Lord Hailsham: A Life

(Paperback)

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This is the authorized life of one of the most powerful and controversial Tory politicians of the post-war era. Lord Hailsham - statesman, orator, writer, Christian and patriot - had earned Mrs Thatcher's tribute, when he finally retired in 1987, that there were few people in public life who had provided such service to his country over a span of forty years.

As Quintin Hogg, Hailsham started his public career in the famous Oxford by-election of 1938. He joined the government just before the Suez crisis in 1956 and remained a strong presence in every Tory goverment until his retirement, holding a varitety of important posts, including Party Chairman when he famously rang the bell to toll the death of the Labour Party. The extraordinary drama of the 1963 succession to Macmillan is comprehensively revealed in this book, as is Hailsham`s highly influential career in the law, where he was Lord Chancellor for twelve years after 1970.

Reviews

A splendid biography: fair, amusing and, at times, moving. I cannot see it being bettered -- Julian Critchley * Sunday Times *
An important and judicious book... a wise and scholarly work... The balance of action, belief and personal life is well maintained -- David Gilmour * Independent on Sunday *
Lewis makes the best possible case for Hailsham, all the more convincing because he sets his subject's virtues in the greater context of his undeniable flaws... I shall look at him with far greater knowledge and no little admiration -- Gerald Kaufman * Sunday Telegraph *

Author Bio

Geoffrey Lewis was born in 1929 and educated at a Rudolf Steiner school, Taunton School and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he read History and Law. He practised law as a partner in Herbert Smith, the City solicitors, in London and Hong Kong for more than thirty years. In 1988 he was appointed the Hong Kong Government's special adviser on stock market legislation in the wake of the 1987 crash, and in 1991 he became the first Legal Director of the Hong Kong Airport Authority. Political history has been one of his most consistent interests and on his retirement he was at last able to fulfil a lifelong ambition to write biography. He is the author of a life of Lord Atkin, the distinguished Judge, published in 1987, as well as Carson: The Man who Divided Ireland and Balfour and Weizmann: The Zionist, the Zealot and the Declaration which Changed the World . He is married with four children.