Book Review - The History of Hansard 6th July 2017 Lord Lexden finds much to enjoy about this concise account of the battle to publish parliamentary debates – and the sometimes violent confrontations that ensued... Articles
Nick Timothy - the reckoning 24th June 2017 Mrs May’s notorious former chief of staff, Nick Timothy, did great damage before and during the election campaign. The scale of it is now clear. Writing in The... Articles
A long-serving minister in the Lords 23rd June 2017 On 23 June, The Daily Telegraph carried an obituary of the 4th Viscount Long who had died ten days earlier. This affable man from a strong Tory family had a... Articles
Kings dress up 23rd June 2017 Having dealt with dress-down Queen Victoria in a letter to The Times (below), Alistair Lexden explained in a letter in The Daily Telegraph on 24 June how the... Articles
Dress-down Queen 22nd June 2017 The Queen’s decision to dispense with much of the customary ritual at the State Opening of Parliament on 21 June prompted the following letter from Alistair... Articles
MPs with silent forebears 21st June 2017 Opening the debate on the Queen’s Speech in the Commons on 21 June, Richard Benyon MP mentioned that an ancestor in the 19th century failed to utter a single... Articles
The dangers of snap elections 10th June 2017 Mrs May is the third Tory leader to call - and lose - a snap election, as Alistair Lexden explained in a letter published in The Times on June 10. Sir, Two... Articles
Acquisition and destruction at Chartwell 9th June 2017 A successful fund-raising campaign by the National Trust has enabled it to acquire a number of Churchill’s former possessions which will be put on display at... Articles
Unusual manifesto accolade 2nd June 2017 An article in The Spectator of 27 May was complimentary about some of the language used in the Conservative manifesto. Alistair Lexden responded in a letter... Articles