The obituaries of Raine Spencer, stepmother of Princess Diana and chatelaine of Althorp in Northamptonshire who died on October 21, said little about her work for the Conservative Party. For nearly twenty years she was an assiduous Tory councillor in London with a particular interest in the environment. Her support for the Party never wavered. Alistair Lexden paid tribute to her in The Times on October 27.
Raine Spencer was the most ardent of Tories. Though disappointed in her search for a parliamentary seat, she always threw herself enthusiastically into general election campaigns. As soon as one was announced she would be on the telephone to Conservative Central Office in search of work. The sight of her in a pinny doing the washing-up cheered many a party hack. Afterwards she would lay on a bus to take her friends to Althorp where we gorged ourselves on meringues washed down with (not very good) estate-bottled red wine. I still have the rather better claret she gave me in 1984 with her whirling signature on the label.