Michael P

@Nick_whelan_ @GerryHassan It happen because Churchill won more parliamentary seats than Attlee. It happened again too. In Feb 1974, the Conservatives (led by Edward Heath) won the popular vote, but Labour (led by Harold Wilson) won more seats and kept themselves in government.

@GerryHassan Why did this happen? And why hasn’t it happened again?

Winston Churchill was UK PM for nine years. But in all three UK general elections against Labour's Clement Attlee he never once won the popular vote. Labour won all three in votes: 1945, 1950, 1951.

@JudeDeAngulo @peter_sarris What did you think of Burr? (If you’ve read it).

@peter_sarris both Julian - and memoirs of Hadrian are excellent works - I'd say Julian was Vidal's best - way above 'golgotha', 'breckenridge' & 'lincoln'.

Whereas Gore Vidal’s ‘Julian’ is much under-read.

@ThePrizeForce @MattSingh_ For the Tories, Eden was born in County Durham.

@MattSingh_ Wilson? And I guess it depends on whether or not you think Lincolnshire is North for Mrs Thatcher.

In the last 100 years, Labour has had only one permanent UK leader born in the North of England

@ThePrizeForce @MattSingh_ Lincolnshire is south of the river Humber

@nulabyaoi The longest gap for the Tories (that I am aware of) is Michael Howard. He challenged and lost in 1997 and won in 2003 - 6 years.

someone who knows the Tory party let me know if Burnham losing the leadership election in 2010 and winning it in 2026 is the longest gap between someone first trying to become leader and finally becoming it. Before him the longest I can think is Callaghan 1963 vs 1976 at 13 years

@petergrant076 @willglloyd You don’t think Burnham would simplify think by making Powell Deputy PM? I’d imaging Rayner at housing being more likely.

@willglloyd Oooo I wanna do this! PM: Burnham Deputy Leader of the Party: Powell Deputy PM: I think Lammy will stay for a while for continuity Chancellor: Yvette Cooper Home: Wes Streetling Foreign: John Healey Defence: Al Cairns Health: Rayner Education: Powell

Strong chance this is the cabinet come the end of the year PM: Andy Burnham Deputy: Angela Rayner Chancellor: Ed Miliband Home: Wes Streeting Foreign: Angela Rayner Defence: Al Carns Transport: Lou Haigh Not sure about the others atp

@Geraldi31348001 @Medievalhtybuff Tom Holland’s short book on him is a good read. Out of interest what’s the estate called?

@Medievalhtybuff I must read more about him and not just Bernard Cornwall because he was the first King of England also near me there is an estate named after him.

Frank Stenton describing king Aethelstan; "In spite of the unsatisfactory materials for his history, Athelstan is one of the few Anglo-Saxon kings of whose personality a faint impression can be formed. It is known that he was of no more than average height, and that his hair was flaxen, with intermingled golden threads. The record of his movements is hardly needed to show that he possessed the physical energy without which no early king could govern well. More remarkable is the mixture of devotion and intellectual curiosity which made him a collector of relics on a scale approached by no other English king.......More unusual, or at least more rarely recorded than any of these qualities, is the touch of humanity shown in the pardon which he granted to criminals willing to make amends, and in his revulsion against the execution of young offenders."

@Sian_Parry @nonregemesse Wales has had a Welsh parliament since 1999. Just because it didn’t vote for nationalist parties doesn’t mean it was not Welsh.

@nonregemesse Owain Glyndwr’s revolt saw the establishment of a Welsh parliament and we haven’t had a Welsh led parliament since, until last week. That was the purpose of my post. Most people get it, but the English on the other hand..

That would be news to the Welshmen who marched to Bosworth to make Henry Tudor king

@GHoTiO1 @nonregemesse His mother was a Dane, not his father.

@nonregemesse Harold was a Dane.

Then Harold Godwinson invaded and smashed Wales to pieces the same year. Their king died and Harold married his widow. That’s why Wales wasn’t unified when the Normans invaded.

@jennyrenb @BBCNewsnight @vicderbyshire She’s the Political Editor of the New Statesman, so she’s probably one of the best informed journalist about what’s going on in the Labour Party, that’s why she’s there.

@BBCNewsnight @vicderbyshire Is that Ailbhe Rea on the BBC payroll - she’s there almost nightly and is a journalist who thinks this is all a game - has nothing constructive to contribute and has been instrumental in stirring up hatred for Keir Starmer

"[You] are the embodiment of the division in the Labour Party" @vicderbyshire challenges Labour MPs Andrew Lewin and Catherine McKinnell, on their disagreement over the Prime Minister's future. #Newsnight

@MerryOlEngland @d13356798385 In the 930s, during Athelstan’s reign

@d13356798385 Around which time period?

Welsh Kings attended the Anglo-Saxon Witan.

@Medievalhtybuff The Norman dukes also have young Æthelings as their nephews (Edward and Alfred) as were probably very willing to involve themselves in English succession contests - given their conduct in the 1030s.

@Medievalhtybuff Assuming he defeats Cnut and survives until mid/late age. Might we not still see the realignment toward the world of rising power Frankia and Normandy and away from Scandinavia. Was Athelred’s marriage to Emma of Normandy, along with his failed invasion not already a sign of this

Had Edmund Ironside defeated Cnut, and he may well have done without Eadric Streona, the course that 11th century England took would have looked very different indeed.

@EraOccidental @Medievalhtybuff Does siding with the king(s) who had plundered and conquered england, over her own sons, not go against her.

@Medievalhtybuff The real question is, was Emma on the list? Experience should count for something!

A little ago, i run an opinion poll on who the greatest queen consort of medieval England was. A lot of people asked me why I hadn't put Eleanor of Aquitaine as an option. Of course, you can't be considered a great queen if you incite rebellion and spend 15 years paying the price for it. The model medieval queen was Philippa of Hainault who was a kind yet tough woman and a perfect balancing act for Edward III.

@Medievalhtybuff There is an Michael Wood one.

We need more Aethelflaed documentaries

@angloid0 @Elizabeth_eno2 This in Tamworth was built recently

@Elizabeth_eno2 It’s too small, we need a big one in the heart of Mercia.

Statues that are needed in England: >Hengist and Horsa >Æthelstan >Venerable Bede >Harold Godwinson >Rædwald of East Anglia >Ætheflæd

@KiwiFruityFooey @LeeDavidEvansUK Before the pre-Blair constitutional reforms, I suppose their was no legal barrier to royals who had noble titles to taking a seat in the House of Lords.

@LeeDavidEvansUK I never knew that a member of the royal family could sit in the House of Lord.

TIL... the Parliament website has a page for the King, for when he was a member of the House of Lords.

@tomhfh Didn’t other nations do it without the reformation?

You don't get to individualism, the enlightenment, industrial revolution, free market capitalism, and today's pluralistic wealthy liberal democracies without the reformation.

@RLa242 @ClarkeMicah He was taking about it in 2019 wasn’t he?

@ClarkeMicah You are so far behind in the race that you actually believe you're leading.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve been in the New Statesman . But here I am

@VonPyotr @ClarkeMicah ?

@ClarkeMicah But it's never too late for a bit of Francoism... his one true love.

It’s too late for British Gaullism . We didn’t realise we needed it when we did. My article in the New Statesman . newstatesman.com/politics/uk-po…