Perfect reading for Party Conference  

On 9 October a letter from the Prime Minister was read out to the delegates attending the annual Conservative Party Conference held that year in Blackpool. The man who carried out the task would himself move into Downing Street ten days later. The Prime Minister’s letter stated: ‘It will not be possible for me to carry the physical burden of leading the Party at the next General Election…In these circumstances I hope that it will soon be possible for the customary processes of consultation to be carried on within the Party about its future leadership’. The Conference plunged into turmoil. All attention was concentrated on the candidates for the leadership. The most flamboyant of them quickly declared that he intended to disclaim his peerage so that he could return – as leader, he hoped – to the Commons. These dramatic events took place of course in October...