Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts
John Singer Sargent (1856-1925)
Oil on canvas, 1906
64 1/2 in. x 41 3/8 in. (1638 mm x 1050 mm)
National Portrait Gallery, London

Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts of Kandahar in Afghanistan and Pretoria in the Transvaal Colony and of the City of Waterford, VC, KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, PC (1832–1914) was one of Britain’s most celebrated Victorian generals. He was known as “Kipling’s General” and affectionately nicknamed “Bobs” by his fellow soldiers.

Awarded the Victoria Cross for his repeated acts of heroism during the Indian Mutiny of 1857 Roberts went on to have a long and distinguished military career. He served as Commander-in-Chief of British forces in India and Ireland as well as commanding British forces in South Africa during the Second Boar War in 1899. He later served as the last Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, the head of the British Army, before the post became the Chief of the General Staff in 1904 and later Chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1908.

But he will be most remembered for his victory at the Battle of Kandahar in 1880. With the British defeat at the Battle of Maiwand at the hands of Ayub Khan, who now threatened British forces at Kandahar, Lord Roberts led 10,000 British troops on a march from Kabul (where he had defeated Afghan Emir Mohammad Yaqub Khan) to Kandahar, covering 313 miles in 22 days. He achieved a total victory and brought an end to the Second Anglo-Afghan War which resulted in Britain gaining control of Afghanistan’s foreign and defence policy. Quite ironic when you consider that politicians in London were already taking steps to get out of the troublesome region.

On his return to England “Bobs” was celebrated as a national hero on par with Marlborough, Wellington and Nelson. Through his efforts Britain was able to curb the unruly spirit of the Afghans and in doing so wiped out the memory of numerous British defeats in the region. If Lord Roberts of Kandahar can tame the deserts of Afghanistan in the 19th Century without helicopters, fighter jets, armored tanks and vehicles one wonders why we shouldn’t be able to do the same in the 21st.

Lord Roberts died in 1914 of pneumonia while visiting Indian troops in France fighting in the First World War. After lying in state in Westminster Hall (only one of two non-Royals to do so in the 20th century) he was given a State Funeral.

I’m a little late in coming to this but a treasonous outrage from a Labour candidate for Havering Council deserves to be exposed for all to see.

Paul Waugh’s blog over at the Evening Standard has exposed Peter White’s vile utterances on MP Andrew Rosindell’s Facebook page after he had presented his bill to the Commons to proclaim the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee as a public holiday:

What is the point of celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of someone who is born into a position of privilege, she is a parasite and milks this country for everything she can, she has more front than margate asking for extra money from the civil list. Maybe she should sell a couple of her properties. Maybe if she want Buckingham Palace to maintained from public funds she should open it to the public. Don’t get me wrong i have no problem with a public holiday but lets have one that means something, rather than celebrating vermin.

I’m horrified. Not least by the ignorance. Buckingham Palace is open to the public. Not all year-round, granted, but certainly during the summer when Her Majesty is not in residence. I for one am glad for individuals such as Peter White who do much to discredit republicanism and its followers in this country. It is thanks to their efforts that republicanism has come to be viewed very much as a cultish, pseudo-religion by the vast majority of British people.

Suffice it to say that the Labour media machine has kicked into action, forcing White into an embarrassing (but rather amusing from my point of view) climb down and a discussion about “his future” with the local party and regional HQ. Check Waugh’s blog for the details of the evolution of the story.

I have the feeling I’ve neglected blogging a little bit recently. So here is Daniel Hannan in a wonderfully argued piece courtesy of The Taxpayers Alliance.

Now before you get any ideas I’m still fully behind David Cameron’s new approach to the European Union. But I do wonder where it’s all heading. If you follow the Conservative attitude right through to its logical conclusion then it means leaving the EU, surely? Hannan makes a compelling case for doing just that.

And you know what? If we ever did leave I find myself thinking I would be quite happy about it. The world won’t suddenly end as some people suggest. We certainly should be pushing for democratic reform and accountability within the European Union. If that gets us nowhere which, let face it, is more likely than not then we should seriously look to renegotiate our terms of membership.

It’s not that I don’t think there shouldn’t be a European Union I’m just not sure that we’re supposed to be apart of it.

Rumours abound in Westminster that Miliband the Elder (David Miliband for the uninitiated) may very well get that EU foreign policy role that the Lisbon Treaty establishes, thereby triggering a by-election in his South Shields constituency.

Could this be the opportunity Lord Mandelson has been waiting for to make his glorious return to the House of Commons? Time will tell…

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder treason and plot,
I know of no reason
Why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

On this day in 1605 MPs and Peers of the Realm had gathered in the House of Lords to hear the Speech from the Throne by King James I. Unbeknownst to them Catholic terrorist Guido Fawkes was in the cellars, beneath the Houses of Parliament, with barrels of gunpowder ready to blow up the building and all those within it. Fortunately he was caught just in time. If he had succeeded it would have been Britain’s worst terrorist atrocity, centuries before Lockerbie, 9/11 or 7/7.

Guido Fawkes was tortured for the names of his co-conspirators, tried and executed for high treason. Interestingly, upon the discovery of the plot their leader Robert Catesby hid in his house at Uxbridge before fleeing to the Midlands.

Earlier today David Cameron held a press conference explaining what the Conservatives position on Europe was now that all the 27 member states have ratified the Lisbon Treaty.

promising use the slogan “never again” when campaigning for the General Election, DC laid out plans for a British Sovereignty Act designed to ensure the supremacy of UK law over EU law whereby future governments would be forced to consult the British people in a referendum before handing away any future powers to the European Union. He also pledged to repatriate powers already lost to the EU in three key areas: the Charter of Fundamental Rights, employment and criminal justice.

It went well, DC trod a sensible eurosceptic line. But while it seems to have pleased Tory MPs, most Conservative commentators, plenty of activists and voters I get the feeling it didn’t please the core eurosceptics. You know. The ones who flirt with UKIP far too much. I honestly don’t know what DC could have done to please them short of declaring his intention to take Britain out of the European Union entirely.

Sadly, it didn’t seem to please Daniel Hannan who has resigned from his frontbench Euro legal affairs brief.

Recently fellow blogger extraordinaire Benny Austwick announced to the world that he has decided to leave the Conservative Party and shift his blog to an independent political stance.

This follows an incident involving the word “pikey”, twitter, a complaint to David Cameron and a phone call from the top ranks of the Tory Party. Suffice it to say his treatment by the party leadership has led him to see no other alternative than to leave the Conservatives, effectively for their own good. He hasn’t left because of major political disagreements (he still broadly supports the Conservatives) but because he no longer felt he could say what he pleased. Rather worrying for a party so dedicated to freedom and civil liberties. What has it come to when individuals such as Benny feels he has to resign his membership? Due to one person’s complaint the party has lost a bright, talented individual with one of the most popular blogs in Wales. Shame.

The episode has highlighted a serious difficulty with being involved in party politics. Members in party positions unfortunately always have to be on guard in case something seemingly harmless they say is twisted by the PC brigade. As a result people whose job it is to have opinions can’t feel they can say what they really think in case it is somehow used to damage the party and its electoral chances. The current state of affairs is damaging for democracy, it is wrong and British politics is worse for it. A few months ago my local councillor was informed he would be de-selected because of a quiz he took on Facebook. A bloody quiz!

The so-called mavericks of British politics are just people who are more independently minded and we need more of them! Boris Johnson, Daniel Hannan, Benny Austwick… these people are the future!

News has broken that Stephen Fry is considering leaving twitter.

According to his tweets he at a low ebb at the moment and some unfortunate choice of words by @brumplum has brought him to the brink. I’m sure that was not his intention, in fact he has said as much in subsequent tweets.

But there are those out there who are genuinely mean. These people are bullies and I don’t like it that a man has been brought to a place where he is seriously considering leaving twitter, something he obviously is very keen on as he has publicly stated many times before. Of course, Mr Fry is a delicate flower. But that’s not his fault. It’s just they way he is.

I don’t really care if people find him boring or not, and nor should Stephen really. 900,000 people think he’s interesting enough to subscribe to his tweets. That should be enough to convince him to stay on. I for one hope he changes his mind.

UPDATE: It appears that Stephen has reconsidered, made peace with @brumplum and is now back merrily twittering away. Thank heavens.