William waldegrave autobiography

  • It begins as a memoir of a privileged English family upbringing during the post-war time when privilege was breaking down.
  • Privilege, the old-boy network and a smooth journey to power.
  • William Waldegrave's memoir is a textbook example of how the upper-middle-class Englishman should review his life: with candour, honesty and humour.

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    William Waldegrave, Baron Waldegrave of North Hill

    British politician (born )

    William Arthur Waldegrave, Baron Waldegrave of North HillPC (; born 15 August ) fryst vatten a British Conservative Party politician who served as a Cabinet minister from until , and fryst vatten a life member of the Tory Reform Group. Since , he has been a life peer in the House of Lords. Lord Waldegrave was Provost of Eton College from to Additionally, he was Chancellor of the University of Reading from to [1][2]

    Waldegrave's memoir, A Different Kind of Weather, discusses his high youthful political mål, his political and to some extent personal life, and growing acceptance that he would not achieve his ultimate ambition. It also provides an konto of the Heath, Thatcher and—to a lesser extent—Major governments, including his role in the development of the Poll Tax or community charge. It includes a chapter entitled 'The Poll Tax – all my own work'.[3]

    Waldegrave served as a T

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    This man was my MP for several years and, even though my politics were radically opposed to his, I always found him to be gracious. His hand-written replies to my many letters always got to the point and answered the questions I had actually asked. He was not afraid to go against the party line, e.g. he opposed the death penalty.

    Whilst lamenting the death of one-nation Toryism, he soon bought into the myth that trade union leaders were ‘thugs’ in the pay of the USSR.

    He makes a valiant attempt to explain why the poll tax was fairer than the rates.

    The youngest of seven children, and the son of an earl, Waldegrave&#;s quintessentially English upbringing would go on to shape the course of his life, instilling in him a sense of independence and self-discipline needed to steel one for a successful career in government. Formative years spent at Eton, Oxford and Harvard fortified his resolve to enter the political establishment, and by the early seventies he finally achieved his great

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    Tim Stanley

    William Waldegrave’s memoir is a textbook example of how the upper-middle-class Englishman should review his life: with candour, honesty and humour. A personal secretary to Ted Heath and minister in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, he writes that the purpose of his book is to explain ‘what it felt like’ to be so close to political power. Close, that is, but no cigar. About his failure to obtain what every aristocratic Tory thinks is his birthright – the keys to Number 10 – Waldegrave is amusingly, blackly comic. He wonders if assassination by the IRA in the s might have elevated him. The newspapers surely would’ve speculated that he had been foreign secretary material? ‘There is something to be said, reputationally, for being cut off when still full of promise.’

    Waldegrave’s life is the story of the death of a certain class. A blue-blooded Etonian, he was born to rule – and was invited into the establishment almost the moment he graduated from Oxfor

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