A chilly professional

The Forgotten Prime Minister: The 14th Earl of Derby, by Angus Hawkins

Who was the 14th Earl of Derby? He was three times Conservative prime minister, but few people have heard of him today. He became leader of the Tory rump after Peel smashed the Conservative party in 1846, and he remained leader until ill health forced him to resign some 22 years later. He was immensely rich, with estates in Lancashire yielding a princely income of £100,000. He was clever and a swashbuckling orator — the ‘Rupert of debate’, Bulwer-Lytton called him. He was also a gifted classical scholar. Confined to his bed by an attack of gout, he spent the time composing an acclaimed translation of Homer’s Iliad. In spite of all this, he has been forgotten.

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Simon Cook

Pensioners have never had it so good

Rightly so, some might say. Though he held office three times, he never won an election.