If the establishment had really been as efficiently conspiratorial as it was supposed to be, there would have been no need for his amateurish plot.
He made grotesque errors of taste and judgement – see “Rivers of Blood”. But even his critics admit that he was one of the great parliamentarians of the 20th century.
Behind his languid exterior lay a man of unusual principle, to whom all Conservatives have cause to be grateful.
A further graft from the remnants of Labour and the LibDems might be the best way of preserving the Union and providing an alternative government to the SNP.
There may be a strange applicability for the future in the circumstances that led to the Liberals’ sweeping electoral triumph in 1906.
The Fixed Terms Parliament Act just adds to the questions swirling around the forthcoming election.
Most produce results that are more or less what a reader of opinion polls and other electoral data might have anticipated a few months in advance.
The classic pattern of Government honeymoon, mid-term discontent and Government recovery happens less often than one might believe.
If Heath had won in February 1974, there would have been a deal with the unions, faster Euro-integration…and no Thatcherism?