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 …
...and support the ministry’s leader in the Commons, Henry Fox, sufficiently. His attempts to prevent war in American and Europe failed. The ignominious loss of Minorca to France led Newcastle...
...his diplomatic skills in a period of international tension. The Old Corps Whigs were, however, slowly able to gain the upper hand over their old rival by resigning in February...
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 …
...the administration until his death in July 1743 but Walpole’s political heirs, Newcastle and Pelham, and John, Lord Carteret remained powerful political figures. Unmarried, his estates were left to his...
“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 …
Charlotte Taylor, a 14-year old teenager, writes about her experiences whilst taking part in the First World War Centenary Battlefield Tours Programme. On 16th – 19th March 2014 a group...
...Soviet bloc countries to travel freely to the West. They were followed by the special trains which took East Germans through their own country from Prague to the Federal Republic,...
...the atmosphere at the meeting and the spirit in which decisions were made. He depicts the sense of mounting concern within the government as well as the political dimensions of...
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 …