The following letter was published in The Daily Telegraph on 29 September.
SIR - It is good to see reference to the great Duke of Wellington’s two terms as prime minister (report, 26 September).
In the first (1828-30) he passed major reforms, sweeping away the centuries-old Anglican monopoly on public offices and opening them up to Protestant nonconformists and, most controversially, Roman Catholics.
He returned to power in November 1834 as caretaker prime minister while Sir Robert Peel came back from Italy. It was the shortest ever premiership, lasting three and a half weeks. He ran the entire government himself, filling all the major departments. Crowds gathered to watch him making his way around Whitehall to ensure his orders were obeyed. “At last we have a united government”, said the society wags, with “ministers all of one mind.”
The Duke laughed with them, and enjoyed referring in later years to his brief period of “dictatorship”.
Lord Lexden
London SW1
