...title is Plantagenet Palliser, the Duke of Omnium. It may today appear very strange that a member of the House of Lords could head the British government. The last peer...
...of leading courtiers and bureaucrats – in essence, creating the first government department that we’d recognise today. A more formal commission and re-organisation by George Downing in 1667 gave permanency...
...department of state formally ended in 1833. All that remains today is the honorific post of the Queen's Remembrancer, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer (now part of the Treasury...
Modern technology means that today’s politicians remain contactable, even when on holiday. Constant access to digital communications can be a mixed blessing but, in the event of a crisis, the...
75 years ago today, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain flew back from Munich after two days of tense discussions with the German Chancellor, Adolf Hitler. He had reached an agreement setting...
Ninety years ago today, the British political mould was shattered by the election of the first Labour government. After an inconclusive election on 6 December 1923 that the ruling Conservatives...
...40 years ago today, on 28 February 1974, a general election was being fought, amid a major economic crisis. Prime Minister Edward Heath had called a snap election, and had...
...but prime ministerial responses to the Great War are, in fact, crucial to how we remember today in some quite unexpected ways. 'Great War generation' For each of the 23...
...lived in very basic conditions. After the war, Felix composed a piece called 'Fanfare for a Challenge to Accepted Ideas', inspired by his dedication to resisting war and militarism. Today...
...deeper story of British support for liberal constitutional progress and the promotion of self-government by free peoples against perceived absolutist despotism throughout the world, whether that be through backing constitutionalists...