The man in question was George Goschen. The memory lapse on the part of Lord Randolph Churchill, father of Sir Winston, was mentioned by Alistair Lexden in a letter about Goschen published in The Daily Telegraph on 18 May, prompted by the revelation that his country house, which was acquired by the Soviet Union in 1946 following our war-time alliance, had been used as a spy centre.
SIR-- George Goschen, who was made a viscount in 1900 on his retirement after a long political career, would have been appalled that Seacox House, which he bulit in 1871, should have passed into the hands of the Russians, enabling them to endanger the security of his country (“Secrets of the Kent Kremlin: Putin’s English spy mansion”, report, May 9). The great imperialist Lord Milner praised Goschen for his “ardent, unquenchable, almost boyish, patriotism.” He could not stand the thought that Ireland might be separated from the rest of the United Kingdom. He deserted Gladstone’s Liberals to fight Irish home rule. Queen Victoria would have happily made him prime minister in 1885-6 if he had been able to muster sufficient political support.
He is recalled today only as a result of Lord Randolph Churchill’s famous quip that “he forgot Goschen” when he tendered his resignation as Chancellor of the Exchequer in December 1886, believing that he was irreplaceable. Goschen ought to be remembered as a tireless defender of Britain’s greatness and freedom.
Lord Lexden
London SW1
