Contents Preface: (North) Circular thoughts xv Part One: Formations ''A nostalgist with a purpose'': Early life in North London and Nympsfield 5 ''You never quite leave your first university'': Cambridge, 1966-9 16 Establishment and meritocracy (Queen Mary valedictory lecture, 7 October 2014) 23 ''Do I detect a note of flattery in your voice?'': Becoming a journalist, Boston and London, 1971-3 37 Growing up on The Times, 1974-84 47 ''A bloody nuisance but in the end he''s on the side of the Queen'': Working the Whitehall beat, 1975-92 60 The fraction of the curve: Journalism and contemporary history 72 Part Two: Crown and Constitution The Queen as a Heineken-lager monarch: The parts of the constitution that only she can reach ( Jubilee Lecture series, Dulwich Picture Gallery, 3 January 2012) 87 The National Royal Service 105 A UK state of mind 112 Britain and Europe: The emotional deficit (Lecture given to the University of Iceland/British Embassy, Reykjavik, 18 May 2007) 122 Keeping calm and carrying on: British crises since 1945 and the special case of Brexit (Vice-Chancellor''s Lecture, University of Birmingham, 12 June 2017) 129 On the Shelf: On Walter Bagehot''s The English Constitution (The Sunday Times, 3 December 1995) 143 Speech on the Rwanda Bill (House of Lords, 29 January 2024) 146 Part Three: Prime Ministers, Parliament, and Politicians Never did so many talk such drivel: On the quality of political language today (The Independent, 25 September 1989) 152 What are prime ministers for? (Lecture at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, 6 October 2017) 158 How to build a prime minister 174 The incomparable Clem (Lecture to mark the unveiling of the statue of Clement Attlee, Queen Mary, 2011) 185 Harold Macmillan: Healer of the nation''s scars (The Listener, 8 January 1987) 196 Whitehall brief: Shades of a Home Counties Boudicca (The Times, 17 May 1983) 200 Exit the Tigress (The Tablet, 13 April 2013) 203 The rise of Napoleon Blair (The Times, 25 September 2000) 208 Tony''s signature: The Blair style of government since 1997 (The Alistair Berkley Lecture, Robinson College, Cambridge, 2006) 215 The undoing of prime ministers 230 Parliament and the state (The Speaker''s Lecture, Houses of Parliament, 18 November 2014) 238 Part Four: On Crown Service Why the best job in the Civil Service involves carrying the prime minister''s bag (The Times, 10 November 1976) 252 The Cabinet Office: A magnificent piece of powerful bureaucratic machinery (The Times, 8 March 1976) 259 Whitehall brief: How public servants keep it private (The Times, 22 September 1981) 266 No 10 in the Jay-Lynn eye: The megaphone theory of ''Yes Minister'' (The Listener, 19 and 26 December 1985) 269 The Treasury: Bank manager and probation officer rolled into one (The Times, 28 March 1977) 274 The Good and the Great: The most elevated and distinguished casualties of the Thatcher years (The Listener, 7 February 1985) 283 Lord Franks: The lord who sits in judgement (The Times, 17 January 1983) 292 Royal commissions: New social foundations lack crucial commissions (The Independent, 25 April 1988) 297 Afterthoughts 301 Acknowledgements 303 Also by Peter Hennessy 305.