Labour's schools tax raid sums don't add up Monday, 16 June, 2025 The following letter was published in The Daily Telegraph on 16 June in slightly edited form. SIR – At the spending review, Rachel Reeves boasted proudly that she had ended “the tax loophole which exempted private schools from VAT”, a grossly misleading description of the tax exemption that those independent schools which are charities had always enjoyed. She and her party believe they can squeeze... Articles
The gay ex-MP who vanished 105 years ago 22nd April 2025 No one knows why or how Victor Grayson, briefly an extreme left-wing MP, disappeared without trace in 1920. The unsolved mystery has now been turned into a... Articles
"You will be held to account," Lord Lexden tells Labour 2nd April 2025 After inflicting two heavy defeats on the Government, on 1 April the House of Lords reluctantly gave way to the large Labour majority in the Commons, and ended... Speeches
Supermac's triumph 31st March 2025 In a letter published in the April edition of The Critic magazine, Alistair Lexden corrected an article in the previous month’s edition which had misdated an... Articles
"The bishop and the rats": Tories and Lords reform in 1910-11 24th March 2025 The following article, written against the background of the latest dispute over the composition of the Lords, was published in Parliament’s magazine The House... Articles
How the Conservatives Nearly Lost Their Name in 1912 24th March 2025 On 9 May 1912, large numbers of Conservatives descended on the Queen’s Hall in London, best-known at that time as the home of Sir Henry Wood’s Promenade... Articles
Labour "cruel" to small independent schools 14th March 2025 In the Lords on 13 March, Alistair Lexden once more condemned Labour’s imposition of VAT on independent school fees.He spoke as President of the Independent... Speeches
Anthony Eden's blissful second marriage 10th March 2025 After a colourful early life, Clarissa Eden became the beloved wife of one of our most tragic prime ministers, looking after him devotedly during his long years... Articles
Independent school / Private school amendment - What's in a name? 27th February 2025 On 27 February, during the Lords Committee stage of a Bill which increases the tax burden on many independent schools by making those with charitable status... Speeches
Some great historians and the Conservative Party 24th February 2025 The wide influence ( and the eccentricities) of a long line of historians at Christ Church, Oxford are recalled in a learned and entertaining book which... Articles
