In a letter published in The Spectator on 9 April, Alistair Lexden recalled the first stages of David Cameron’s and George Osborne’s political careers.
Sir: Both David Cameron and George Osborne gained experience as political novices in the Conservative Research Department, but they did not form a ‘Smith Square set’ (‘The Conservative crack-up’, 26 March). Cameron ended his four-year stint after the 1992 election, departing with other leaders of his ‘brat pack’. Osborne, arriving two years later, could not get out fast enough, leaving in 1995 to join Douglas Hogg at Agriculture at the start of the BSE crisis (which I told him confidently would be the end of his political career).
If, however, both men lack interest in ‘the preoccupations of MPs’ they follow in a fine Tory tradition. In 1905 Balfour was deeply impressed with the knowledge of Hong Kong displayed by a stranger who turned out to be a member of the Keswick family. He would be a great asset in the Commons, Balfour told him. ‘Well, said Mr Keswick, I may as well state at once that I have been a loyal supporter of yours in the House for the last five years’.
Alistair Lexden
House of Lords