...a policy of continental involvement, no doubt helped by his increasing attachment to Newcastle. It was through Newcastle’s influence that he was elected as MP for Seaford in 1747 and...
...origins of the premiership The so-called ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688 helped produce a new power-balance within the English constitution. Monarchs became more dependent upon Parliament to obtain tax revenues and...
...on India, against a backdrop of inter-communal rioting, following the announcement in February that Britain would transfer power to an Indian government no later than June 1948. Problems remained in...
...King turned as his new premier when Grafton resigned as Prime Minister (a term North never used of himself) in January 1770. Exceptionally conscientious North was an exceptionally conscientious first...
...full flow, he simply said ‘No’. Clement Attlee (The National Archives reference INF 14/19) It is difficult to envisage a twenty-first century politician passing up the opportunity to promote their...
...quotation from Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers: ‘Quiet, calm deliberation disentangles any knot.’ Calm, and a much-reported family atmosphere, would develop as key features of the new Prime Minister’s No....
...best for the building eventually led to the Downing Street of today. This first blog provides the historical background to the rebuilding, with more to come in future blog entries...
...then I'll begin. Could a government document ever have been a potential contender for the ‘Jackanory’1 treatment? Let me explain. Today, 3 January, as part of the transition to a...
...series we all take for granted. Ordnance Survey, however, has a surprising history because, as Britain’s national mapping authority, today’s suppliers of business intelligence were originally charged with gathering military...
...Cabinet despatched the Minister of Food to Washington to plead for extra wheat supplies, to avert famine in South Africa and India, and starvation in the British Zone of Germany....