A rogue gene at work

No commemorative blue plaque adorns the wall of 112 Eaton Square, ‘that curious house’, in Barbara Pym’s words, ‘with its oil paintings and smell of incense’. Yet, as David Faber reveals in this important history of the Amery family, for over 70 years the house was one of the foremost London political salons. The paterfamilias was Leo Amery, known as the ‘pocket Hercules’ for his gymnastic prowess at Harrow, where he once hurled Winston Churchill into the swimming pool. Balliol double first and All Souls prize fellow, author of the seven- volume history of the Boer war and one of Lord Milner’s ‘kindergarten’ in South Africa, his belief in Imperial Preference won Joseph Chamberlain’s patronage and the seat of Birmingham Sparkbrook for 34 unforgiving years. King-breaker rather than king-maker, Amery was a central figure in the demise of the prime ministers Asquith, Lloyd George (‘What a lovely room,’ said the Welsh Wizard when visiting the L-shaped library, ‘I suppose this is where you planned my downfall’) and, most notably, Neville Chamberlain.