Many years ago (Lord) Robert Blake, Disraeli’s greatest biographer, asked if anyone knew how the term ‘One Nation’ had come into existence since he had been unable to find it in any of Disraeli’s writings or speeches. Alistair Lexden traced its origin to Baldwin, for which Blake thanked him. He has pointed this out in many published letters, but ‘One Nation’ still keeps on being attributed to Disraeli. He corrected the mistake yet again in a letter published in The Spectator on 5 October.
Sir: Visitors to Hughenden would be misled if they were told that Disraeli invented ‘One Nation’ (Notes, 21 September). The famous words were first used by Stanley Baldwin after the Tories’ greatest ever election victory a century ago. Speaking in the Royal Albert Hall on 4 December 1924, Baldwin called on the party to show that it was ‘Unionist in the sense that we stand for the union of those two nations of which Disraeli spoke two generations ago: union among our own people to make one nation of our people at home which, if secured, nothing else matters in the world.’
Alistair Lexden
House of Lords, London SW1
