<iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-K3L4M3" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden">

Lead book review

Disraeli, by Douglas Hurd; The Great Rivalry, by Dick Leonard - review

<em>Sam Leith</em> finds shades of Jeffrey Archer and Boris Johnson in the 19th-century prime minister

13 July 2013

9:00 AM

13 July 2013

9:00 AM

Disraeli: or, The Two Lives Douglas Hurd and Edward Young

Weidenfeld and Nicolso, pp.300, £20

The Great Rivalry: Gladstone and Disraeli A Dual Biography Dick Leonard

I.B. Tauris, pp.226, £22.50

‘Who the hell is Disraeli?’ This, as a gleeful footnote in Douglas Hurd and Edward Young’s new book reminds us, was the response of John Prescott when asked on television what he made of Ed Miliband’s speech last year extolling the virtues of Dizzy’s world-view. Actually — as their book goes on to make clear — Prescott asked the right question.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Black Friday sale

Subscribe today and get 10 weeks of The Spectator Australia for just $1

  • Unlimited access to spectator.com.au and app
  • The weekly edition on the Spectator Australia app
  • Spectator podcasts and newsletters
  • Full access to spectator.co.uk
Or

Unlock this article

REGISTER

You might disagree with half of it, but you’ll enjoy reading all of it. Try your first month for free, then just $2 a week for the remainder of your first year.


Comments

Black Friday sale

Subscribe today and get 10 weeks of The Spectator Australia for just $1

Already a subscriber? Log in

Close