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Defence and conflict

9 December 1916: David Lloyd George introduces minuted Cabinet meetings and instigates the Cabinet Office

Sir Maurice Hankey is striding with a sense of purpose. He is wearing a bowler hat, smoking a pipe and carrying a walking stick.

A century ago today, David Lloyd George, the new Prime Minister, held the first meeting of his War Cabinet. In the process he introduced an innovatory practice, and instigated an important institution at the heart of British government. A hundred …

History’s Unparalleled Alliance: the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of Windsor, 9th May 1386

Two red seals are attached to the Treaty of Windsor by strips of parchment

Winston Churchill in a speech in the House of Commons in October 1943 famously described the unique and ancient friendship between England and Portugal as an alliance “without parallel in world history”.[1] It is 630 years since a treaty of …