1867. Disraeli and Derby the real currency of England's million cost of the Zulu war struggle to “dish the Whigs”. liked to work alone. It is perhaps power - stability, trade and peace (1879), not to mention costs aris- Through Northcote we learn of surprising that the basic tenets of - held that conditional neutrality ing from the Afghan wars, Disraeli's fear lest Russell's gov- the bill, with its profound conse- must be Britain's policy. Disraeli caused “the whole business of ernment pass even a moderate quences for the map of political on the other hand, desperate for the Chancellor of the Exchequer Reform Bill; “such a course”, he Britain, were agreed by the glory, prestige, and perhaps even [to be] thwarted by the course of warned, “would seat the Whigs Cabinet in just half a dozen frac- war, held a positively hyperbolic foreign politics.”11 Perhaps we for a lifetime.”7 He was probably tured meetings; hence the view of Russian power, and was may turn to Gladstone for a typ- right. Reform was in truth as description of the bill as a 'leap convinced the Tsar's army could ically evangelical, but nonethe- much about gerrymandering on in the dark'. Political survival occupy Constantinople, and even less accurate, reflection of much a massive scale than any philan- rather than political science sweep through Arabia to seize contemporary wisdom: “The thropic desire to extend the fran- guided the actions of Derby's his newly purchased Suez Canal. expenses of a war are the moral chise. While Disraeli practiced minority administration. By the Put simply, Derby and many of check which it has pleased the the despatch box bravura with time the bill had passed close to his colleagues, Northcote almighty to impose upon the which he had already brought one million voters had gained included, feared that Disraeli's ambition and the lust of conquest down four governments, the franchise, and the electorate bellicose proposals would pro- that are inherent in so many Northcote was one of those was doubled in size - all of voke an Anglo-Russian war. nations.” deputed to find the MPs needed which was too much for Lord Thus it was Northcote, intimate Ultimately, however, it was to reverse Russell's majority. In Cranborne, one of the few Disraelian though he professed party politics that belatedly fact, there were some fifty Conservatives to realise just how to be, who, sharing Salisbury's brought Northcote behind Whigs and Liberals who might radical, intentionally or not, the fear that Disraeli's policy would Disraeli as the Eastern Crisis vote against Reform - the so- Reform Bill was. Cranborne's place Britain “on the steep slope reached its denouement in early called “Adullamites” who coa- resignation meant another pro- which leads to war”,9 suggested 1878. A classic weathervane lesced around the brilliant orato- motion for Northcote - to in December 1877 that Derby politician, Northcote tended to ry of a half-blind albino Oxford Secretary of State for India. should “take a lead and give us a move with the prevailing wind,

Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 | 25 Northcote and, as the Russians set up camp too much excitement could kill to form the next Conservative gov- Premier's office he suddenly col- in the suburbs of Constantinople him accounts for his calm and ernment, this being the course rec- lapsed. Twenty minutes later he elements of the Conservative conciliatory political manner - ommended by her beloved was dead. “I had never happened party, the mob, and that great an advantage in government, but Disraeli, that he perhaps made the to see anyone die before”, Jingo the Queen-Empress her- quite the reverse in opposition. fatal assumption that power would Salisbury wrote, “…just before self, created such a storm that it In addition, Northcote's strategy be his. Quite why Victoria chose the sudden parting… I had, I appeared, in February and March was aimed at separating the Salisbury without so much as “a believe, for the first time in my 1878, that the Government might dwindling and disaffected Whigs word of sympathy or regret”16 to life, seriously wounded his feel- fall if a decided line were not from Gladstone and the Liberals. Northcote has yet to be fully ings. As I looked upon the dead taken against the Russians. But here we can perhaps see a explained. body stretched before me, I felt Northcote could not afford to man who, though in the prime of Northcote apparently became that politics was a cursed profes- view politics with the same dis- his career, was out of his time. so emotional at hearing the disas- sion.”17 Northcote had suc- interested hauteur as Derby, a Following the 1867 Reform Act trous news that he had to leave the cumbed to the long-threatened wealthy and powerful peer. the parliamentary politics room. It was in fact the deathblow heart condition which had for so Northcote had, after all, spent favoured by Disraeli were in to a career that henceforth col- long governed his temperament, most of his political career in many ways redundant. As lapsed in a series of undignified political approach and modus opposition, and he did not relish Salisbury noted, “Power is more events justly described as “pan- operandi. Northcote's health the thought of once more return- and more leaving parliament and tomimic”. Lord Randolph must, it seems, account for his ing to the cold side of the House. going to the platform.”15 Churchill, one of Northcote's reluctance and inability to play the It was not war that Northcote A small group of young and Fourth Party tormentors, forced political role that his intellect and feared most in 1878, but a “dis- vigorous Tory MPs, dubbed the his removal from the Commons. talent had for so long promised. astrous… division of the “Fourth Party” and more attuned When asked what title he would On such things does history turn. Cabinet.”13 to the demand of modern poli- take if a peerage were offered 1 Life, Letters, and Diaries of Sir Stafford 1881, in which year Disraeli tics, emerged as severe critics of him, Northcote had always said Northcote First Earl of Iddesleigh, by Andrew died, raised an altogether Northcote's leadership. “Done For” was the only suitable Lang, 2 Volumes, 1890. Vol 1 p 55 quoting thornier question - who was to Northcote was “no more a match one he could think of. He chose Northcote to his father, 21st June 1842 lead the Tories? Northcote had 2 Lang Vol 1 p 57 quoting Northcote to a easily seen off his only rival to Mr Shirley 30th June 1842 3 Lang Vol 1 p 1034, quoting the report in the Commons leadership, Northcote was popular and trusted in the each case Gathorne Hardy, when in 1876 “ Commons. He possessed that inestimable 4 Lang Vol 1 p 109, telegram sent February Disraeli took ermine as the com- 26th 1855 fortable flannel to his old age political quality, ‘soundness’ 5 Lord Stanley to Northcote, May 3rd 1861, and elevated himself to the ” Iddesleigh Papers, British Library. Elysian fields. And as the place 6 Lord Clarendon to Lord Granville 21st October 1865, 'Life of the 2nd Earl Granville' to attack Gladstone's new gov- for Mr Gladstone than a wooden instead a familial title, and by Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice p 487 ernment was in the Commons, three-decker would be a match became Earl of Iddesleigh. The 7 Northcote's diary February 22nd 1866 not the Lords, then Salisbury's for a dreadnought” said one - an consolation prize of First Lord of Iddesleigh Papers British Library f72 peerage seemed a sordid boon. unjust quip - but in coming from the Treasury, an office normally 8 'Disraeli, Derby and the Conservative Though the party leadership was A. J. Balfour, nephew of “Bob” held by the Prime Minister, Party, the Journals of Lord Stanley' (ed. John Vincent) entry for 28th April 1866 a “dual” one, it was Northcote Salisbury, we can see how the looked, in truth, a little desperate. 9 Salisbury to Northcote 15th December who initially led the opposition. covert battle for the party leader- And during Salisbury's second 1877, 'Life of Robert, Third Marquis of The problem came, however, ship was conducted. By the time government Northcote's brief Salisbury', by Lady Gwendolen Cecil in Northcote's style of leader- Gladstone's government was tenure of the Foreign Office 10 Northcote to Salisbury 14th December ship. Despite his sometimes tor- defeated on the nominal issue of ended in ignominy when he 1877, Hatfield Archive, Letters from SHN to Ld S f123 tuous ability to see both sides of the 1885 budget it was apparent learned, through the columns of 11 Lang, vol 2 p 98 any argument, which left that Northcote's stock had fallen, the Standard, that he would be 12 Richard Cross to Mary, Countess of Derby, Salisbury for one “in a weak and Salisbury's had risen. replaced to facilitate a coalition 29th October 1877, Hatfield Archive Mary frame of mind”,14 Northcote was Northcote, it seems, did little to with the Liberal Unionists. Derby Papers, MCD 80 ff53 popular and trusted in the rally support for his Prime Deeply hurt, again, Northcote sig- 13 Salisbury to Lord Carnarvon 15th February 1874 Carnarvon Papers, British Commons. He possessed that Ministerial candidacy in the cru- nalled by curt one-line telegrams Library, Add 60758 f127 inestimable political quality, cial days of June 1885. And yet, in that he would never again serve in 14 Lord Carnarvon's diary 5th April 1877 “soundness.” But since his thir- many ways one can hardly blame Salisbury's Cabinet. British Library Carnarvon Papers Add ties Northcote had suffered a him. The Conservative party could After his final day at the 60909 serious “heart disease… he not ultimately decide between him Foreign Office, on 12th January 15 Andrew Roberts 'Salisbury, Victorian knows it and… at any moment it or Salisbury. The choice was the 1887, Northcote walked across Titan', London 1999 p 248 16 Roberts p 325 14 may cut him down.” The Queen's. Victoria had so often told Downing Street to see the Prime 17 Roberts, p 427, quoting Salisbury to Lord uncomfortable knowledge that Northcote that she looked to him Minister. When outside the Randolph Churchill

26 | Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 the use of the colour red can be traced to the 17th century, and during the exclusion crisis it was the colour of those who supported the Crown against the Whigs, who used blue. When Gladstone stood as a Party Conservative at Newark in 1832, he had a Red Club enthusiastically working for him. He was presented with a banner of red silk and an address from the ladies, who expressed "their conviction that the colours good old Red cause was the salva- tion of their ancient borough". There were large tea parties to enlist John Barnes the support of "Red Ladies", while Red inns dispensed rather more intoxicating beverages to Red voters John Barnes is the co-editor of the Conservative History Journal and a Red band was paid 15/- a day and a noted writer on Conservative politics and politicians to play. When H.G.Wells wrote The New Machiavelli in 1910, he recalled the election four years earlier when the Liberals had swept the board: "The London World reeked with the General Election; it had invaded the nurseries. All the children of one's friends had got big maps of England divided up into squares to represent constituencies, and were busy stick-

hen the author ing up", were still marked off red for was adopted as Conservatives and blue for all others. PPC for Walsall It was a salutary reminder that, North in 1963, he although the National Union had W was despatched decided to standardise on blue on his first canvass with a blue on 17 March 1949, they had rosette. He was immediately greeted no way in which to enforce by a lady in the street who rushed their decision. over, kissed him, and said I've waited In fact red has consid- thirty years (a slight exaggeration) to erable claims to be the see a Liberal candidate in Walsall. colour of the Tory Returning to the office, I asked the party. This was said to obvious question and was told that be because it was the traditionally the Conservatives had racing colour of Lord used red, the Liberals blue and labour Derby, who led the yellow or latterly yellow and red. We party, initially in the immediately determined on a red, Lords only, from 1844 white and blue rosette, with blue and until February 1868. white on the manifesto cover. But in That would certainly the committee rooms, the boards appear to be the reason recording the canvassing returns, why it was so widely used which were then used to record who in the north-west. However, had voted in preparation for "knock- as Geoffrey Block observes, Part Colours ing gummed blue labels over the con- were the Abergavenny colours of pur- result of the appearance of a quered red of Unionism that had ple and gold. In 1927 these were the Communist candidate at the 1931 hitherto submerged the country. And Conservative colours in virtually all election, Labour shifted to red and there were also orange labels, if I the Kent and Surrey constituencies, yellow and the Conservatives decid- remember rightly, to represent the and they could be found also in two ed, in the absence of a Liberal candi- new Labour party, and green for the divisions in Sussex and three in date, to use blue in 1935. Irish." Hampshire. Many of the south Interestingly, where, as a result of In 1927 an extant Central Office London boroughs like Lewisham and the National Government, record suggests that red remained the Lambeth were also sailing under Conservative and liberal colour of at least sixty three English those colours. About forty con- Associations joined forces, they and Welsh seats. Red was the colour stituencies in all appeared to be using often adopted blue and yellow as them. their colours and in 1959, eleven In Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, constituencies retained what histori- In fact red has considerable claims to Rutland, the Isle of Ely and parts of cally had been the personal colours “ Norfolk in the 1920s pink was the of Charles James Fox. be the colour of the Tory party. This was dominant colour, although in In the course of the 20th century said to be because it was the racing Cambridgeshire it was coupled with the general trend was towards the use colour of Lord Derby white, in three of the Norfolk divi- of blue, hence no doubt the decision ” sions with purple and in Grantham of the Central Council in 1949. That with red. The use of pink was still may well have been a mistake. Blue is in Northumberland, County Durham, evident in the 1960s, although by not a good colour for a poster and the in much of Cheshire, in Liverpool then North Norfolk had moved to arrival of 'dayglo' confirmed that and in Birkenhead. But it was also blue and Grantham to blue and orange, and to a lesser extent, red the colour in at least two seats in gold. Pink and white were also were far better. But it was not possi- Staffordshire and three in Disraeli's colours when he first ble to backtrack. Figures collected in Worcestershire and it was also to be stood for parliament at Wycombe in 1959 showed how far standardisation found in West Wales. Seven of the ten 1832. had gone. Out of the 547 constituen- divisions in Middlesex also used red. Yellow, in general not a cies in England, 368 were using blue, As late as 1964, red remained the Conservative colour - Trollope used it 31 blue and white and a further 13 colour of choice for many of the con- when contesting Beverley as a 'royal blue'. Add in the blue and yel- stituencies north of the Tees. Liberal in 1868 was, however, the lows (11) and over three quarters Geoffrey Block identified 37 con- colour of the Lowther family and it is were broadly in conformity to the stituencies in all that continued to use no surprise to find that Cumberland party's will. Preston was already it. and Westmoreland Conservatives using the currently fashionable com- When, in March 1961, the followed suit, leaving blue to the bination of blue and orange and Bromley Association resolved to Liberals. That remained the case into Gower coupled green with blue and the 1960s. Further north in Scotland, white. The number using red, white where colours were reported, they and blue had declined slightly to 35, “ When Gladstone fought Greenwich were predominantly red, white and while 37 continued to adhere to the as a Liberal in 1874, the two blue. traditional red. In Scotland, conform- There were also some unusual ity had gone still further. No less than Conservative candidates used crimson combinations to be found in 1927. 55 constituencies adhered to blue, and Gladstone blue, while the Radical in The two divisions in Lambeth used five to the traditional red, white and orange and Rugby was still doing so blue and three national Liberal or compliment to his Home Rule supporters as late as 1959. Camborne coupled Liberal Unionist Associations adopted Green black and yellow and Brighton purple returned their colours as blue and yel- ” and primrose. low. When Gladstone fought For the remainder of the century change its colours from orange and Greenwich as a Liberal in 1874, the and beyond, blue has continued to purple to royal blue, a survey of the two Conservative candidates used be the norm, with orange on blue associations in Kent revealed that crimson and Gladstone blue, while used almost universally for posters. seven used orange and purple, ten the Radical in compliment to his The once varied range of con- blue, one blue and white, and one red, Home Rule supporters adopted stituency colours has passed into white and blue. From knowledge of Green. In the course of the next half history and the suggestion that red Royal Tunbridge Wells, it is probable century, Labour took over red while was once the colour of the Tory that what the survey took to be the Conservatives moved to scarlet party today meets with incredulity orange was in fact gold and that these and white. However, perhaps as a or incomprehension.

28 | Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 Book Reviews

The Intellectual Conservative Mark Garnett celebrates Michael Oakeshott, one of the greatest conservative thinkers of modern times

Oakeshott on The intellectual reputation of pher in the Anglo-Saxon tradi- conservative. Three of the pres- History Michael Oakeshott (1901-90) tion since John Stuart Mill - or ent authors shed new light on Luke O'Sullivan has been a source of pride to even Burke”. There is now a his liberalism. The exception - Imprint Academic Conservatives - and of irritation burgeoning Oakeshott industry, Roy Tseng - only succeeds in £25 to the Left - since he succeeded which includes a commemora- emphasising Oakeshott's clear Harold Laski as Professor of tive association and a website. divergence from the traditions of Political Science at the LSE in The four books under review Locke, Kant and Bentham. But 1951. His appointment to that are the first products of a spe- this by no means exhausts the In Defence of Modernity Fabian foundation seemed to cial Oakeshott series, issued by varieties of liberal ideology, and mark a dramatic shift in the the publisher Imprint Academic Efraim Podoksik is much more Efraim Podoksik intellectual climate, to accom- which is building an impressive persuasive in linking Oakeshott Imprint Academic pany the decline and fall of the list of studies in the work of to other (half-forgotten) £25 Attlee Government. Laski had major British philosophers. European liberal thinkers, never concealed his passionate But is all this fuss justified? notably von Humboldt who also commitment to socialism. These books certainly confirm influenced Mill. Oakeshott could not have pro- that Oakeshott's philosophical From this perspective, the Michael Oakeshott on vided a starker contrast, in his writings are difficult enough to title of Oakeshott's most cele- Hobbes writings and his teaching. To critics who could read between Ian Tregenza the lines, it was obvious that he Imprint Academic These books certainly confirm that £25 despised everything that “ Labour stood for. But instead of Oakeshott's philosophical writings are engaging directly with Laski's difficult enough to require elucidation for a The Sceptical legacy, Oakeshott presented his Idealist own views in a style which wider audience, and sufficiently important seemed both elegant and eva- to make the effort worthwhile Roy Tseng sive. ” Imprint Academic Despite his disdain for £25 polemical encounters, require elucidation for a wider brated essay, 'On being Oakeshott was identified as audience, and sufficiently Conservative' (from the 1962 something of a court philoso- important to make the effort volume, Rationalism in Politics) pher during the Thatcher years, worthwhile. Although he was too could be regarded as a red her- with an assured status even if wise to construct a system, the ring in the ideological battles of he refused to dance attendance. various authors succeed in pre- the last half-century. It reads For Thatcherites his reputation senting his work as a broadly like a deliberate piece of mis- was sufficient to rebut any alle- coherent attempt to fathom some chief, typical of this puckish gation that they belonged to 'the aspects of the mystery of experi- philosopher in his off-duty stupid party'. Since his death - ence. Yet in one respect the pre- moments. Bernard Crick was in the month following cise nature of his reputation scarcely guilty of caricature Thatcher's removal from office remains a puzzle. Oakeshott when he summarised - that reputation has grown fur- clearly regarded the Oakeshott's formula as: “when- ther, on both sides of the Conservative Party as Britain's ever so-and-so sensible is pre- Atlantic. One commentator has most promising bulwark against ferred to such-and-such silly, gone so far as to acclaim him as socialism: but it is equally evi- that is what I mean by being “the greatest political philoso- dent that he was not himself a conservative'. Yet the popularity

Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 | 29 Book Reviews of the essay among post-war begs more questions than it answers, The debate about Oakeshott and Conservatives does help us under- it also encouraged students to re- postmodernism is reflected in the stand ideological change within examine some of the classics of tension in his work, where optimism their party. The Oakeshottian political theory. The most notable and nostalgia always seem to be 'Conservative' might admire tradi- beneficiary of Oakeshott's revision- wrestling for supremacy. The expla- tional practices, but he is an individ- ism was the unlikely figure of nation seems to lie in Oakeshott's ualist, secure within his own skin Thomas Hobbes. Ian Tregenza's encounter with the modern world, and perfectly equipped for meticulous study shows how which was as partial as Hobbes' autonomous existence in the modern Oakeshott deployed selective read- contact with Restoration England. world - if only the state would leave ings of Hobbes to support his own As an academic who was well him alone. This is a distinctively lib- developing ideas. Far from being an rewarded for conducting civilised eral vision, but it amounts to some- apologist for over-mighty rulers, in conversations with intelligent young thing like an ideal self-image for Oakeshott's hands Hobbes turns out people, he could consider himself to many contemporary Conservatives. to have been a champion of 'civil be fortunate. But he came to feel Oakeshott's writings on history association'; his Leviathan might be increasingly isolated in holding the also illustrate the liberal character strong where strength is needed, but view that education was an activity of his thought. In his volume on this there is no question of the state which should be prized for its own subject, Luke O'Sullivan traces imposing priorities on the populace. sake. From this perspective, the Oakeshott's developing ideas with In part, this sympathetic view of increasing emphasis on 'vocational' commendable clarity, drawing on Hobbes seems to have been inspired study after 1979 was part of the by Oakeshott's feeling that Hobbes same 'rationalist' enterprise which was a kindred spirit. This encour- Oakeshott had been attacking since Ian Tregenza's meticulous study aged him to overlook awkward fea- the 1940s. By that time Oakeshott “ tures of Leviathan - for example, it himself was living in retirement in shows how Oakeshott deployed would be difficult to square Hobbes' Dorset, and never made public his selective readings of Hobbes to support picture of acquisitive human nature intellectual distance from the his own developing ideas with Oakeshott's 'Conservative' dis- Thatcherites who praised him. ” position - but, as Tregenza shows, The contents of these books over- his work has inspired other scholars lap and their interpretations are dif- unpublished manuscripts and to present a more nuanced under- ferent; but taken together they make enlivening his account with biogra- standing of the Sage of a thought-provoking read. Although phical snippets. Oakeshott original- Malmesbury. no student of Oakeshott's work can ly trained as an historian, and he The most debatable aspect of ignore the question of ideological included valuable reflections on the Oakeshott's interpretation is his allegiance, the collective effort of subject in Experience and its Modes attempt to deny the orthodox view the authors suggests that his politi- (1933). But in On Human Conduct that Hobbes was a pioneer of the cal writings are less important than (1975) he expounded a view of the Enlightenment. Unlike most liberals his earlier reflections on the nature past which fell short of the exacting who venerate the Enlightenment, of knowledge. Oakeshott began his standards which he had set for his- Oakeshott believed that it introduced career when the main hazard for torical writing. He presented a high- a 'rationalist' approach which philosophers was negotiating a way ly schematic story about the devel- (among other things) infected poli- between the backwash of opment of European individualism, tics and promoted the idea of the Hegelianism and the spring-tide of in order to characterise rival under- state as an 'enterprise association'. logical positivism. His highly dis- standings of the state: one, as a His antipathy to the 'Enlightenment tinctive response to this dilemma 'civil association', in which individ- Project' has encouraged recent com- justifies a high ranking among uals pursue their own goals under a mentators to classify Oakeshott as a twentieth-century British philoso- general framework of rules, and the precursor of postmodernism. Among phers, even if a place alongside Mill other as a compulsory 'enterprise the present authors, Roy Tseng seems too lofty. Hopefully association', where the population is comes closest to this position. Yet Oakeshott's true status will be con- directed towards common goals. Efraim Podoksik is a better guide to solidated soon by an authoritative There could be no doubt as to understanding Oakeshott's work in biography, based on full access to Oakeshott's personal preference, the appropriate context. In a wide- private papers. and as a finishing touch he skewed ranging and perceptive account, his 'evidence' to imply that the idea Podoksik presents Oakeshott as a Mark Garnett, an historian and of 'civil assocation' was older as defender of modernity, despite his biographer is a regular contributor well as better than the alternative. acute awareness of its various dilem- to the Conservative History If Oakeshott's view of the past mas. Journal.

30 | Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 Book Reviews

The Mosleys – Churchill’s dilemma Ronald Porter Examines a new biography of a controversial Mitford sister

Diana Mosley 'You are all the world to me'. Mosleys. In her previous book , Hon. Diana Mitford, to a scion These were the last words The Viceroy’s Daughters: The of the beerage, Bryan Guinness Anne de Courcy Lady Diana Mosley [1910- Lives of the Curzon Sisters, - helped her. As did her two Chatto & 2003] spoke to the dying Sir Lady Cynthia Curzon's short sons by her marriage to Windus Oswald [1896-1980] at their life [1898-1933] is admirably Mosley, Alexander and Max. £20 home near Paris on the night set out. She was Mosley's first They were born after her mar- of 2nd December 1980. Anne wife. They married in 192. riage to Mosley took place in de Courcy's Diana Mosley has King George V and Queen the Goebbels' drawing room in much new material in it and it Mary were among the wedding Berlin in 1936. Adolf Hitler is a more honest account than guests. Lady Cynthia died, was one of the guests. The her subject's autobiography, A officially, from an infection overall result is a book which Life of Contrasts . The theme of after an appendix operation. outshines all previous biogra- de Courcy's book could easily But as de Courcy makes clear, phies of Diana. It is very strong be summed up in those final she really died from a broken on the personal and emotional seven seven words spoken by heart after finding out about lives of the Mosleys. For exam- Diana Mosley to her 'darling Diana's affair with Mosley. ple, we are told that Mosley Kit' on his death bed. She was Diana was quite open with de had a long affair with his first utterly devoted to a man who Courcy about all this, and wife's sister. We are even told was essentially a rogue. And much more. She gave the of the reasons behind the nick- that goes for his public as well author access to all her corre- names the Mosleys addressed as his private life. spondence and private papers. to each other. He was 'Kit' Anne de Courcy is, of Even Diana's two sons by her and Diana was 'Percher', course, no stranger to the first marriage, in 1929, as the prison notwithstanding. And if

Sir Oswald and Diana Mosley in 1972

Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 | 31 Book Reviews you want to know, as I certainly did, Jack Jones, who fought against ing . The author moans about the how much they paid for their main Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Mosleys' 'poor conditions' in prison, Paris home, the Temple de la When the Stalin - Hitler pact albeit that they were allowed food, Gloire, and how much profit Diana emerged, they changed their tune. wines and liquers from their Harrods made on its sale in 2000, you will Suddenly, they all became pacifists, Account and were able to pay other find all the answers in the book. albeit that they still tried to break prisoners to do domestic chores for Where the book fails us is in up Mosley's lawful meetings. We them in their married quarters! Now political sphere. De Courcy is good should not, they argued, have any- would Mosley have allowed, for one at telling us who Diana's favourite thing to do with the war or fight for minute, any of his opponents such a prison wardens were in Holloway. an army which was furthering a pampered life style had he been But she does not deal, as adequate- war. Many communists preferred to where Churchill was in 1940? It is an ly as I would have liked, with the continue with their favourite hobby absolutey crucial question which the politics of fascism or the problems of infiltrating the Labour Party and author should have asked herself. the Mosleys presented to Churchill the trade unions, which were weak- You only have to look at the Nazi [ a distant kinsman of Diana's ] and end because of the Call-Up and the concentration camps to see what a democratic nation fighting for its Churchill Coalition with Labour. As Mosley would have done to very survival in 1940. As the leader soon as Hitler broke the non-agres- Churchill. of the British Union Of Fascists, sion pact, the Communists were Another drawback of the book is told by Moscow to change their that it does not deal in any way with tune yet again. They advocated an the problem of anti-democratic par- all out war against Germany and the ties, like the communists and fas- “ Another drawback of the book is that 'evils of nazism'. They were as cists, using all the advantages of it does not deal in any way with the silent as the driven snow about the free speech in a civilised and 'evils of communism'. mature capitalist democracy, to gain problem of antidemocratic parties, like Poweful Labour barons in the power, and then kicking away the the communists and fascists, using all Churchill coalition, like Morrison ladder once the goal has been and Ernie Bevin, were always anti - achieved . The author told me when the advantages of free speech in a Mosley. He was regarded as a turn- her book came out that if she had civilised and mature capitalist coat, having resigned from gone into this aspect “it would have democracy, to gain power, and then Macdonald's government in the early been a different sort of book”. thirties. He was also regarded as a Different, yes. But also a lot better. kicking away the ladder once the goal rabble rouser and as someone who And while we are on the subject of has been achieved could split the working class vote. making it better, she should have ” They were entirely sympathetic to done some more homework. Violet calls from the communists inside and Bonham Carter was a great many outside the Labour party and trade things during her long life. But Mosley could see the war coming union movement to imprison Mosley. being an MP was NOT one of them. before 1939. As a slavish devotee Churchill, anxious to keep up a unit- She also gets the the Mosley vote of Hitler, he wanted Britain to keep ed political front at home, very reluc- wrong for the 1966 General out of it . He led campaigns to this tantly endorsed the decision to Election. And she is wrong about effect. But when war came, he imprison the Mosleys, who were the day of the month in which it was changed his stance. Although he perceived as fifth columnists. He was held. I also think she should have wanted a 'negotiated peace' [what- always uneasy about doing this. But read Trevor Grundy's excellent ever that was supposed to mean] he then he had bigger fish to fry and we book A Fascist Childhood. She told did urge his followers to support were at war with Germany and not me she had not read it. What a the civil power in every way and to the Soviet Union. In 1943, he was great pity. Had she read it, before try and repel any invaders. Many finally successful in pressurising the writing her Homage to Diana, she fascists rallied to the cause and stubborn and myopic Morrison to might have been less peronally joined up. The British Communists release them. A lot of the political effusive about the woman who liked took a different line. Before the background needs more treatment in and admired Hitler and Himmler Hitler-Stalin pact of 1939, they the book. The ties between the 'very much'. Grundy's book has the were anti-fascist at home and Labour Party, the trade unions and absolute ring of truth about it. In it, abroad. We all know about the trou- the Communists need spelling out. the Mosleys come over as selfish, ble they caused at Mosley's meet- The Mosleys were absolutely RIGHT ignorant and snobbish even ings because he was not 'allowed' to feel they were being picked on towards their own most ardent and free speech. And we know about when compared with the mayhem steadfastly loyal little band of sad some of the brave Communists, like the communists were covertly caus- admirers.

32 | Conservative History Journal | issue 3 | Summer 2004 What were they saying . . . ? The Salisbury Review The quarterly magazine of conservative thought £4.50

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