Joe Oliver Profile picture
Writing, reading, napping. Interests include Churchill post-1945, political history, the Medieval, & general historical oddities. Completer finishe
Aug 8, 2020 12 tweets 3 min read
In July 1940 an anonymous letter appeared in The Times - the writer, an 11 year old school boy saying he didn't want to be evacuated to Canada and 'would rather be bombed to fragments than leave England'. Winston Churchill saw the letter and was impressed by the fighting talk.. ..and despite Downing Street having quite a few things to do in July 1940 asked his staff to try to identify the author so he could pass on approval. His staff managed this & found the 11 year old was David Benn son of Churchill's former Cabinet colleague William Wedgewood Benn..
Jan 13, 2019 12 tweets 4 min read
If we're going to dig into history I think this point is at best half right? I *think* the Conservatives were still against the Assembly being established in 1999 and ran on a platform opposing it with David Cameron/Nick Bourne finally dropping this c.2005? And indeed, recorded in Hansard (see for example column 897 here) are Theresa May's own votes against the Government of Wales Bill, after the 1997 referendum where she says 'the result was accepted by both sides' hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1997-1… (cc. @PickardJE @SDoughtyMP )