Throughout his political career Asquith had close associations with young women. His wife described these women as his harem. There are several accounts of Asquith attempting to seduce young women in his company. Diana Cooper , the wife of the cabinet minister, Duff Cooper, complained that on several occasions she had to defend her face "from his fumbly hands and mouth". (4)

The Asquith family were fully aware of his inappropriate behaviour. His daughter-in-law, Cynthia Asquith, wrote about it in her diary but according to her biographer, Nicola Beauman, she was forced to "ink over all references in her diary". Ottoline Morrell was another woman who complained about his behaviour. Apparently she told Lytton Strachey that Asquith "would take a lady's hand, as she sat beside him on the sofa, and make her feel his erected instrument under his trousers". (5)

Sylvia Henley, also complained about Asquith's behaviour and commented that if she ever found herself alone with him, "it was safest to sit either side of the fire... or to make sure there was a table between them." Another woman recalled an incident when "the Prime Minister had his head jammed down in to my shoulder and all my fingers in his mouth." (6)

In 1907 Venetia Stanley, aged 19, became close friends with Violet Asquith, the daughter of Asquith, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer, and two years later was to become the British prime minister. (7) In their letters Venetia and Violet constantly professed undying love for one another. Violet also sent her presents:"I’ve sent you a tiny and very humble gift which you must wear always (in your bath and in your bed) and if you think it too ugly you may tuck it in under your combies." (8)

Lawrence Jones, who knew her during this period, commented: "Venetia had dark-eyed, aquiline good looks and a masculine intellect. I delighted in her and we were close friends; but she permitted herself, in the morning of her youth, no recourse to her own femininity. She carried the Anthologies in her head, but rode like an Amazon, and walked the high garden walls of Alderley (her family's home in Cheshire) with the casual stride of a boy. She was a splendid, virginal, comradely creature, reserving herself for we knew not what use of her fine brain and hidden heart." (9)

Venetia Stanley accompanied Violet Asquith and her father on a trip to Sicily in 1912. Also on holiday with them was the young Liberal Party MP, Edwin Montagu. Over the next two weeks both men fell in love with Venetia. Asquith, was 59 years old at the time and in a letter to her he described the holiday as "the first stage in our intimacy... we had together one of the most interesting and delightful fortnights in all our lives... the scales dropped from my eyes… and I dimly felt… that I had come to a turning point in my life". (10)

On their return from holiday Asquith invited Venetia to a house party, following this up with invitations to 10 Downing Street. However, he was unaware that Montagu was also besotted with Venetia. He wrote to her regularly and took her out whenever he could. It seems that Asquith was totally unaware of this developing relationship. In August 1912 he asked her to marry him. At first she accepted the proposal and later changed her mind. (11)

If Venetia accepted his proposal he would have lost his inheritance as his father, Samuel Montagu, 1st Baron Swaythling, who had died in 1911, had stipulated in his will that he had to marry a Jewish woman. "Although Venetia, physically repelled by his huge head and course pock-marked face, refused him, she lapped up the waspish political gossip at which he excelled, and they continued to see a great deal of one another, with Montagu a regular house guest at the Stanley family homes at Alderley and Penrhos." (12)

In 1913 H. H. Asquith began to write to Venetia Stanley on a regular basis and would meet her in London as often as possible. She admitted to Edwin Montagu: "It was delicious seeing him again... He was in very good spirits I thought in spite of the crisis (over Ireland). He didn't, as you can imagine, talk much about it and our conversation ran in very well worn lines, the sort that he enjoys on these occasions and which irritate Margot so much by their great dreariness. I love every well known word of them - with and for me familiarity in a large part of the charm." (13)

Venetia Stanley began to visit the Asquith family at 10 Downing Street. Although she "had few pretensions to beauty", she was superbly equipped to be what Violet Asquith's called her father's "companion in brightness". Asquith admitted that he had "a slight weakness for the companionship of clever and attractive women". Another attraction for Asquith was that Venetia showed no great anxiety to marry and settle down. (14)

Edwin Montagu continued to try to persuade Venetia Stanley to marry him. Both his brother, Louis Montagu, 2nd Baron Swaythling, and his sister, Lilian Montagu, put pressure on him to stop seeing Venetia. He was told that "Christians are all so totally unlike the Jews". Venetia's sister, Sylvia Henley, thought that she was fond of Montagu and liked his company but did not love him. "After all, she could hardly even bare to kiss him. And if she was not in love with him, what would happen if she really fell in love with someone else?" (15)

Margot Asquith complained to Venetia's family about the relationship. Her sister, Blanche Stanley, defended the relationship to her mother: "It would no doubt be very difficult now to break off what is, after all, a very delightful friendship... I always feel Venetia is very safe, which is the main thing, as it is her cleverness and intellectual side that is involved much more than her affections, though no doubt she is very fond of P.M." (16)

During this period H. H. Asquith was writing to Venetia explaining how she had become her "pole-star" who had rescued him "from sterility, impotence, despair" and his love for her enabled him "in the daily stress of almost intolerable burdens and anxieties, to see visions and dreams". Despite his passionate love letters, according to Venetia's friend, Diana Cooper, the relationship remained platonic. However, Bobbie Neate, the author of Conspiracy of Secrets (2012) believes that Venetia gave birth to Asquith's child in August 1911. From the evidence available this seems very unlikely. (17)

Robert Harris also believes that Asquith and Venetia had a sexual relationship. "It has always been suggested this was more of a fantasy relationship than a real love affair... But there are paragraphs left out of his published letters to her that indicate it was much more. He wrote notes to Venetia, then in her late 20s, during crucial cabinet meetings and clearly sought her advice, as well as sending her love poetry – lines from Tennyson and Browning... I became fascinated by this aspect of Asquith's story. We can account for so much of his time in the run-up to the first world war, but this enabled me to tell that story day by day through the 560 letters Venetia kept." (18)

H. H. Asquith destroyed all the letters that he received from Venetia. However, she kept all of the letters she received from him. In 1914 Asquith was 62 and she was 28. Throughout that year Asquith wrote to Venetia at least once a day, sometimes two, three or four times a day. (19) As Nicholas Coleridge has pointed out: "The Post Office in 1914 provided twelve collections and deliveries of letters per day in London, and generally three per day in the countryside, and Stanley and her maid spend much time hanging about the letterbox, waiting for the latest love bomb from the prime minister." (20)

It has been argued that this relationship had an impact on Asquith's attitude towards world events. On 6th July 1914 The Morning Post warned that Austrian reactions to the assassination might lead to a "European war". (21) Later that day Asquith sent Venetia a letter from the War Office telling her he had "began another" book by Charles Dickens (Our Mutual Friend). He was also concerned about the eyesight of Edward Grey, his Foreign Secretary. "It was quite pleasant driving up this morning, but I have been assailed since I arrived by a succession of small and middle-sized worries. Edward Grey's eyes are not satisfactory, and he thinks of returning to the country with perhaps a fortnightly visit to London." He ends the letter with the words: "I wonder what you are doing tonight and tomorrow? Let me know... My darling you don't know how I miss you." (22)

Asquith continued to discuss domestic political events with Venetia but ignored the possibility of a European war. He was especially interested in developing a good relationship with Alfred Harmsworth, Lord Northcliffe, who now owned The Times and who had recently reduced its price to 1d. After telling her that his comments about Northcliffe were "most secret" he added: "He has been 'doing' Ulster, and is much struck with the Convenanters, whom he regards as a very formidable tho' most unattractive crew. I talked over the question of areas etc with him, & tried to impress upon him the importance of making The Times a responsible newspaper." (23)

On 3rd August, 1914, Asquith told his chief whip, Joseph Pease, that the crisis in Europe had put "Ulster into the shade". He added: "The one bright spot was the settlement of Irish strife... God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform." (24) The following day Asquith announced that the country was at war with Germany. Later he told Venetia that "the sudden outburst of the Great War" had been the greatest stroke of luck in his political career. (25)

The First World War did not prevent H. H. Asquith from having regular meetings with Venetia Stanley . In fact, during the early months of the war Asquith used his official prime minister car, a 1908 Napier, on Friday afternoons, to carry out his sexual relationship with Venetia. Robert Harris believes that the fittings of the car allowed this to take place: "It was not how we might imagine now. It was totally sealed, like a bedroom on wheels, with blinds on the windows and only a push-button intercom to speak to the driver." (26)

In his letters Asquith tells Venetia the most vital war secrets: how many men and guns were committed where and the most closely held plans. As far as is known, Venetia did not pass this information on to anyone else. Some of the letters were written from Number 10, some from the Committee of Imperial Defense; many were scribbled during cabinet meetings. He also describes in detail disputes he is having with fellow government ministers and senior army officers such as Lord Horatio Kitchener. (27)

Christopher Andrew, the official historian of MI5, revealed in 2018, that in 1914 Asquith showed "carbon copies of the latest intelligence" while they both sat in the PM car. After she read it, "what he would do is tear it into pieces. Then he would put them into little paper balls – the most secret information available in Britain at the time – and he would toss them out the window." Andrew argued that a week later Scotland Yard came round with "a little cardboard box which contained the little paper balls". When he was questioned, Asquith feigned innocence and told them he had no idea how they had ended up there. (28)

Venetia Stanley became concerned that Asquith was becoming increasing dependence on her friendship, and to have warned him that he could not remain the centre of her life. However, she found it difficult to break with him when she saw how much she had distressed him she would "make him happy again" by saying "anything he wanted". (29)

Asquith's eldest son, Raymond Asquith joined the Queen's Westminster Rifles in January 1915. "As the months went by with no sign of the regiment being sent abroad, Raymond... became increasingly frustrated with such futile tasks as stopping suspicious vehicles approaching London from the North-West." His wife, afraid that he would seek to serve abroad, tried to convince him to stand as a Liberal Party candidate in a by-election, but he rejected the idea as he saw it as an act of cowardice. (30)

Aware that he would not see active service in this regiment he transferred as a lieutenant into the 3rd battalion of the Grenadier Guards and went out to the Western Front in October, 1915. Margot Asquith wrote: "Raymond left this morning... I was almost surprised at how sad I felt at parting with him - there was something so pathetic and incongruous in seeing so perfect and highly finished a being going off into that raw brutal primitive hurly-burly." (31) Asquith forswore a farewell meeting with his son so that he could go instead to the London Hospital to see Venetia in her newly acquired nurses' uniform. (32)

Asquith's language became more passionate in 1915 and appeared to be more besotted with his young friend. "I love you more than ever - more than life!" (33) Six days later he wrote: "I can honestly say that not an hour passes without thought of you." (34) These letters were written at a time of national crisis and newspapers, especially those owned by Lord Northcliffe, were suggesting he was a poor war leader. On 22nd March, Asquith told Venetia that "I have never wanted you more." (35)

Jonathan Walker, the author of The Blue Beast: Power and Passion in the Great War (2012), has argued that Asquith "needed Venetia as a sounding board and to confirm that he was still intellectually alive". He suggests that Asquith "probably did not have the physical stamina to keep up with a highly-strung beauty, preferring a mistress who could stimulate his intellect and massage his ego." (36)

Margot Asquith became increasingly jealous of Venetia and after an outburst of anger he wrote a letter about his situation. H. H. Asquith explained how he had been under tremendous pressure: "These last 3 years I have lived under a perpetual strain, the like of which has I suppose been experienced by very few men living or dead. It is no exaggeration to say that I have on hand more often half-a-dozen problems than a single one - personal, political, Parliamentary etc - most days of the week... I admit that I am often irritated and impatient, and then I become curt and perhaps taciturn. I fear you have suffered from this more than anyone, and I am deeply sorry, but believe me darling it has not been due to want of confidence and love. Those remain and will always be unchanged."

He then went on to argue that Venetia had been very helpful during this period. "You have and always will have (as no one knows so well as I) far too large a nature - the largest I have known - to harbour anything in the nature of petty jealousies. But you would have just reason for complaint, and more, if it were true that I was transferring my confidence from you to anyone else. My fondness for Venetia has never interfered and never could with our relationship. She has a fine character as well as great intelligence, and often does less than justice to herself (as over this Hospital business) by her minimising way of talking." (37)

On 30th March, 1915, Asquith wrote to Venetia four times. Disturbed by his intense love of her she decided to bring an end to the relationship by marrying Edwin Montague. He had recently joined the cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. John Grigg has pointed out: "Still only in his middle thirties, he had risen in politics as Asquith's protégé but was far from being a mere hanger-on... Rich and privileged, intellectually a late-developer, sensitive and emotional yet capable of a certain ruthlessness, he was now becoming a rather important figure." (38)

Montagu now had status as well as money. Venetia Stanley decided to accept his proposal of marriage. "For Montagu, religion was a purely personal affair; he had no formal religious beliefs, was anti-Zionist, and constantly emphasized his foremost identity as a Briton". However, in order that Montagu could continue to receive an annual income of £10,000 from his father's estate, Venetia was compelled to convert to Judaism. (39)

On 12th May 1915, Asquith was shocked and appalled to receive Venetia's letter announcing her engagement to the man who he recently appointed as his Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Asquith replied that this news "breaks my heart" and that he "couldn't bear to come and see you". (40)

On the day he heard the news Asquith wrote three letters to Venetia's sister, Sylvia Henley, about the proposed marriage. In the second letter he pointed out: "I had never any illusions, and often told Venetia: and she also was always most frank about her someday getting married. But this. We have always treated it as a kind of freakish, but unimaginable venture. I don't believe there are two living people who, each in their separate ways, are more devoted to me than she and Montagu: and it is the way of fortune that they two should combine to deal a death-blow to me."

H. H. Asquith then went on to assess Venetia's choice as husband including: "I am really fond of him, recognise his intellectual merits, find him excellent company and have always been able to reckon on his loyalty and devotion. Anything but this! It is not merely the prohibitive physical side (bad as that is) - I won't say anything about race and religion though they are not quite negligible factors. But he is not a man: a shamble of words and nerves and symptoms, intensely self absorbed, and - but I won't go on with the dismal catalogue." (41)

Violet Asquith was also upset by the news: "Curious and disturbing news reached us on Wednesday evening of Montagu's engagement to Venetia... Montagu's physical repulsiveness to me is such that I would lightly leap from the top story of Queen Anne's Mansions - or the Eiffel Tower itself to avoid the lightest contact - the thought of any erotic amenities with him is enough to freeze one's blood. Apart from this he is not only very unlike and Englishman - or indeed a European - but also extraordinarily unlike a man... He has no robustness, virility, courage, physical competency - he is devoured by hypochondria - which if it does not spring from a diseased body must indicate a very unhealthy mind." (42)

Margot Asquith was pleased the relationship was over. She told her daughter: "That want of candour in Venetia is what has hurt him but she has suffered tortures of remorse poor darling and I feel sorry for her... He is wonderful over it all - courageous, convinced and very humble. They were both old enough to know their own minds and no one must tease them now. There's a good deal of bosh in the religion campaign, though superficially it takes one in... It is Montagu's physique that I could never get over not his religion". (43)

The marriage between Venetia Stanley and Edwin Montagu took place on 26th July 1915, a few days after she had been received into the Jewish faith. Montagu's old friend from university, Raymond Asquith, defended the marriage: "I am entirely in favour of the Stanley/Montagu match. (i) Because for a woman any marriage is better than perpetual virginity, which after a certain age (not very far distant in Venetia's case) becomes insufferably absurd. (ii) Because, as you say yourself, she has had a fair chance of conceiving a romantic passion for someone or other during the last 12 years and has not done so and is probably incapable of doing so. This being so I think she is well advised to make a marriage of convenience. (iii) Because, in my opinion, this is a marriage of convenience. If a man has private means and private parts (specially if both are large) he is a convenience to a woman. (iv) Because it annoys Lord and Lady Sheffield. (v) Because it profoundly shocks the entire Christian community." (44)

In 1915 Sylvia Henley's husband, Anthony Morton Henley, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and joined the staff of General John French, the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front. Sylvia complained about his lack of letters and after Venetia's marriage to Edwin Montagu, she took over as Asquith's main confidante. Margot Asquith actually encouraged the relationship and she thought it would help her husband deal with losing Venetia. However, his daughter, Violet Asquith, did not agree as she "sensed a new, more dangerous challenge to her father's affections". (45)

Sylvia Henley kept her husband informed about Asquith's growing affection for her. She wrote to him about a weekend she spent at Asquith's house. "As we went to bed, the PM said he must show me his room. I was rather against this, as his affectionate nature gets the better of his wisdom, as you know. But there was no gainsaying him. We were standing talking, his arm around me, of books... I knew for certain he would exact a kiss from me, and knowing this I was glad it should be one of sympathy for that part of his life that I know about. And I told him how much love and sympathy I felt for him and kissed him - he can't do without affection... To me it is always a blot that the PM cannot like one without the physical side coming in so much. I should like him so much better if he held my hand and did not paw so much." (46)

In another letter later that month Sylvia told her husband that Venetia was upset that Asquith had turned his affections to her: "I am certain it cuts her to see the PM is fond of me." He began to take her out in his car and she claimed that she was able to "cajole the PM out of his sullen mood". Sylvia told her husband she was doing her "patriotic duty" in consoling Asquith: "He is now very fond of me in just the most wonderfully nice way. I hope our relations will never change." (47) On 2nd June 1915, Asquith told Sylvia: "You are my anchor and I love you and need you." (48)

Sylvia had to constantly fend off his physical approaches, such as kissing or enveloping arms. She told him that she loved being with him she did not want it to become a sexual relationship. Sylvia insisted "that so long as it remained platonic there was nothing I wanted more, but as soon as I felt there was a danger of that form of love giving place to the other - it must be all over." (49) Asquith replied that "an erotic adventure was never my idea". (50)

Sylvia Henley also attempted to promote her husband's career and went on a car drive with General William Robertson where she argued that he should be given an active field command. However, she constantly complained about Henley's lack of letters from France. This turned to fury when she discovered that he was writing regularly to her sister, Venetia. She demanded to see the letters, but Venetia refused, but she did tell her that Henley had used the words "I long to be with you". Sylvia wrote to her husband: "I see you're so false, telling me I am everything to you. And now I know that as you said it, you were longing to be with her and not me." (51)

Sylvia Henley warned her husband that she would allow herself to get even closer to Asquith: "A rudderless ship is so easily blown onto a sea shore". When she told Asquith about the situation he gave her a ring and tried to persuade her to wear it on the little finger on her right hand. Venetia continued to write intimate letters to Anthony Morton Henley. This included a reference to meeting at a hotel at Folkestone on 12th July, 1915. (52)

Several members of the government became worried that H. H. Asquith was more concerned with the women in his life than with winning the war. David Lloyd George, felt that with Asquith as prime minister, the country was in danger of losing the war. The newspaper baron, Lord Northcliffe, joined with Lloyd George in attempting to persuade Asquith and several of his cabinet, including Sir Edward Grey, Arthur Balfour, Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe and Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, to resign. It was reported that Lloyd George was trying to encourage Asquith to establish a small War Council to run the war and if he did not agree he would resign. (53)

Tom Clarke, the news editor of The Daily Mail, claims that Lord Northcliffe told him to take a message to the editor, Thomas Marlowe, that he was to run an article on the political crisis with the headline, "Asquith a National Danger". According to Clarke, Marlowe "put the brake on the Chief's impetuosity" and instead used the headline "The Limpets: A National Danger". He also told Clarke to print pictures of Lloyd George and Asquith side by side: "Get a smiling picture of Lloyd George and get the worst possible picture of Asquith." Clarke told Northcliffe that this was "rather unkind, to say the least". Northcliffe replied: "Rough methods are needed if we are not to lose the war... it's the only way." (54)

Those newspapers that supported the Liberal Party, became concerned that a leading supporter of the Conservative Party should be urging Asquith to resign. Alfred George Gardiner, the editor of The Daily News, objected to Lord Northcliffe's campaign against Asquith: "If the present Government falls, it will fall because Lord Northcliffe decreed that it should fall, and the Government that takes its place, no matter who compose it, will enter on its task as the tributary of Lord Northcliffe." (55)

On 4th December, 1916, The Times praised Lloyd George's stand against the present "cumbrous methods of directing the war" and urged Asquith to accept the "alternative scheme" of the small War Council, that he had proposed. Asquith should not be a member of the council and instead his qualities were "fitted better... to preserve the unity of the Nation". (56) Even the Liberal Party supporting Manchester Guardian, referred to the humiliation of Asquith, whose "natural course would be either to resist the demand for a War Council, which would partly supersede him as Premier, or alternatively himself to resign." (57)

At a Cabinet meeting the following day, H. H. Asquith refused to form a new War Council that did not include him. Lloyd George immediately resigned: "It is with great personal regret that I have come to this conclusion.... Nothing would have induced me to part now except an overwhelming sense that the course of action which has been pursued has put the country - and not merely the country, but throughout the world the principles for which you and I have always stood throughout our political lives - is the greatest peril that has ever overtaken them. As I am fully conscious of the importance of preserving national unity, I propose to give your Government complete support in the vigorous prosecution of the war; but unity without action is nothing but futile carnage, and I cannot be responsible for that." (58)

Conservative members of the coalition made it clear that they would no longer be willing to serve under Asquith. At 7 p.m. he drove to Buckingham Palace and tendered his resignation to King George V. Apparently, he told J. H. Thomas, that on "the advice of close friends that it was impossible for Lloyd George to form a Cabinet" and believed that "the King would send for him before the day was out." Thomas replied "I, wanting him to continue, pointed out that this advice was sheer madness." (59)

Some historians have argued that Asquith's relationship with Venetia Stanley reduced his effectiveness as a war leader. Nigel Jones has recently stated: "Does such ancient tittle tattle matter? I would argue that it did matter very much that as government and nation were fatally divided about whether or not to join the war, the Prime Minister was distracted from his duties and more interested in sharing military secrets with his lady love than his own cabinet. Asquith's conduct, whether he seduced Venetia or not, was foolish, reprehensible, and irresponsible. In our #MeToo age of social media it would be impossible to hide, but in that deferential era he got away with it." (60)

Jonathan Boff agrees with Jones: "He (Asquith) suddenly found himself having to lead the national response to an unprecedented global crisis which threatened to kill millions. The time had come to take responsibility and exercise leadership, but he ultimately proved unable, or perhaps unwilling, to do either. Eventually, that cost him his office and his career, but only after others had paid a much higher price. Worse, this was not just an individual failure caused by the weakness of one man, but symptomatic of what happens when a feckless ruling elite, self-absorbed and entitled to the point of moral bankruptcy, forgets its responsibility to govern." (61)

(1) Frank Owen, Tempestuous Journey: Lloyd George and his Life and Times (1954) page 261

(2) H. H. Asquith, letter to Venetia Stanley (30th June, 1914)

(3) Michael Brock & Eleanor Brock, H. H. Asquith, letters to Venetia Stanley (1982) page 92

(4) Naomi B. Levine, Politics, Religion and Love (1991) pages 232-235

(5) Nicola Beauman, Cynthia Asquith (1987) page 195

(6) John Preston, The Daily Mail (10th June, 2016)

(7) Colin Matthew, Herbert Henry Asquith : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

(8) John Preston, The Daily Mail (10th June, 2016)

(9) Lawrence Jones, An Edwardian Youth (1956) page 214

(10) Michael Brock & Eleanor Brock, H. H. Asquith, letters to Venetia Stanley (1982) page 532

(11) Jonathan Walker, The Blue Beast: Power and Passion in the Great War (2012) page 138

(12) Colin Clifford, The Asquiths (2002) page 190

(13) Venetia Stanley, letter to Edwin Montagu (November 1912)

(14) Michael Brock, Venetia Stanley Montague: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

(15) Jonathan Walker, The Blue Beast: Power and Passion in the Great War (2012) page 147

(16) Adelaide Lubbock, People in Glass Houses (1977) page 82

(17) Bobbie Neate, Conspiracy of Secrets (2012) page 190

(18) Vanessa Thorpe, The Observer (25th August 2024)

(19) Godfrey Hodgson, New York Times (3rd April 1983)

(20) Nicholas Coleridge, The Independent (26th August, 2024)

(21) The Morning Post (6th July, 1914)

(22) H. H. Asquith, letter to Venetia Stanley (6th July, 1914)

(23) H. H. Asquith, letter to Venetia Stanley (15th July, 1914)

(24) Joseph Pease, diary entry (3rd August, 1914)

(25) H. H. Asquith, letter to Venetia Stanley (10th March, 1915)

(26) Vanessa Thorpe, The Observer (25th August 2024)

(27) Godfrey Hodgson, New York Times (3rd April 1983)

(28) Christopher Andrew, The Daily Mail (26th June, 2018)

(29) Michael Brock & Eleanor Brock, H. H. Asquith, letters to Venetia Stanley (1982) page 558

(30) Colin Clifford, The Asquiths (2002) page 232

(31) Violet Bonham Carter, letter to Maurice Bonham Carter (6th October, 1915)

(32) Nigel Jones, The Spectator (18th August 2024)

(33) H. H. Asquith, letter to Venetia Stanley (12th February, 1915)

(34) H. H. Asquith, letter to Venetia Stanley (18th February, 1915)

(35) H. H. Asquith, letter to Venetia Stanley (22nd March, 1915)

(36) Jonathan Walker, The Blue Beast: Power and Passion in the Great War (2012) page 142

(37) H. H. Asquith, letter to Margot Asquith (14th April, 1915)

(38) John Grigg, Lloyd George, From Peace To War 1912-1916 (1985) page 240

(39) Chandrika Kaul, Edwin Montague: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

(40) H. H. Asquith, letter to Venetia Stanley (12th May, 1915)

(41) H. H. Asquith, letter to Sylvia Henley (12th May, 1915)

(42) Violet Bonham Carter, diary entry (14th May, 1915)

(43) Margot Asquith, letter to Violet Asquith (7th June, 1915)

(44) Raymond Asquith, letter to Conrad Russell (24th July, 1915)

(45) Jonathan Walker, The Blue Beast: Power and Passion in the Great War (2012) page 145

(46) Sylvia Henley, letter to Anthony Morton Henley (9th May, 1915)

(47) Sylvia Henley, letter to Anthony Morton Henley (21st May, 1915)

(48) Sylvia Henley, letter to Anthony Morton Henley (2nd June, 1915)

(49) Sylvia Henley, letter to Anthony Morton Henley (29th May, 1915)

(50) H. H. Asquith, letter to Sylvia Henley (18th June, 1915)

(51) Sylvia Henley, letter to Anthony Morton Henley (16th July, 1915)

(52) Venetia Stanley Montagu, letter to Anthony Morton Henley (27th October, 1915)

(53) The Times (2nd December, 1916)

(54) Tom Clarke, My Northcliffe Diary (1931) pages 105-107

(55) Alfred George Gardiner, The Daily News (2nd December, 1916)

(56) The Times (4th December, 1916)

(57) The Manchester Guardian (4th December, 1916)

(58) David Lloyd George, letter to H. H. Asquith (5th December, 1916)

(59) J. H. Thomas, My Story (1937) page 43

(60) Nigel Jones, The Spectator (18th August 2024)

(61) Jonathan Boff, The Spectator (24th August 2024)

The General Election Campaign: The Tyranny of the Centre (4th July, 2024)

In Defence of the New History (20th March, 2024)

The Political History of Keir Starmer (25th January, 2024)

JFK Assassination: What Happened in the Trauma Room (23rd November, 2023)

Sir Keir Starmer and his Broken Pledges (1st September, 2023)

Should history students be using ChatGBT? (28th May, 2023)

A historical account of the Daily Mail, the Conservative Party and Migration (18th March, 2023)

Art and the Women's Suffrage Movement (20th January, 2023)

Emancipation of Women: 1870-1928 (15th November, 2022)

The Struggle for Women's Rights: 1500-1870 (21st September, 2022)

The real reason why the FA banned women from playing on their grounds (1st August, 2022)

The WSPU Young Hot Bloods and the Arson Campaign (26th May, 2022)

Interpretations in History (18th April, 2022)

The Student as Teacher (31st December, 2021)

History Simulations in the Classroom (30th November, 2021)

Walter Tull: Football and War Hero (20th October, 2021)

Child Labour and Freedom of the Individual (26th July, 2021)

Don Reynolds and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy (15th June, 2021)

Richard Nixon and the Conspiracy to kill George Wallace in 1972 (5th May, 2021)

The Connections between Watergate and the JFK Assassination (2nd April, 2021)

The Covid-19 Pandemic: An Outline for a Public Inquiry (4th February, 2021)

Why West Ham did not become the best team in England in the 1960s (24th December, 2000)

The Lyndon Baines Johnson Tapes and the John F. Kennedy Assassination (9th November, 2020)

It is Important we Remember the Freedom Riders (11th August, 2020)

Dominic Cummings, Niccolò Machiavelli and Joseph Goebbels (12th July, 2020)

Why so many people in the UK have died of Covid-19 (14th May, 2020)

Why the coronavirus (Covid-19) will probably kill a higher percentage of people in the UK than any other country in Europe.. (12th March, 2020 updated 17th March)

Mandy Rice Davies and Christine Keeler and the MI5 Honey-Trap (29th January, 2020)

Robert F. Kennedy was America's first assassination Conspiracy Theorist (29th November, 2019)

The Zinoviev Letter and the Russian Report: A Story of Two General Elections (24th November, 2019)

The Language of Right-wing Populism: Adolf Hitler to Boris Johnson (11th October, 2019)

The Political Philosophy of Dominic Cummings and the Funding of the Brexit Project (15th September, 2019)

What are the political lessons to learn from the Peterloo Massacre? (19th August, 2019)

Crisis in British Capitalism: Part 1: 1770-1945 (9th August, 2019)

Richard Sorge: The Greatest Spy of the 20th Century? (29th July, 2020)

The Death of Bernardo De Torres (26th May, 2019)

Gas Masks in the Second World War killed more people than they saved (9th May, 2019)

Did St Paul and St Augustine betray the teachings of Jesus? (20th April, 2019)

Stanley Baldwin and his failed attempt to modernise the Conservative Party (15th April, 2019)

The Delusions of Neville Chamberlain and Theresa May (26th February, 2019)

The statement signed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (20th January, 2019)

Was Winston Churchill a supporter or an opponent of Fascism? (16th December, 2018)

Why Winston Churchill suffered a landslide defeat in 1945? (10th December, 2018)

The History of Freedom Speech in the UK (25th November, 2018)

Are we heading for a National government and a re-run of 1931? (19th November, 2018)

George Orwell in Spain (15th October, 2018)

Anti-Semitism in Britain today. Jeremy Corbyn and the Jewish Chronicle (23rd August, 2018)

Why was the anti-Nazi German, Gottfried von Cramm, banned from taking part at Wimbledon in 1939? (7th July, 2018)

What kind of society would we have if Evan Durbin had not died in 1948? (28th June, 2018)

The Politics of Immigration: 1945-2018 (21st May, 2018)

State Education in Crisis (27th May, 2018)

Why the decline in newspaper readership is good for democracy (18th April, 2018)

Anti-Semitism in the Labour Party (12th April, 2018)

George Osborne and the British Passport (24th March, 2018)

Boris Johnson and the 1936 Berlin Olympics (22nd March, 2018)

Donald Trump and the History of Tariffs in the United States (12th March, 2018)

Karen Horney: The Founder of Modern Feminism? (1st March, 2018)

The long record of The Daily Mail printing hate stories (19th February, 2018)

John Maynard Keynes, the Daily Mail and the Treaty of Versailles (25th January, 2018)

20 year anniversary of the Spartacus Educational website (2nd September, 2017)

The Hidden History of Ruskin College (17th August, 2017)

Underground child labour in the coal mining industry did not come to an end in 1842 (2nd August, 2017)

Raymond Asquith, killed in a war declared by his father (28th June, 2017)

History shows since it was established in 1896 the Daily Mail has been wrong about virtually every political issue. (4th June, 2017)

The House of Lords needs to be replaced with a House of the People (7th May, 2017)

100 Greatest Britons Candidate: Caroline Norton (28th March, 2017)

100 Greatest Britons Candidate: Mary Wollstonecraft (20th March, 2017)

100 Greatest Britons Candidate: Anne Knight (23rd February, 2017)

100 Greatest Britons Candidate: Elizabeth Heyrick (12th January, 2017)

100 Greatest Britons: Where are the Women? (28th December, 2016)

The Death of Liberalism: Charles and George Trevelyan (19th December, 2016)

Donald Trump and the Crisis in Capitalism (18th November, 2016)

Victor Grayson and the most surprising by-election result in British history (8th October, 2016)

Left-wing pressure groups in the Labour Party (25th September, 2016)

The Peasant's Revolt and the end of Feudalism (3rd September, 2016)

Leon Trotsky and Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party (15th August, 2016)

Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of England (7th August, 2016)

The Media and Jeremy Corbyn (25th July, 2016)

Rupert Murdoch appoints a new prime minister (12th July, 2016)

George Orwell would have voted to leave the European Union (22nd June, 2016)

Is the European Union like the Roman Empire? (11th June, 2016)

Is it possible to be an objective history teacher? (18th May, 2016)

Women Levellers: The Campaign for Equality in the 1640s (12th May, 2016)

The Reichstag Fire was not a Nazi Conspiracy: Historians Interpreting the Past (12th April, 2016)

Why did Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst join the Conservative Party? (23rd March, 2016)

Mikhail Koltsov and Boris Efimov - Political Idealism and Survival (3rd March, 2016)

Why the name Spartacus Educational? (23rd February, 2016)

Right-wing infiltration of the BBC (1st February, 2016)

Bert Trautmann, a committed Nazi who became a British hero (13th January, 2016)

Frank Foley, a Christian worth remembering at Christmas (24th December, 2015)

How did governments react to the Jewish Migration Crisis in December, 1938? (17th December, 2015)

Does going to war help the careers of politicians? (2nd December, 2015)

Art and Politics: The Work of John Heartfield (18th November, 2015)

The People we should be remembering on Remembrance Sunday (7th November, 2015)

Why Suffragette is a reactionary movie (21st October, 2015)

Volkswagen and Nazi Germany (1st October, 2015)

David Cameron's Trade Union Act and fascism in Europe (23rd September, 2015)

The problems of appearing in a BBC documentary (17th September, 2015)

Mary Tudor, the first Queen of England (12th September, 2015)

Jeremy Corbyn, the new Harold Wilson? (5th September, 2015)

Anne Boleyn in the history classroom (29th August, 2015)

Why the BBC and the Daily Mail ran a false story on anti-fascist campaigner, Cedric Belfrage (22nd August, 2015)

Women and Politics during the Reign of Henry VIII (14th July, 2015)

The Politics of Austerity (16th June, 2015)

Was Henry FitzRoy, the illegitimate son of Henry VIII, murdered? (31st May, 2015)

The long history of the Daily Mail campaigning against the interests of working people (7th May, 2015)

Nigel Farage would have been hung, drawn and quartered if he lived during the reign of Henry VIII (5th May, 2015)

Was social mobility greater under Henry VIII than it is under David Cameron? (29th April, 2015)

Why it is important to study the life and death of Margaret Cheyney in the history classroom (15th April, 2015)

Is Sir Thomas More one of the 10 worst Britons in History? (6th March, 2015)

Was Henry VIII as bad as Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin? (12th February, 2015)

The History of Freedom of Speech (13th January, 2015)

The Christmas Truce Football Game in 1914 (24th December, 2014)

The Anglocentric and Sexist misrepresentation of historical facts in The Imitation Game (2nd December, 2014)

The Secret Files of James Jesus Angleton (12th November, 2014)

Ben Bradlee and the Death of Mary Pinchot Meyer (29th October, 2014)

Yuri Nosenko and the Warren Report (15th October, 2014)

The KGB and Martin Luther King (2nd October, 2014)

The Death of Tomás Harris (24th September, 2014)

Simulations in the Classroom (1st September, 2014)

The KGB and the JFK Assassination (21st August, 2014)

West Ham United and the First World War (4th August, 2014)

The First World War and the War Propaganda Bureau (28th July, 2014)

Interpretations in History (8th July, 2014)

Alger Hiss was not framed by the FBI (17th June, 2014)

Google, Bing and Operation Mockingbird: Part 2 (14th June, 2014)

Google, Bing and Operation Mockingbird: The CIA and Search-Engine Results (10th June, 2014)

The Student as Teacher (7th June, 2014)

Is Wikipedia under the control of political extremists? (23rd May, 2014)

Why MI5 did not want you to know about Ernest Holloway Oldham (6th May, 2014)

The Strange Death of Lev Sedov (16th April, 2014)

Why we will never discover who killed John F. Kennedy (27th March, 2014)

The KGB planned to groom Michael Straight to become President of the United States (20th March, 2014)

The Allied Plot to Kill Lenin (7th March, 2014)

Was Rasputin murdered by MI6? (24th February 2014)

Winston Churchill and Chemical Weapons (11th February, 2014)

Pete Seeger and the Media (1st February 2014)

Should history teachers use Blackadder in the classroom? (15th January 2014)

Why did the intelligence services murder Dr. Stephen Ward? (8th January 2014)

Solomon Northup and 12 Years a Slave (4th January 2014)

The Angel of Auschwitz (6th December 2013)

The Death of John F. Kennedy (23rd November 2013)

Adolf Hitler and Women (22nd November 2013)

New Evidence in the Geli Raubal Case (10th November 2013)

Murder Cases in the Classroom (6th November 2013)

Major Truman Smith and the Funding of Adolf Hitler (4th November 2013)

Unity Mitford and Adolf Hitler (30th October 2013)

Claud Cockburn and his fight against Appeasement (26th October 2013)

The Strange Case of William Wiseman (21st October 2013)

Robert Vansittart's Spy Network (17th October 2013)

British Newspaper Reporting of Appeasement and Nazi Germany (14th October 2013)

Paul Dacre, The Daily Mail and Fascism (12th October 2013)

Wallis Simpson and Nazi Germany (11th October 2013)

The Activities of MI5 (9th October 2013)

The Right Club and the Second World War (6th October 2013)

What did Paul Dacre's father do in the war? (4th October 2013)

Ralph Miliband and Lord Rothermere (2nd October 2013)