| I have been reading Andrew Roberts' 'Salisbury -
Victorian Titan', the biography of the 3rd Marques of
Salisbury. It can be obtained from Springfield Library.
It has been most interesting reading this while the
Hutton Inquiry has been going on. In his early life, Lord
Salisbury lived in reduced circumstances earning his
living through occasional journalism while a Member of
Parliament, unpaid in those days, because his father cut
off his allowance as he disapproved of the lady his son
married. He had a most happy marriage and family
life. He became Secretary of State for India and
then Foreign Secretary under Disraeli and then became the
next Conservative Prime Minister.
Disraeli was thoroughly unscrupulous and makes present
day politicians look full of integrity. He knew how to
manipulate the media. After the Congress of Berlin in
1878, the Conservative Party Chairman had loyal members
of the party line the sides of Downing Street to cheer
Disraeli and Salisbury as they returned home - I had
mistakenly thought that such things only started in 1997.
Leaks of government papers started well before the age of
the photocopier. Some Government secretaries sold copies
of confidential papers, others gave they to others for
their own political purposes. The Earl of Derby told his
wife, Salisbury's step mother, everything that happened
at cabinet meetings and she innocently told her friend
the Russian ambassador. Disraeli was a master at
misleading parliament when he thought they would
disapprove of his actions.
Salisbury was no democrat; he believed that he and his
friends knew best what to do. He believed that as far as
possible, governments should keep out of people's lives
but when they had to act they must help the poor and
needy. He invented Bank Holidays to give people more time
off work; he improved the Lunacy acts making them fairer,
he rapidly brought aid when there was famine in India.
He was a great supporter of the Church of England. He is
described as a tolerant high Anglican fundamentalist. His
Christianity was total and unquestioning. He underwent a
momentous spiritual experience as a teenager which
involved an intimate sense of what he believed to be the
living and personal presence of God. He was tolerant of
other persons expression of their faith but believed for
himself in the beauty of Eucharist as celebrated
reverently and with fine music each Sunday. Knowing he
was fallible, he sought to act in the light of his faith
as best as he could. I suspect that this sort of an
attitude to his faith is not far different from that of
our present Prime Minister. Our politicians need
our prayers. Their task is difficult; the temptations
great. When we believe they are right we support them;
when we believe, after duly informing ourselves, we
question them. Much is known by us all only after
hindsight. The line between giving time for adequate
discussion and leaving things too late is a fine one. The
main trouble is that politicians have to be chosen from
among voters; they have to form coalitions of those with
similar views which is not easy when media with their own
strong agenda are our main source of information. As
always we pray for our nation and that peace and justice,
integrity, wisdom and prosperity might prevail.
Christopher Morgan-Jones
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