Today's release of Prime Minister’s Office records and Cabinet Papers from 1985-1986 covers the mid-point of the Thatcher premiership. If this period is beyond your living memory, you might be tempted to think that the files would reflect the Thatcher revolution …
...within the ministry and George III’s promotion of John Stuart, Earl of Bute , led first to Pitt’s and then Newcastle’s resignation. Newcastle returned briefly to office as Lord Privy...
...and his elder brother, Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle, maintained this allegiance. Henry Pelham Pelham volunteered for the army during the pro-Stuart Jacobite rising of 1715, commanding dragoons at the...
The Colonial Office and the Foreign Office have very distinct histories. The British Colonies were initially administered jointly by the Secretary of State for War, and the Board of Trade, who were focused on their own interests, not necessarily the Colonies themselves. From 1795 all …
...his desire to replace Walpole with Compton when he succeeded to the throne. Thus, on receiving news of his father’s death from Walpole in June 1727, the new King made...
“My Lord Bath, you and I are now as insignificant men as any in England.” Today often viewed as the first British Prime Minister, Walpole was described by contemporary opponents as the ‘Screen-Master General’, adept at pulling all the political …
...museums and battle sites, I was able to share my experience with the new friends that I made, explore deeply about the history of the war, and truly empathise with...
...and asked them what they were going to buy. They said first of all, Südfrüchte . . . tropical fruit, a very understandable thing because they didn’t have nearly as...
...‘The Prime Minister’s statement was an important new factor, both because it reflected his own judgement of the situation and because the consequences for the party and for the country...
The early years of the First World War brought a large number of casualties to the army of Great Britain and despite the number of volunteers the government was soon in dire need of more troops. On the 2nd March 1916 …