This blog post examines the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit 2001 to 2005, which was created during Tony Blair’s premiership. The Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit acted as a nexus of power between No.10 and Whitehall.
Charles Watson-Wentworth, second Marquess of Rockingham, emerged as one of the leading opposition figures during George III’s reign but also managed to head two short administrations himself. He was born in May 1730 at the family seat of Wentworth Woodhouse …
George Grenville came from a political family and ultimately emerged as an important political figure in his own right. He was born in October 1712 at Wotton, Buckinghamshire. His father, Richard, sat as an MP for Wendover and Buckingham but …
The Yalta Myth Between 4 and 11 February 1945, while the Second World War still raged both in Europe and in the Far East, the ‘Big Three’—Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill—met at the Black Sea resort of Yalta, supported by large …
John Stuart, third Earl of Bute, was a Scottish aristocrat who rose, through his royal connections to a position of political pre-eminence. Bute was born in Edinburgh on 25 May 1713. Bute’s grandfather had been an MP for Buteshire in …
Tuesday 20 January marks the 750th anniversary of the beginning of a crucial parliament in the history of government – one that marks an important change in the extent to which people outside the aristocratic classes were involved in politics. …
100 years ago today saw the first German airship raids on Britain when two Zeppelins attacked the coastal towns of Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn, Norfolk. In this post, Professor Edgar Jones discusses the effects of air raids over the …
William Cavendish, fourth Duke of Devonshire, served as a stop-gap First Lord of the Treasury during a period of intense political crisis. He was born in 1720, the eldest son of William Cavendish, third Duke of Devonshire, and his wife …
It has often been a matter of great regret to me that, in all the years that I have been married and from circumstances have been living so much among the leading men of the day, it had never occurred …
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 …
Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle, was one of the eighteenth century’s great political survivors and served as First Lord of the Treasury through peace and war. Born in Sussex in July 1693, he was the eldest son of Thomas Pelham, …