The Victorians by Jacob Rees-Mogg

Author:Jacob Rees-Mogg [Rees-Mogg, Jacob]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780753548554
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 2019-05-22T16:00:00+00:00

Disraeli: The OneNation Conservative

Benjamin Disraeli, first Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804–19 April 1881), is remembered for many striking and wildly varying aspects of his life and long career. He was a master of statecraft and his political cunning and oratorical skills knew few rivals. He was the writer of long novels, an ability which raised eyebrows in the political world. His close friendship with Queen Victoria caused envy and no little resentment and arguably saved the British monarchy from sinking into an abyss of unpopularity. He was one half, with William Gladstone, of a great and profound political rivalry and there seems little doubt that the energy this rivalry generated did neither gentleman nor their respective political parties any harm. He blazed a trail as the first person born Jewish to occupy Downing Street and as the first member of an ethnic minority to hold one the great offices of state.

Disraeli was hopeless with money but happily he married well, in the process providing himself with the support necessary to build a lasting political career and to secure his reputation for posterity. Critically, his was the decisive influence in consolidating the modern British Conservative Party in the aftermath of its troubled birth and it was his work that helped position the party both as a friend of the British citizen and a supporter of the British imperial adventure. He is remembered too as an incorrigible self-publicist whose ability to work on his own reputation knew no bounds. While a disastrous relationship with money is never an asset to any ambitious politician, he was profoundly self-assured and this confidence enabled him to navigate the choppiest of waters and stay dry and untroubled through it all.

He was a conundrum, both to contemporary observers who watched his career narrowly and with pursed lips and to historians today. How could such a complicated individual climb to the top of the Victorian greasy pole?

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