"How much I wish that the public – the people, after all, on whose behalf Number 10 exists – could see beyond that famous front door…" - Margaret Thatcher Just off Whitehall, in London’s SW1 postcode, fronted by one of the world’s most …
The most detailed and literary diaries of all the occupants of 10 Downing Street were those kept by Harold Macmillan and William Gladstone. There are, however, two significant differences between these prime ministerial diaries. Gladstone kept a diary throughout his …
Spencer Perceval was born in Audley Square, London on 1 November 1762, the second son of the second marriage of the second Earl of Egmont (and so a man of comparatively slender means). He attended Harrow School and then Trinity …
Henry Addington, born on 30 May 1757, was eldest son of a successful London physician, Dr Anthony Addington. He passed through Winchester College and other schools on his path to Brasenose College, Oxford, and then Lincoln’s Inn, becoming a barrister …
William Bentinck was the youngest son of the second Duke of Portland, and was born on 14 April 1738. He attended Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford (where he informally added ‘Cavendish’ to his surname) before undertaking a 'Grand Tour' …
Augustus Henry FitzRoy, third Duke of Grafton, was the last of those to enjoy relatively short periods as First Lord of the Treasury during the 1760s. Born in September 1735, the death of his father in 1741 and his paternal …
Henry Pelham’s tenure as First Lord of the Treasury continued the direction and style of politics inaugurated by his mentor, Robert Walpole. Pelham was the second surviving son of Thomas Pelham, first Baron Pelham of Laughton, and his second wife …
“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 …
The centenary year of the outbreak of the First World War has encouraged a variety of reflections. To previous generations, the role played by their prime ministers would have been amongst the first items worthy of comment. In a less …
Clement Attlee bore little resemblance to the contemporary politician. He had no time for the things that are now the stock-in-trade of all serious aspirants for high office: image and public relations. Attlee was so apparently unconcerned with presentation that …