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
Prince Charles at Gordonstoun 8th January 2018 A recent episode of the popular Netflix series on the royal family featured Prince Charles’s schooldays at Gordonstoun. Was he badly treated? Alistair Lexden... Articles
Prince Charles, the busiest royal 8th January 2018 On December 29, an article in The Times carried the headline ‘Princess Anne crowned busiest royal’. This was seriously misleading, as Alistair Lexden made clear... Recent News
Airey Neave remembered 2nd January 2018 In a recent interview, one of the new Tory MPs elected last year, Kemi Badenoch, who is already making her mark, revealed that her political hero is Airey Neave... Articles
Dick the Bad: History's Most Famous Murder Suspect 31st December 2017 An excellent, well-written new life of King Richard III by a Conservative MP was published recently. A review of it by Alistair Lexden follows. Richard III... Articles
Book review: Back from historical oblivion 24th December 2017 The 5th Marquess of Lansdowne had a long and important career at home and abroad which ended abruptly a century ago in November 1917. A sudden fall from grace... Articles
Questions in the House 21st December 2017 Every day proceedings in the Lords begin with four oral questions. They are submitted in advance by members and answered by government ministers or... Recent News
Who got women the vote? 21st December 2017 The standard answer is Mrs Pankhurst and her law-breaking suffragettes. The credit really belongs elsewhere, as Alistair Lexden explained in the main letter... Articles
Boarding schools - a lifeline for children without family homes 19th December 2017 All the statistics show that children in care trail behind other pupils in academic and other qualifications for the world of work. Some, but by no means all... Speeches
Churchill's fascist friend 15th December 2017 Writing in The Spectator on 2 December, Charles Moore referred to a most cordial meeting between Churchill and Mussolini in 1927. In a letter published in the... Articles