Boarding benefits

There was a time after the Second World War, now largely forgotten, when local councils made it possible for children in difficult and deprived circumstances to go to boarding schools.

Lives ruined by the police

Much has been said and written about  the immense damage that has been done by many police officers, who  made public the names of individuals suspected of sex abuse crimes before any charges had been brought against them.

The truth about One Nation - yet again

Some historical errors are so firmly entrenched that it seems almost impossible to correct them. Neville Chamberlain continues to be regarded a weak man who was bossed around by Hitler; he was in fact an extraordinarily tough and formidable statesman.

Ratting and Re-ratting

Some recent letters in The Spectator magazine have featured politicians who altered their positions—more than once. Alistair Lexden contributed to the correspondence with a short letter published on 22 June.

The triumph of William Pitt

Pitt’s remarkable political success from the 1780s until his early death in 1806 is the most memorable feature of a new book about his bitter rivalry with Charles James Fox.

The duplicity of Conservative MPs

The parliamentary stage of the Tory leadership contest ended on 20 June amid widespread reports of dirty tricks and bullying by Boris Johnson's supporters designed to influence the choice of the second candidate to be put forward to Party members.

Neville Chamberlain: A formidable politician

On 17 June, a letter published in The Times stated that “the assessment that Mrs May is oddly lacking in political skills may be unusual but not unique in Britain’s prime ministers” and went on to claim that Chamberlain falls into the same category.

Tory leadership concepts since 1965

Over nearly fifty-five years they have changed considerably in some respects, but not in others, as Alistair Lexden pointed out in an article published in Parliament’s House Magazine on 17 June.