How Queen Victoria hounded her Prime Ministers Wednesday, 17 April, 2024 She gave them no peace. A marvellous new book gives the details of her tempestuous relations with them. Alistair Lexden reviewed it in Parliament’s magazine The House on 15 April. Queen Victoria and Her Prime Ministers: A Personal History By Anne Somerset Published by William Collins Books Queen Victoria began her long reign as an ardent Whig and ended it a diehard Tory. Her Hanoverian... Articles
Wanted: a Stanley Baldwin for our time 27th June 2022 On 24 June, Oliver Dowden resigned as Chairman of the Conservative Party in the aftermath of two disastrous by-election losses. In his letter of resignation he... Articles
Should independent schools be charities? 24th June 2022 For years the Labour Party said they should not. In 1992 they changed their mind. They have now changed it again. On 22 June, during the committee stage of the... Speeches
A new foundation's famous name 23rd June 2022 In 2020, the Government announced in a major Northern Ireland policy document entitled New Decade, New Approach that a Castlereagh Foundation would be... Recent NewsSpeeches
A British Baccalaureate? 23rd June 2022 The introduction of a British baccalaureate was the principal recommendation of The Times Education Commission, which published its report on 15 June after a... Recent NewsSpeeches
Neville Chamberlain: the reality 15th June 2022 In an address to the Friends of the National Archives at Kew on 14 June, Alistair Lexden returned to one of his abiding convictions: that Neville Chamberlain is... Articles
How Tory leaders should be chosen 13th June 2022 In a letter to The Times on 7 June ( see below ), Alistair Lexden called for reform of the existing rules. In a further letter, published in The Daily Telegraph... Articles
Sir Graham Brady must revise the rules 7th June 2022 On 6 June Boris Johnson won a vote confidence in his leadership by 211 to 148. Four in ten of his MPs opposed him. He may, or may not, be able to shore up his... Articles
The centenary of an MP's brutal murder 6th June 2022 On 22 June 1922, Sir Henry Wilson MP was gunned down outside his home in London. A new book describes the circumstances in detail. Alistair Lexden’s review of... Articles
Macmillan's disappointment 29th May 2022 Provosts of Eton, very grand chairmen of the school’s governing body, are appointed on the recommendation of the prime minister. Writing in The Spectator on 14... Articles