Britain’s 10 most outrageous Chancellors

From rescuing prostitutes to contracting gonorrhoea, there is a lot many of us do not know about Britain’s former Chancellors. If you are finding Alistair Darling a bit dull, take a look at some of the exploits of his illustrious predecessors…

William Gladstone (1852 – 1855)

Famously known as the GOM (Grand Old Man – or God’s Only Mistake, according to rival politician Benjamin Disraeli), Gladstone’s most infamous pastime was the rescue and rehabilitation of London prostitutes.

A staunch Christian, his “charitable” excursions involved walking the streets of London to encourage the prostitutes he encountered to change their ways. Sometimes he went to the women’s homes for talks long into the night... Quite what his wife made of this, who was mostly at Hawarden, their home in Wales, remains unclear.

As Darling battles with the abolition of the 10p rate of income tax, it may comfort him to know that Gladstone had similarly unsuccessful attempts at meddling with income tax – after unsuccessfully trying to abolish it, he ended up raising it because of the Crimean War.

Benjamin Disraeli (1858 – 1859)

Disraeli, a great favourite with Queen Victoria, was one of Britain’s most flamboyant Chancellors. His humble Jewish origins made it difficult for him to enter parliament, and indeed his maiden speech was a complete disaster as he was mercilessly heckled and eventually forced to sit down with the words "though I sit down now, the time will come when you will hear me."

Disraeli’s early political career was also hampered by his controversial personal life. As a young man he travelled throughout Europe, where he contracted gonorrhoea – which may account for why he remained childless. After being implicated in a bizarre threesome with Lady Henrietta Sykes and Lord Lyndhurst on his return to England, he eventually married Mary Anne Wyndham Lewis, who was 12 years his senior and the widow of a colleague. Their marriage was very happy. In later years he teased her that he had only married for her money – to which she replied, “but if you had to do it again, you'd do it for love”.

George Ward Hunt - 1868

The vast George Ward Hunt arrived at the Commons in 1869 and opened the Budget box to find that he had left his speech at home. This is said to be the start of the tradition that, when a Chancellor leaves for the House of Commons on Budget Day, he shows the assembled crowd the box by holding it aloft.

At 21 stone, Hunt is the largest Chancellor on record. Disraeli had to reassure Queen Victoria before he was appointed that "he has the sagacity of the elephant as well as its form". However this proved to be a rather short sighted comment, as Hunt only lasted just six months in the job.

Winston Churchill (1924 – 1929)

Although Churchill is celebrated for his leadership during World War II, his stint as Chancellor was altogether less successful. Churchill announced in his 1924 Budget that Britain would return to the Gold Standard – a decision that resulted in deflation, unemployment, and the miners' strike. The return to the pre-war exchange increased costs to Britain’s coal and cotton industries by about 10 per cent.

These strikes led to the General Strike of 1926, when Churchill was reported to have suggested that machine guns be used on the striking miners. He later regarded the reintroduction of the Gold Standard as the greatest mistake of his life.

Denis Healey (1974 – 1979)

Another Chancellor with famously bushy eyebrows, Healy’s outspokenness frequently got him into trouble. His left-wing ideology of increasing benefits for the poor famously led to him saying that he would "Tax the rich until they squealed".

Healey once got into a shouting match with rebel Labour backbenchers on the floor of the Commons during division; he later recalled, when asked if the exchange involved shouts of bastards and f***er, that “I questioned their parentage when they praised my virility…..”

In 1976 he attacked left-wing opponents of his policies as being "out of their tiny Chinese minds", meaning to imply that they were Maoist, but offending the Chinese community.

Norman Lamont (1990 – 1993)

During the autumn of 1992 Lamont featured in a string of damaging press stories. The most notorious involved a sex therapist called Miss Whiplash  - a tenant who he was accused of evicting from his Notting Hill flat using £4,700 of taxpayer’s money.

His defenders point out that the money had been formally approved to pay for legal proceedings, and there was never any suggestion that he had ever met his tenant, let alone personally made use of her services. Still, the damaging association had been made.

On Budget day, the briefcase that Lamont waved at photographers contained a bottle of whiskey, while the speech itself was carried in a plastic bag by his then aide, William Hague. “It would have been a major disaster if the box had fallen open,” Hague said later.

James Callaghan (1964 to 1967)

Like Darling, Callaghan was Chancellor at a difficult economic time. He once told a journalist: “I don't think that other people in the world would share the view that there is mounting chaos” – prompting the mocking headline in The Sun “Crisis? What Crisis?”

Callaghan’s immediate predecessor, Reggie Maudling, popped his head into the Chancellor’s study as he was leaving No 11 and told Callaghan: ‘Sorry to leave things in such a mess, old cock’. It is still unclear if Maudling was referring to the economy or to the state of Callaghan’s new home…

Hugh Dalton (1945–1947)

As Dalton was on his way to deliver his 1947 Budget, he made the mistake of making some off-the-cuff remarks to a journalist, telling him of the tax changes in the Budget. This was printed in the early edition of the evening papers before he had completed his speech, and whilst the stock market was still open. Dalton – who was under great strain, suffering psychosomatic boils – resigned the following day, with the Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, calling him a “perfect ass”.

Rab Butler (1951–1955)

David Lloyd George once described Butler as "playing the part of the imperturbable dunce who says nothing with an air of conviction." In fact, Butler became a very competent and witty public speaker – at one dinner party he began a speech with the words: "An after-dinner speech should be like a lady's dress - long enough to cover the subject and short enough to be interesting.".

In his 1953 Budget he announced that the sugar ration would be increased from 10oz to 12 oz a week to help the nation make celebratory cakes for the Queen’s coronation that year.

Jimmy Thomas

Although Thomas was never Chancellor, he was another cabinet minister forced to resign over Budget leaks. It was revealed that Thomas had been entertained by stock exchange speculators and had dropped heavy hints as to tax changes planned in the Budget. For example, while playing golf, he shouted "Tee up!", which was taken as a suggestion that the duties on Tea were to rise.

By Lauren Thompson

With thanks to Richard Heffernan, Philip Cowley, Kevin Jefferys and Mark Garnett.

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Comments

[MONDAY]

lol

[Ricky]

As I pointed out at the start of my first sentence, I have been away for 5 blissful years but hey, thanks for proving my point Peter...I repeat...Get a Life!!!

[dennis]

Gordon Brown's selling off Britain's Gold Bullion reserves at less than 1/3 of current value is a spectacular example his poor stewardship. How did he get the top job with that on his CV? Doh.

[Peter]

How long have you been away, Ricky? Must have been a while, since you do not know that we got 'The Sun' already (and therefore don't "need some sun") and the spelling of certain English terms has not been changed as much as you may think. "inaccurarcy" and "fellow piers" look a little outlandish to me.

[Albert. M. Bankment]

Disraeli married Mary Anne Lewis, who was the widow of Wyndham Lewis MP. Wyndham was never part of her name, however.

[Ricky]

Love it, just love it...I am happy to see that in the 5 years I have been away the great British public have not lost their sarcastic sense of humour, ability to pick on every last inaccuarcy of their fellow piers and totally undermine everyone else's opinion as if theirs is the only one that really matters...seriously, get a life...maybe you all need some sun!

[D Griffing]

How long before this particular story disappears from the normally updated online news?

[Jeremy Broadribb]

Marie Antoinette never said anything about the poor eating brioche or cake. The quotation is from a story around the time about a rather dim princess and was attributed to her later.

Come to that Voltaire never offered to defend anyone's right to say things with which he disagreed - a lady under whose protection he was living wrote it to him.

See also: "Elementary, my dear Watson...", "You dirty rat!", "Play it again, Sam." and, of course "Beam me up, Scotty."

[Jess H]

I can't help but feel that everyone is just a tad crabby from not getting their fill of filth from this article. Shame on ye.

[Rob Evans]

The only thing I find outrageous is that such an inaccurate and semi-literate article should appear in The Times.

[darrelldeboo]

is it not time for gordon brown to added to your list, for selling our gold, gordon is a moron.

[Lewis J]

This is really lazy journalism, particularly Callaghan, who said 'Crisis, what crisis' as PM, some 12 years after he was moved from No 11. Any danger of The Times raising its standards anytime soon?

[R.C. Aston]

I'm an American, and I noticed that the British characters, even when involved in scandals, do things in a colorful and interesting way and often have something witty to say. And when they make mistakes, they are still not trying to destroy their country.
Contrast that with Bush, Cheney, Obama and McCain. Bush can't put a sentence together without seeming like a slow 6th grader, Cheney is evil, Obama is completely unqualified and a liar, and McCain pledges to continue Bush's disastrous policies and stay in Iraq for 100 years. Bush, Cheney and McCain are all for Bush's war. Obama claims he was against it, but in 2004 he said, "my war policy wouldn't be much different than George Bush's." Then, when the war became unpopular, he switched back to his original position!
Give me these colorful, witty British characters over this vile pack of liars America is now contending with!

[Chilled-out Entertainer]

Michael Story. You should relax - maybe sit outside and enjoy the sunshine. It's a light blog, not an essay...

[kalyan mukherjee]

This article does not get a CLAP

[michael story]

a good idea and fun to read but poor standard of journalism, demonstrates lack of knowledge
by misquoting Healey, Callaghan, and poor grasp of Disraeli and Gladstone, but then presumably the author was given all of an hour to write it and nobody cares,
What a state we are in
Michael

[amy]

you pulled me in with the suggestion that there had been lots of scandal at no.11. what do I find? A bunch of normal people with no interesting stories whatsoever. boring!

[N Roberts]

"Britain's 10 most outrageous Chancellors: who picked up scores of prostitutes"

How did Dennis Healey and Jim Callaghan keep this out of the press at the time?

[michael scott]

The Gladstone comment is very sloppy. The only infamous connection with Gladstone's, extremely courageous, efforts to help prostitutes (I suppose people must have some idea of how appalling the conditions under which they lived) were the infamous comments of the low-minded sneering at one of their betters. Gladstone can reasonably be considered the greatest Prime Minister Britain ever had, and certainly the most high-minded.

[LIzX]

Why would we expect anything less?
All the prime ministers here, of course, have been men!

[fleapit]

Eight minutes of light entertainment it might be, but the greatest enjoyment comes from reading the comments. They sum up our age and the internet perfectly: hasty, ill-formed and totally pointless.

[Englishman]

this article scores a big who cares

Posted by: James Jameson | 3 May 2008 21:46:16

Why comment then?

[Christine Shrimpton]

I must agree with Mike Sander - In Dubai skimming a British news website over spots in the afternoon, only to peruse repetitive messages from people too desperate to throw their opinion in without bothering to read or know anyone else’s.

I see the ‘one of the intelligentsia’ attitude trying to be put across, but from people clearly not having read the entire script thoroughly and then adding throw away comments which are completely unsupported by argument.

The rest of you I’ll let off from my rant, as the effort is clear.

As an ode to my News Years resolution which is to be more positive, the article achieved what in my opinion it was intended to do, provide light thinking amusement for 8 mins during the day by a means which is legal in public.

[the newton flyer]

if gordie 'mr bean' and the lefties are so wonderful why has everybody else voted them out? Is it because once again he leads us into recesssion and denies it is happening again? dreamer!

[Hein Maassen, Leidschendam, The Netherlands]

Perhaps it is interesting to know that the Sun pun on Callaghans denial of there being an economic crisis was derived from the title of the 1975 Supertramp album: 'Crisis? What crisis?'. The Sun reporter certainly knew his classics...

[ProzzyAnn]

As a hard working prostitute I am fed up with all these politicians and there fanciness. Core blimey a girl cant even make an indecent living without some overweight overdressed underperforming politician going on an on and on about their wives and the stress of their job and blathering on and on and on about how they want to save me. They always want to save me afterwards it seems. Time is money deary and I have to get back to the job in hand.

[Ray]

D'Israeli converted from Judaism so that he could enter politics. Being a Jew has always meant being of a lower class than socio-economically equal Christians in English eyes.

[mike sanders]

What a great way to start the day reading all of the above, sitting here in hong kong I really do enjoy these jousts. Keep them coming but keep them clean!!

[jo oldale]

yes. let's all carelessly bring about gordon's demise and ignore the fact that we are doing a damn sight better than most of our competitors. And forget just how bad it was in terms of social/ financial equality under the Tories... because that is what we're going to have to deal with again if we continue this witch hunt

[james Tomasi]

What about the chancellor in office when the Yanks' had their Boston Tea Party?

[k. nicolls]

Rubbish!!! What a load of Rubbish

[Phil Williams]

To Michael Brooks

The Sun has always been a broadsheet - at least in respect of Page 3...

[BOB BAYLIS]

One of Our Gordon's irritating habits in his speeches and other addresses is that any group of which he approves is automatically described as 'hardworking.' He usually follows this descriptor with the intention to 'move forward' after he has 'listened.' He really is a crashing bore. Being a Son of the Manse one might ask why he does not adopt the standard phrase before the Collection: 'The Laird loveth the Cheerful Giver.'

[Paul Bahre]

This list was supposed to be a list of sexual infidelities or indulgences. But it was not. It was too condensed to be meaningful. I feel like the writer or the times used bait and switch with the sexy legs, stockings and garters.

[Alex]

"A "certain" pub in Brighton has banned the present Chancelor from its premises. That's almost a scandal.

Posted by: kevin"

It's not a scandal, it's the legitimate right of every landlord in this country to allow or deny entry to anyone they choose, without having to give an explanation if they choose not to, although in this instance I'm sure the landlord will be only too happy to elaborate on his decision.

[Tim]

Regarding Norman Lamont's whiskey [sic]: “It would have been a major disaster if the box had fallen open,”

Too right. He should have supported domestic industry by buying Scotch.

[Tom]

The line about squeezing the rich until the pips squeak is a famous misquotation - Healey never said anything of the sort.

Actually, is anything in this semi-literate article accurate?

[Grahame Thorne]

Wasn't it "let them eat Kaike which was a staple and not gthe cake we know now? It has been misinterpreted since

[wilson]

"On Budget day, the briefcase that Lamont waved at photographers contained a bottle of whiskey ..."

As a Scot, Lamont (who these days pronounces his name wrongly) would have had a bottle of whisky, i.e. Scotch, not Irish or American whiskey.

[Matt]

Disappointing-- that graphic on the home page seemed to promise all sorts of sordid stories about chancellors' sex romps-- the most racy thing described in here happened in 1859 (Benjamin Disraeli's supposed 3-some)!

Please. Since then a lot more must have gone on in the chancellors' chambers-- I mean, really!

Dirt! I wanna see dirt!!

[Eric]

"yankee rubish" is that how the under-educated brits speak about us?

[TrevorH]

'Crisis what crisis' or some such paraphrase was said by Prime Minister Callaghan.

Chancellor Callaghan devalued the pound. Wilsons subsequent 'pound in pocket' speech was another epiphanous moment for the electorate.

[James Jameson]

seems like British trash to me, oh wait, it is...

this article scores a big who cares

[eestlane]

I think you'll find Norman Lamont's briefcase contained a bottle of whisky (Scotch), not "whiskey" (Irish/American).

[Fishy]

Posted by: George Blagowidow | 1 May 2008 21:15:03

THIS ARTICLE IS COMPLETE RUBBISH
---------------------------

Yeah, nice argument there George...

[Ross]

The article was crap. So are most of the comments.

[Barrie Walker]

It has never been proved that Gladstone had sex with these prostitutes. That is a supposition made by some people. People like you, perhaps.

[Henry MacGowan]

In 1968 the KGB infiltrated the UK political system by funding the "Soviet Boys Brigade" whose senior member was a 14 year old from Dundee. His supposed father was a Minister in the Church of Scotland. "Global Reach" by highjacking the UK government was the KGB goal, by 2008. Guess what that Soviet Snake's name is?

[Londoner]

Disraeli´s father Isaac D´Israeli
was a well-known literary figure and country gentleman (owner of Bradenham)
Humble origins????

[mort]

hmm, darling?? darling???, yes sir... just sounds like a bad episode of black adder!! yes mr brown should be on the list.. but the topic is scandals not gross stupidity.. i doubt the man has it in him to raise a real scandal! and if he did it would be so boring we would not care...