Political

A secret ballot at general elections had been a reformers’ demand since the seventeenth century. It was achieved two hundred years later, writes Robert Woodall, after much experience of bribery.

Eynon Smart describes how, during the second half of the nineteenth century, few politicians had a wider range of personal accomplishments than John Lubbock, the author of the Bank Holidays Bill.

Predating Castro’s Communist Revolution, the unequal US-Cuban power relationship stretches back to the turn of the 20th century.

Joanna Richardson describes how the diarists of the early nineteenth century wrote some highly distinctive memoirs of politics and Court life.

John Prest describes how the progressive Whig reformer of the 1830s became unpopular as Prime Minister after 1846.

The rise of UKIP has spread panic among Britain’s political establishment. But there is nothing new about populist movements, as David Nash reveals in this profile of the newspaper proprietor Horatio Bottomley. 

Though he exercised little political influence, Victor Hugo’s genius and his ardent championship of liberty had made him a legendary figure long before his death.

For forty years, writes D.M. Hopkinson, the eccentric Vicar of a remote parish in Cornwall led a richly combative life both in High Church politics and in literature.

William Verity describes how Haldane and Asquith were close political friends and colleagues from 1882 until Haldane was abruptly dropped from office in 1915.

If there are turning points in history, the Repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, and the adoption of Free Trade, represented such a moment in Britain. By peaceful means, writes W.H. Chaloner, the new industrial forces in the nation had triumphed over the old landed interests.