Kwasi Kwarteng

The bull market, rising prices, earning lots of money, make it seem as if the good days will never end. When prices are falling and there is a recession, that also feels as though it will last for ever. Politics is the same. People simply can’t imagine changing circumstances."

Any book on empire will omit, by necessity, vast tracts of the imperial experience, and so critics can easily find facts and details to contradict an author's bold generalisations.

Aspiration, opportunity, and a stake in society are things which combine education, decent healthcare and the fruits of a capitalist system where individuals contribute to society, while also pursuing their natural inclination to improve their lot in life.

Mansa Musa never spoke in public, and whispered everything to an interpreter; he was also never allowed to be seen eating a meal.

It’s the easiest thing in the world to assume that what seems so obvious at one moment in time is a hard, perpetual fact of life."

It’s often been said that conservatism is successful because it chimes with these basic human instincts. It’s time for us to ask fundamental questions about what the Conservative Party is for, and what it actually believes."

The idea that, in the age of Google, Facebook and the internet, government can control the 'commanding heights' of the economy is one of the great delusions of our age. Modern techonology, social media, the explosion of online retail, among many other things, have meant that governments have less and less control.

In our media-driven age, the mere fact of having name recognition is a big advantage. When the leadership election was confined only to Conservative MPs, relatively obscure figures could emerge quickly.

The name Noel Skelton is largely forgotten today, but his legacy in the Conservative Party in the 20th century was enormous.

Of all the meals that represented British culture, perhaps none captured the imagination more than the Christmas pudding. It was the Victorians who firmly fixed the traditional plum pudding as a festive dish.

History is of all subjects the one which is most engaged with people’s perceptions of themselves, identity, politics, all those things which shape the modern world."

Margaret Thatcher was Britain’s most controversial modern politician.