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“... they find little evidence that such a state of affairs ever existed. Others, like Sir Ian Gilmour, define consensus as the pursuit by governments of both parties of policies which avoid ideological extremes and produce a high level of continuity between one administration and another. This is what most people who talk of the ‘post-war ...”

“... in 1981. He clearly preferred the company of enlightened Tories such as Peter Carrington or Ian Gilmour to many on the left of his own party. He was a frequent guest in grand houses and a constant luncher at Brooks’s and other haunts of the well-born, well-connected and well-oiled. While in opposition, he could pay for his high life by doing even ...”

“... the three great intellects of the 20th century. Who were the others? he asked. Albert Einstein and Ian Gilmour, she allegedly replied. Let no one say that Margaret Thatcher was a slave to consistency. Within four years, the Einstein of British Conservatism had been sacked from the Cabinet. This is not Ranelagh’s only eccentric disclosure. As well as ...”

“... of Eton and Christ Church, to keep out of it: ‘Of course I pitched it strong,’ Hogg said to Ian Gilmour. ‘Alec and I have known each other for forty years. We are gentlemen, so we say what we think. If I had been talking to Ted Heath, I would have been more polite.’ As Lewis remarks, this is reminiscent of the Gerald Brenan character who ...”

“... book shop, and that remained the case until the 1980s, when all-party legislation promoted by Ian Gilmour permitted their owners to make the shops look more or less civilised. That legislation, and the establishment of the ‘good causes’ National Lottery in 1993, anticipated the moral neutrality of the Gambling Review Report. Moral neutrality, of ...”

“... from the inside who had been cast aside by Thatcher – Mark Carlisle, Norman St John Stevas, Sir Ian Gilmour – Prior was not made of the stuff to fight the leader of his own party. A mild, bumbling man, he preferred not to step out of line. Michael Heseltine was different. Rich, abrasive and ambitious, Heseltine was fed up with Thatcher and her ...”

“... when there were plenty of people to stand by their woman. Those who wrote about her included Ian Gilmour, W.G. Runciman, Neal Ascherson, Christopher Hitchens, R.W. Johnson, Ross McKibbin, E.P. Thompson, Tam Dalyell and Peter Clarke. What they wrote seemed excellent to me, with Runciman bearing the palm for aphoristic conciseness. In embarking on a ...”

“... might have taken the heat out of the situation. Shortly after leaving Number Ten, Churchill told Ian Gilmour that immigration from the West Indies was ‘the most important subject facing this country but I cannot get any of my ministers to take any notice’ – although quite a few were no keener on Britain becoming ‘a magpie nation’ than ...”

“... ministers and diplomatists were completely misreading her. Although Argov told his colleagues that Ian Gilmour, Lord Privy Seal and second in command to Carrington at the Foreign Office between 1979 and 1981, embodied British ‘hostility and contempt’ towards Israel to an ‘almost pathological’ degree, it was ...”

“... their visitor’s book, then – well, let’s take a look: Lenny Henry, Rolf Harris, Dave Gilmour, Nigel Kennedy, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Lol Creme, Gary Brooker, Andy Fairweather Low … I can’t be the only Kate fan who puts their fingers in their ears when Rolf Harris and Stephen Fry come in as guest vocalists.‘Hounds of Love’, though, is ...”

“... than half the graduates came from Oxbridge (80 per cent in 1945). Even if the policies of Pym and Gilmour were to return to favour, they are more likely to be implemented by a Walker or a Heseltine. In style, the change is equally noticeable. For almost the first time in its history the Tory Party has taken a section of the intelligentsia seriously. Mrs ...”