Trudy Gold
Disraeli: A Love Affair

Trudy Gold | Disraeli A Love Affair | 06.10.21

- Hi, is my sister there? Do I see Linda there?

• Yes.

• Do you see Linda?

• [Linda] Yes, I am here.

• Hi Linds, hi Shauna.

• [Linda] Happy birthday.

• Happy birthday.

• [Jud] Happy birthday.

• Thank you. And, oh, there’s Brede. Thank you.

• Hi Dennis. Give Dennis a hi.

• [David] Hello.

• Hello everybody.

• Oh, everybody’s here, oh my goodness.

• [Patrick] Dennis, hi.

• Hello, hello, everybody. But not in Africa.

• Wendy, we just wanted to make a special tribute to you. This Lockdown University has been very special to all of us, and I know it’s been so special to everybody who’s listened online. It’s an extraordinary achievement. So just thanks. Should we just go round and lots, and lots of love from all of us?

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ ♪ Happy birthday dear Wendy ♪ ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

• Happy birthday, Wendy. We love you. We miss you here in London.

• Oh, thank you.

• [Trudy] We all love you.

• Thank you. And the feelings are reciprocated to you too. Thank you, and I want to say that I’ve loved this initiative and I could never have done it without all of you, and the team and such a loving and dedicated and committed, and we’ve had so much fun together. So thank you to all of you, and thank you to all the amazing participants who’ve been so loyal and helped us make a success. So what can I say? Love you too, and thank you for this. I feel very special today.

• Huge happy birthday, and thank you so much for an incredible journey with you and the team and everybody. Just incredibly appreciate it.

• [Wendy] Oh, thank you.

• I seconded that too. Yeah.

• Thank you, Patrick. So special having you all as part of a faculty. What an amazing faculty we’ve got.

• It’s quite extraordinary, thanks to you, that I’ve met all these people and I suspect many of them have met each other through you. And that is an incredible tribute to you. And may I say, as I see more than 900 people joining as we move up, that everybody’s met everybody through you. So really as they say,

• Well, thank you very much. Honestly, my team and my family know that I just love collaborations, I love sharing. I always say one and one makes 11, and an extra one, 111. And we just keep adding, and in that way, we share the love, we share the kindness, we share the friendship. And what a beautiful community we’ve got. All different by the way, with different opinions and different views and different belief.

• That’s for sure.

• We all listen to each other and respect each other.

• [Patrick] Thanks to you, Wendy, really.

• [Wendy] Thank you very much.

• I just wanted to say I’ve decided tonight I am going to a lecture on this Disraeli because he is my favourite person. He’s just one of the most extraordinary characters to walk the world. And I thought it’s a great tribute to you Wendy, because he was an adventurer in so many ways and he made so many things happen. And that’s why I wanted Disraeli to be your lecture tonight, Wendy. So I hope you enjoyed it.

• Thank you very much.

• And lots and lots of love from all of us.

• Thank you, and just to say one last thing, that this is my second birthday in Lockdown University.

• Yeah, it’s weird. What a journey.

• Well, please God, next year we won’t all be in lockdown.

• [Linda] And I just wanted to say, Wendy, you feel special today because you are.

• Ah, Linda, that is so nice of you. Thank you so, so much. I am so lucky to have such an incredible sister. If I had my choice, you would be number one, two, and three.

• [Linda] All over again.

• To loving sisters and a loving brother as well who’s never around.

• [Linda] And a wonderful year.

• Thank you very much. Thank you, guys.

• And we’ll see you soon.

• Thank you very much.

• Thanks. Thanks Judy over to you thanks. Thank you everyone. Bye.

• God bless. Have a fabulous rest of day, Wendy.

• Thank you so much. Looking forward to the lecture. Thank you everybody. Thank you for all the good messages, all the messages, the loving thoughts, the emails, the texts. I am so, so appreciated. Thank you. Over to you, Truds. Thank you Judy, Thanks Shauna, thanks Linds.

Visual and music are displayed throughout the presentation.

• This is for you. And Shauna, if we could put the first slide on the screen, please. Happy birthday, Wendy. So this is for Wendy’s birthday. It’s almost impossible to believe that we’ve been doing this for about 14, 15 months now. It wasn’t so long ago that we had your last birthday, Wendy.

And as I said before, Disraeli, I suppose, as far as I’m concerned, he’s the character who leaps out of history at me. And because in our own way we are making a kind of history, I thought also we’ve been dealing an awful lot with the darkness, let’s deal with an adventurer who created an adventure and changed the world with that adventure. So can we see the picture of the man I’m going to be talking about please? There you have the young, beautiful Disraeli.

Now, what can one say about Benjamin Disraeli? His dates were 1804 to 1881. He came from a middle-class Jewish family. His grandfather had been an importer of straw bonnets. He came from in Italy. He came to this country. He made a fortune as a straw bonnet salesman, he opened up a big shop. Very amiable chap. He became one of the founders of the London Stock Exchange. And he had a house in Stoke Newington. And those of you who know the geography of England will know that he bought himself a stately home out in Edmonton.

His son, Isaac, Disraeli’s father, never had to work for a living, because the old man left 35,000 pounds. He became a writer. He wrote the curiosities of English literature. More about the biography in a while. But the first thing I want to say is this middle-class Jewish boy who was actually born in the house, which today is the headquarters of the Board of Deputies. He came from a Sephardi family. On his mother’s side, their are rabbinic descendants. Although later on he was going to complete the over egg, his own background. Yet this man, he took on England at the height of empire. He did something absolutely extraordinary. He became prime minister of England, prime Minister of the party of the aristocrats. And he created, if you like, for many people, the dream of empire.

How was it possible? He must have had to pinch himself somehow because to come from that background, the double outsider, which I’m going to talk about, to creating this fantasy. And I’m going to start with a description of Disraeli by Isaiah Berlin in his wonderful book “Against the Current” because he says it all in one paragraph. “A somewhat fantastic figure, an ambitious opportunist, "a social and political adventurer, flamboyant, overdressed. "The epitome of dandyism and artificiality "rings on his gloved fingers, "elaborate ringlets of hair "falling about his pale exotic features, "with his fancy waistcoats, his Rococo eloquence, "his epigrams, his malice, his flattery, "and his dazzling social and political wit. "Admired but distrusted, and by some feared and loathed. "A pied piper leading a bemused collection of Dukes, "Earls and solid country gentlemen and burley farmers. "One of the oddest and most fantastic phenomenon "of the entire 19th century.”

So how did he do it? This boy who never went to university, who left school at 16, who was a womaniser, an adventurer. He also became one of Victorian England’s most popular novelists. How in the end did become the grave statesman? To quote Bismarck, at the Congress of Berlin in 1878 when Bismarck and Disraeli managed to settle the peace of Europe. What did he say? Bismarck on Disraeli. thus is the man. And I think the first point to make about Disraeli, and this is one of the reasons I chose him for Wendy’s birthday lecture, because it’s Wendy who has always says to me, get into the biography, get into the character, look at the psychology. And with Benjamin Disraeli, what he does in his psychological makeup, he creates a self-transformation. How is it that this boy, from the outsider people of all the Jews, how is it that in the end he managed to conquer England?

And when he was 18 years old, he actually wrote, “To succeed, one must possess "either birth, money, or genius.” He had a certain amount of money. He certainly didn’t have the right birth to become prime minister of England. But he believed he was a genius. He mocked the world he came from, he mocked the world he came to. And above all though, I think he half loathed it, half loved it. I think all his life, in a funny sort of way, he had his nose pressed against the ghetto war. To Carlisle, he was a spectacular, superlative Hebrew Kandra. TE Raymond who wrote one of the first biographies of him in 1926, a member of parliament, he said, “His heart was never that of an Englishman.”

He was a romantic, he was an orientalist. The duke of our girl said this of him, He was free to play with prejudices which he did not share as he had no traditions of his own. Let’s talk a little bit about his biography. So he was one of four children. He was the eldest son of Isaac and his wife Sarah Shiprock. He was born in 1804. His elder sister was Sarah, he was very close to her all his life. He then had two younger brothers. It’s interesting, because he was sent to an ordinary prep school. Later on his brothers went to Winchester. Was it because he just looked so foreign? We know that at school he was teased, because he writes about it in his novels. We know that at school he was an outsider. We know that when they did Merchant of Venice, there was another Jewish boy in the school called Maurice . He played Shylock, and he played . And it’s at this stage that something happens that changes his life. His father decides to convert his children. Now, it’s interesting because Isaac Disraeli, who’d written this curiosity of English literature, he was on the edge of a theatrical and a literary crowd. He was a very amiable man.

Should we have a look at some pictures please, Shauna? Can we go on with the… That’s Disraeli when he enters parliament. But I’d like to have a look at the pictures of his parents, which I hope are next. Yes. There you see Isaac Disraeli and his mother. And he’s got a very pleasant countenance. And what happens is he has made a warden of Bevis Marks shoe, the short for the Sephardi. He doesn’t want to be that. He is therefore fined, and he decides he’s had enough. And he resigns from the synagogue. And on the advice of a neighbour, he decides to convert his children because he’s no longer a religious man.

Ironically, he doesn’t leave Judaism. He is one of the founders of the first reform synagogue in England, which ironically being the English way, was not founded for any theological reasons, but because the muckers who created it had had a rail with the muckers at Bevis Marks, and they didn’t want to have to walk to the city. Many of them lived in other areas. So basically he converts Benjamin before Benjamin’s Bar Mitzvah. So from now on, in theory, all advantages are now open to him. Because the problem of Jewish emancipation in England, unlike the consonant, it’s a long, slow process. And he could never have entered parliament if he remained a Jew officially. But the point is about Disraeli, even though he has converted, all you have to do is look at that face. He knew he was a Jew. He was seen as a Jew by everyone else.

And ironically, when he wrote one of his most famous books, “Coningsby” the hero is a man called Sidonia. Sidonia is a kind of combination of Disraeli, Montefiore and Rothschild, who by the way is very close friends. And out of Sidonia mouth comes the words, all his race, there is no other truth. You see, you are down again to the identification of what it means to be a Jew. Benjamin Disraeli believed that he came from the Jewish race. And because he was overwhelmingly ambitious, what he does is he creates the fantasy that in fact the Jews are the greatest race that ever walked the world. If you like, they are the super race. And he, Benjamin Disraeli, comes from the greatest branch, the Sephardi who left Spain. They were the aristocrats of the Jewish world. And this, if you like, sustains him.

Later on when he stands for parliament and someone pushes a piece head into his face, you know what he says? “How can you make fun of a fellow "when his family were on conversation terms "with the Queen of Shiba?” And on another occasion he said, “How can you defame a fellow when your people "were wandering around gathering acorns in the woods? "My people were priests in the temple of Solomon.” But we do know that when he was at school, he was a bit bullied. And in one of his first books, this is what he has to say, this is in his book, “Vivian Grey”.

And remember, even though today not many people read Disraeli, the novelist, In his day, he was one of Britain’s most popular novelists. And this is from “Vivian Grey”. “They were called my brothers. "But nature gave the lie to this reiterated assertion. "There was no similitude between us. "Their blue eyes, their flax and hair, "and their whole visage claiming no kindred "from my Venetian countenance. "Wherever I moved and I look around me, "I beheld a race different from myself. "There was no sympathy between my frame "and the rigid climb where I’ve been brought to live.” And in another one of his books, “Cantarini Fleming”, he says this, “I’m amongst a troop of Norman Knights "whose fathers were Wreckers and Baltic pirates.” And this is also from “Cantarini Fleming”. “Was this mixed population of Saxons and Normans "of pure blood than he? Oh, no.

"He was descended in a direct line "from one of the oldest races in the world, "from that rigidly separate and unmixed race "who had developed a high civilization at a time "when the inhabits of England were going half naked "in the woods.” And again, he said, when he was being questioned in a derogatory way about his Jewish origins. “They revere the literature, the Sabbath, "the sacred history of the Jews, "and praise the son of the Jewish woman as their God. "Yet they disdain from their society and their parliament, "the race to which they owe their festivals, "their semi-civilization, their religion and their God.” And later on when he’s in parliament, he’s very close to George Benting, very much an English aristocrat. And in return for Benting giving him quite a lot of money, he actually in the life of Benting, he writes a biography. He talks about the Jews. He says, “Again, all is race there is no other truth.”

But the point about Benjamin Disraeli, so he saw himself as a Jew by race. But the point about him is that he created a fantasy about the world he came from. He was overweeningly ambitious. And who knows the kind of psychological problems he faced when he was young. So he leaves his little prep school between the ages of 12 and 16. He goes to Doctor Coggins, which is an ordinary school in And as I said, his two younger brothers who were blonde and blue-eyed, they went to Winchester. Between the ages of 16 and 18, he had a private tutor, very eccentrically and educated. He becomes very interested in the… He began to have romantic-type clothes. He wears velvet waist. He elaborately looks after his ringlets. But his father says, you’ve got to have a career.

So he sends him to be apprenticed to a lawyer, Mr. Maples in Lincoln’s Inn. And when he gets there, he has a copy of “Spencer’s Fairy Queen” under his arm.* And he tries in a rather desultory fashion to actually chat up. I suppose that’s the best way to put it. To flirt with Maple’s daughter. And he writes, in the end, he says, “I could either become a great lawyer or a great man.” And Mr. Maples writes to his friend Isaac, “Your son is too much of a genius for the law. "It will never do.” So having tried the law, he wants to make a mark on society. He has a flutter on the stock exchange. He gets himself in debt. He was always in debt, although later on he became chancellor of Exchequer he could never, ever manage money.

He decides that he is going to become a writer. Now, what is also interesting about Disraeli, If I was to set you an undergraduate essay, one of the most popular titles for essays on Disraeli is, was Benjamin Disraeli an adventurous opportunist? Which is an adventurous unscrupulous opportunist. Which is actually quite interesting, because if you think about it, I think most people who go into a serious career in politics have to have a touch of that. And it’s only Disraeli that you have this question about, because what he decides to do is, he’s going to make it through writing. Now, in order to do that, he needs to have sponsors. And through his early life, most of his sponsors are going to be wealthy, older women.

Can we go on to have a look at small pictures please? He begins to be invited to a lot of supper parties. He’s very, very witty. And here you see Count Dorsey, who was a close friend of his, he was a very much a bohemian character in British society. He lived and was the lover of his step mother-in-law. And he becomes very close to Disraeli, and he introduces him into London society. When I say London society, it’s very much the Bohemian side. And you also see Lord George Benting, who is the opposite of Dorsey. He was very respectable and he’s going to become a close colleague of Disraeli’s when Disraeli is in parliament. Anyway, he’s already created a mythology about himself and he begins his career through the good offices of wealthy women. As I said, usually older than himself.

Shall we go on and see if we can see if you… Oh no, I’m sorry, I’ve got this out of order. That’s Hughendon Manor which he’s later going to buy. Let’s keep it on that for a little while. Anyway, so he writes a novel in 1824. He did what most young men do. He went on a continental tour and he travelled with his neighbour, William Meredith, who became engaged to his sister. They went to France, Belgium, cologne, Heidelberg. They toured the Rhine. His highlight was actually meeting, he later met Byron Boatman. So basically very much the romantic because they are well connected, they stay with British officers. There are British outposts everywhere, evidently women adored Disraeli and men absolutely a loathed him.

He returns, he comes back to England and he publishes his first book through Benjamin, his second book through Benjamin Austin, who he’s having an affair with his wife Sarah. And this is what he wrote at the time, “Personal distinction is the only passport "to the society of the great.” He very much wants to be accepted into London society. He tried to get into all the clubs, he was on the edge. That’s what he wanted. When I said he had his nose pressed against the be ghetto war. There’s no doubt that there is something seductive about the English aristocracy and the English upper middle classes that so many talented outsiders want to be part of them. It’s a puzzle that goes on in my head to this day. And I think it’s very, very interesting psychologically. He’s desperate to break out of the middle classes. And he says, “Whether this distinction arises from fortune, "family or talent immaterial.

But certainly to enter high society, "you must be either have the blood or be a genius.” Unfortunately, he’d incurred huge debts on the stock market and he also managed to alienate many of his father’s friends. He gets on with his novels and unfortunately his first novel, “The Young Duke” was a great success. Why do I say unfortunately, it’s well reviewed until they realise that it was written by quote unquote a bumptious Jew boy. He’s writing about the aristocracy. And that led him to a great period of despair. And really between 1826 and 1830, they’re very shadowy years. He had a breakdown. He retired to his bed most of the time, and it’s at this stage he again went on holiday.

He’s taken off on a long holiday and this time they really travel and he earns his way also by writing more books. He writes “Captain Popanilla” which is a satire. On his grand tour of the East, they go to Albania again with Meredith, Smyrna, Cyprus, Jaffer. He’s thunderstruck when he sees Jerusalem. And he begins notes for a book called “Alroy.” He’d already read about Alroy in his father’s library. His father had a country seat in Bradham. Alroy was a 13th century Messianic claimant, a Jew. And Disraeli is actually going to write really the first Jewish fictional novel based on fact. But it’s a fictional novel, “The Wondrous Tale of Alroy.” And he returns to England and he moves to Pall Mall again in debt. But he decides this time he’s going to get into politics.

He begins to climb what he later calls the greasy pole. And he meets a society doctor becomes the lover of this guy’s wife. Again pushes him further up the scale. And he proposes to Meredith’s sister, she rejects him. He becomes very close to Bwalitten and his set. They were very artistic, the sort of forerunners of the Bloomsbury crowd I suppose. He then writes “Cantarini Fleming,” he is becoming famous, tries to get into parliament as an independent. In “Alroy”, this is what he says, “I would fame be prince without My veters. "I will lead my people to Jerusalem.” That’s Hughendon and he is later going to buy. We move on how we stuck. oh yes, later on that’s a picture of him with Queen Victoria. Go on please.

Yes, the lady down below is a woman he meets. She is the wife of Sir Mark Sykes. He begins an affair with her and by this time, by the way, he’s already… Was married. Finally painter, but she’s also the mistress of, oh my goodness, my brain has gone. Lord Amherst, beg your pardon? He was the Lord Chancellor. And through his mistress’s other lover, he finally gets taken up by the Tory party. He’s tried hard to become an independent, he fails miserably. And in August 19th, 1834, Linda becomes Lord Chancellor in Peel’s government. Through the largest of Lin Hurst, he stands again for a seat, he fails. He’s the Tory candidate for taunting, he fails. Anti-Jewish agitation. How dare you a Jew stand for England. Very much slighted by other characters who are standing for parliament, but he doesn’t give up.

And finally he becomes the running mate of another man called Wyndham Lewis. In those days, parliamentary seats, they were there out of, it’s a and Wyndham Lewis had the seat for Maidstone. But he had two seats and he takes Disraeli on as his running mate. And finally Benjamin Disraeli makes it into the mother of parliaments in 1837, which is a very important year because it is the year of Queen Victoria’s accession. And so he’s in parliament, he comes in in his velvet waistcoats, remember he’s a novelist. He’s already got a very, very risque reputation. He’s an adventurer. He makes a speech, he’s shouted down and he says, “I will sit down now, but one day you will hear me.” He’s running mate, Wyndham Lewis dies. He leaves a very wealthy widow or anywhere.

Anyway, he thought Mary Anne was wealthy and his friend Dorsey said, “Look, you must marry, marry a widow. "You are 34 years old. You need respectability.” I should also mention that when he made his maiden speech, he wrote, “I have begun several things in my life "and I often succeeded at the last, "though many predict I would fail. "I had to sit down, but the day will come "when everyone will hear me.” Now, Mary Anne Wyndham Lewis, she was 12 years older than Disraeli and Disraeli courts her thinking she’s a very, very rich woman. He later discovered that the majority of her fortune was actually entailed. And that meant it would not go to the husband, but to male heirs. But nevertheless, he had tried and even though he realises that she is not as rich as he thinks, he is a fantasist and he’s going to make her into his fantasy woman.

Now she rattles around for a bit. She’s not sure she wants Benjamin. And this is the letter he writes, which is I think is an absolutely fascinating love letter. “Farewell, I will not affect to wish you happiness "for it’s not in your nature to attain it. "For a few years you will flutter in some frivolous circle, "but the time will come when you sigh "for any heart that could be found "and despair of one that can be faithful, "then will be the penal hour of retribution. "Then you will recall in your memory "the passionate heart you have for did, "the genius you have betrayed.” What a strange love letter. But the point was she bought it and get married. And ironically it was a very happy, but regardless marriage, she always went from Henrietta Psychs.

And I wonder back to Wendy in the psychology. Because his sister, Meredith, his friend who had been engaged to his sister Sarah actually died when they were abroad. And he writes a condolence letter to Sarah and says, “All you’re going to be able to do now "is to turn your thoughts to me. "So don’t worry.” his wife and his sister never liked each other and he didn’t do anything to heal the breach. But he kept them both at his beck and corn. He needed love, he needed to be given, if you like, I suppose the affirmation of many, many women. Ironically, once he marries Mary Anne, she does become his ideal woman.

When she was dying. And historians have gone over this light with a tooth comb. There is absolutely no evidence he was ever unfaithful to her. And just as later on he was going to take Queen Victoria, the dumpy German house frau to his bosom and call her his fairy queen. I believe he really fell for his own fantasies because he once said about his wife, my wife is a wonderful woman, but she can never remember who comes first, the Greeks and the Romans. And yet when she was dying and she was an incredibly loyal wife, when she was dying, he said to her, “Madam, you have always been "more of a mistress to me than a wife.” And there is a very idealised portrait of Mary Anne.

Anyway, the prime minister is Peel and we now have Disraeli in parliament. He’s desperate for a position, but Peel wouldn’t give it to him. He didn’t trust the man he called the Jewish adventurer. Mary Anne appealed to Peel. You know what she said about her husband? Dizzy may have married me for my money, but if he had the chance again he would marry me because he loves me. Now in Peel’s parliament, he said of Peel once because gradually having sat down for the first speech, he’s becoming a master of parliamentary oratory. He really found his milia. I don’t know if any of you, obviously those of you who live in England will listen to prime minister’s question time. Later on, his big adversaries of course going to be Gladstone and the two of them, and they were at it for 30 years. The two of them were masters of rhetoric.

There’s an incredible debate where Disraeli says his majesty’s opposition are like a range of Italian volcanoes splattering and about to be extinct. And he did it all on his feet. Anyway, in Peel’s government, this is where he’s an adventurer. There’s a group of young idealistic aristocrats. There is a wind of change spreading through Europe. It is the era of liberal ideas. This young group, they’d all been together at Hilton in Cambridge and they entered parliament. They wanted to change things and they had this sort of paternalistic notion that was very much part of England that they would help the underprivileged. With Mary Anne and with her London house, he created a dazzling salon. It becomes the place everybody wants to be.

The group called themselves Young England. And with his brilliant wit, this group of aristocrats decide to make Disraeli their leader. So Disraeli the outsider, Jewish adventurer at this stage who loads his prime minister, he said of Peel, his smile is like the silver lining on a coffin. And he wrote, “I am already find myself the leader of a party, "chiefly of the youth and the new members.” Whilst his in parliament, he writes a very, very important trilogy. I suppose in many ways, one is called “Coningsby,” where the hero is a man called Sidonia, who I’ve already mentioned, really super Jew. The other one is called Sybil.

Now in Sybil, he really looks at social injustice and this is what he has to say. And it’s very important, Disraeli the outsider, in the party of privilege, he said, “The palace is not safe when the cottage is not happy.” And he says this in Sybil, “Two nations between whom there is no intercourse "and no sympathy, who are ignorant of each other’s habits, "thoughts, and feelings "as if they were dwellers in different zones "or inhabitants of different planets, "the rich and the poor.” He is the man who actually coined the phrase the two nations. And he understood, he understood the nature of power and he understood also as the outsider that the aristocracy would never be safe whilst there was real discontent amongst the poor in England. All you have to do is think about Victorian England, He writes Tankered, they all add his fame.

So he is becoming one of the most famous writers in England. And he was the enemy of Peel. He was brilliant and he was pitiless. He was actually prepared to bring the government down because Peel wouldn’t make him a member of his cabinet. He also becomes very close to George Benting who had a huge racing stable. They were called the Jew and the jockey. Now interesting, he was pitiless about Peel, but as far as the Jews are concerned, between 1828 and 1858, there was a move to emancipate the Jews. At this stage, the wigs, the liberals were for it, the Tories were against it. Every time there was a debate, Disraeli crossed the floor to side for Jewish emancipation. And Benting, the aristocrat always went with him because he said, no fellow should ever have to stand alone.

And it’s in hindsight, he said, “How can you not emancipate the Jews "when half the world worships a Jew and another his mother.” Can you imagine what that did to the state and the sit stiff parliamentarians? And this is a letter that he wrote to Lord Stanley about his Jewishness. He’s talking about those days. I’m quoting from the letter, “In those days of political justice "when Jerusalem belonged to the Jews.” In 1848, Benting says to him, look, stop wearing all these fancy waistcoats. You’re becoming important in the party. You’ve got to look the part, come in looking sober. So he comes in wearing black, he also dye his hair jet black. And that from then on was what he wore. He was an extremist.

And it was also at this stage that he buys Hughendon with money from Benting. 1849, Lord Stanley, now Lord Darby is head of the party and he’s in the Lords and Disraeli is now the brilliant parliamentarian and leader of the opposition. Peel dies in 1850. In 1852, Lord Darby becomes prime minister and Disraeli, the brilliant becomes chancellor of the Exchequer. They are out of office. And it’s not until 1858 that it’s at this stage that Disraeli becomes prime minister. 1868, but for nine months. And he never really had the time to really do anything important. But look at the journey he had.

Now I want to talk a little bit about his relationship with Queen Victoria. I’ve accused him of being an adventurer. Something happened at Disraeli because from being the adventurer, the pitiless adventurer, once he gets there, he turns into a man who believes passionately in England and believes passionately in empire and wants to do all he can to make England safe. For example, in 1848, it was the year of revolutions in Europe, there were 54 different revolutions. In England, there was no revolution. There was a charter demonstration in Hyde Park, Disraeli was one of five MPs who supported the charter. He also wanted parliamentary reform. And as his career develops the hatred between…

Charming, rightfully clever, Gladstone also clever, glad very very religious man. His hobby was saving women prostitutes. Whereas Disraeli was very easy around women. So you can just imagine. And the fact that Disraeli develops an incredible relationship with Queen Victoria. It begins in 1861 when Prince Albert dies, he sends her a beautiful condolence letter in which he praises the Prince’s incredible erudition. And said that there were only two people who really understood the Balkans. And now with the death of Albert, there’s only one him. And when he first met Victoria properly, she’d written a small little book of verse and he said, “We author’s mom.”

He also said about the queen on the subject of royalty and flattery, you lay it on with a trial. He also said, when I want to know how the middle classes think, I ask the queen. So it’s always complicated with Disraeli. This is Gladstone on Disraeli and Disraeli’s fascination with the East. By the way, he was Zionist. This is what a letter he wrote to Lord Stanley about perhaps a Jewish enterprise. And please don’t forget the writing of Daniel Dewan by George Elliott, the famous “Proto-Zionism” novel, plus of course “Ivanhoe” by Sir Walter Scott.

So within England there was a certain sympathy for the Jews. And Disraeli, of course because he can’t hide his Jewish background, he really rubs it in people’s face to the Rothschild family. He gives the address at the local Churchyard and something else which made people thinking of him as an adventurer. Because of his novels, he had a lot of admirers and including a woman called Mrs. Bridges Williams. She was actually a Sephardi Du ess. She’d married a colonel and she adored Disraeli and she lived in Thornton. And she said, if you would communicate with me and visit me once a year, when I die, I want to be buried next to you. And when I die, I want to be… And if you do that, I will leave you 30,000 pounds.

If you go to Hughendon, you will see in the graveyard there is Disraeli in the middle, his wife on one side, and Mrs. Bridges Williams on the other. Can you imagine what that did to characters like Gladstone? But going on to the east, this is a letter he wrote to Lord Stanley, “Money will be forthcoming from the Rothschilds "and leading… "established with rights over the soil "and security from ill treatment. "The question of nationality might wait "until these things have taken hold.” This is Gladstone on Disraeli. I have watched very closely his strange and at first sight inexplicable feelings on the eastern question. And I believe their fountain head here, he’d be race antipathy. That aversion with Jews with a few honourable exceptions are showing so vindictively towards Eastern Christians. Though he has been baptised, his dues are at the most radical. And of false… Must have been Disraeli.

Carlile, Hebrew Condra Monkey and Mount Bank. This is another quote of Disraeli’s from “Coningsby.” “It’s impossible to destroy the Jews. "All Jews are aristocrats.” When he’s leader of the house, remember he’s in opposition. He writes regular reports on the proceedings to Queen Victoria. Anyway… Leader of the opposition for the great reformat, which he sent in the vote by nearly a million people. He wants more people enfranchised. He had taken over the party because Darby was ill in 1868. And it’s not though until 1874 that he’s finally prime minister of England.

Now, back in 1872, Queen Victoria, he developed gout. He also had a very good secretary called Corey, who protects him. I should have mentioned that before. And Victoria, who really has grown to become very, very fond of him, she wants to send him to the Lords, but he wants to remain in the commons. So he says to her, make Mary Anne a matchless. So his wife becomes in field. What he is doing for there is an office. And this is when he really is in love with England. And here you see him and Mary Anne. Again, a stylized portrait.

Now his friendship with Queen Victoria had intensified. And in his period of office, he enacts more social reform than any of the other prime ministers in the 19th. He protect the working classes. Confuses Karl Marks British citizenship because he was not loyal to his own king. On the contrary, he’s a paternalist. He believes in a righteous society and he believes that everybody must be protected. But where he really comes into his own is foreign policy, because that’s what he really loves. And I suppose there are two adventures that are really extraordinary.

Look, don’t forget though, all the things he did that helped alleviate the poor. And really, for example, he cut working hours, he cut children’s working hours, he introduced all sorts of liability for employers to look after the workers. He cleaned up the streets of sewage. It’s called the Su… you know, many of these reforms come under the notion of the sewage acts. But he did so much to help. But of course, I think what he really loved was overseas adventures. He believed in empire. There’d been a debate on evolution in the House of Commons. Do you know what he said? He said this.

He said, “I can never but be on the side of the angels.” He is, if you like, he’s the adventurer still. He believes in empire, he believes in glory. He loves the east and the Suez Canal. The was under the control of the Turk. But the sultan of Turkey was very weak. Disraeli’s policy was really balance of power. Anyway, everyone wanted to buy the Suez Canal because it cut the Sea route to India by four and a half thousand miles. The Russians wanted it, the French wanted it, the British wanted it. And I should point out that Disraeli hated the Russians. Had it a lot to do with their anti-Jewish policies. He was very close to Moses Montefiore, remember.

Anyway, he finds out that the Suez Canal shares are up for sale and parliament is in recess. So he needs to borrow four million pounds. So what he does is he sends his secretary, Corey. Corey writes about it to his close friend, Nathan Roth. Beg your pardon, yes, it’s the second one. Nathan is dead. So it is his son. He sends him to see Lionel Rothschild. And Lionel is evidently peeling a Muscadin grape when Corey comes in and says, my master wants to borrow four million pounds. What is your security asks Rothschild, without looking up, the British Empire, it shall be done. With that money, Disraeli bought the Suez Canal.

Parliament was furious, but the mobs were on the street screaming for empire. He also made Queen Victoria Empress of India. It was a gesture. He announced it at a soccer party in Balmoral, where he actually stood to his feet in the presence of the queen. She cared so much for him that she allowed him to sit in interviews. Mary Anne died back in 1872 and he lived in a hotel for a while then he went to live with the Rothschilds for who he was incredibly close. He finally takes a period. And when he leads, somebody said to him, “How do you feel going into the House of Lords?” And he says, “Dead put in the Elysium fields.”

Just as when he finally became prime minister, he said, “I’ve climbed to the top of the greasy pole.” Always tongue in cheek, and yet in love with England. And of course in 1878, statesmanship, the Bulgarian atrocities. The Bulgarian Christians, many of them, there’d been some terrible atrocities perpetrated by the Turks in the Balkans. Disraeli did not want to go to war against the Turks. The Russians were sable rattling, Bismarck, the very clever chancellor of Germany, who Disraeli was very close to. He’d met Bismarck back in the late ‘50s when Bismarck came to England and he told Disraeli what he was going to do.

And Disraeli wrote, “Mark that man, "because he’s going to do exactly what he will do.” And what happens is Bismarck cause a Congress in Berlin to prevent war. Because you have the Russian sabre rattling, you have the Turk sabre rattling. Will there be war in the east? Will there be a European war? Gladstone writes these pamphlets that of course the Jew Disraeli is siding with the heathen Turk, the heathen Turk, the heathen Jew. But Disraeli and Queen Victoria gave her blessing. He wants to stop war. He goes to the Congress of Berlin, huge negotiations. And in the end, the two of them, Bismarck and Disraeli do settle the peace of Europe. And not only that, Disraeli manages to be given Cyprus as a sort of consolation prize. And when he comes back to England, by this time he’s old, he’s ill, he has gout.

He comes back to England, he arrives at the station and he brandishes a piece of paper and he says, “I bring you back peace, but peace with honour.” Later on, that was in 1878, 60 years later, those words were trampled on by Neville Chamberlain. Anyway, his first private visit was to Moses Montefiore. Disraeli refused to ratify remaining independence unless they looked after they emancipated the Jews. He was quite strong in these kind of things. And ironically, it led to the first, the man who coined the phrase anti-Semitism, Wilhelm Marr. He writes a pamphlet, “The Victory of Judaism over German.” And he says in the pamphlet, “The see mite Disraeli holds in his vest pocket "the key to war and peace in the Oren.” What is fascinating, when Disraeli left the Congress of Berlin, Bismarck said of him, That is how he referred to the prime minister of England.

Anyway, the Zulu war, there’s another election, and Disraeli is out of office. He was still a romantic. After Mary Anne’s death, he courted two elderly women. And he wrote to both of them, Lady Bradfield and Lady Chester. “I have lived to have the twilight of love.” Queen Victoria was very bitter when he left parliament. And she made his private secretary, Barron Rostock, she said, “I cannot deal with Gladstone. "He treats me as though I am a public meeting.” 1880, he published another book “Endymion.” He said, once, “Whenever I want to read a novel, I write one.” He carried on a long correspondence with Victoria, but he’s dying, he’s very ill. And in April of 1881, ironically, can you go back a little, if you don’t mind, can you go back one, yes. That’s his sister Sarah.

And if you go to the next slide, you see Queen Victoria visiting him in Hughendon. If you could go on Shauna? Yes. On the subject of flattery, you lay it on with a trial. And can we see the next one of Disraeli, please? Yes. That’s Disraeli, the old man. He’s very much on his deathbed. Victoria wants to come and see him, and he says to his secretary, “Please don’t let her come. "She’ll only want me to send a letter to Albert.” He did have a note from a workman. “Don’t die yet. We can’t do without you.” His last words evidently “I had rather live, but I am not afraid to die.” And can we see the next slide if you don’t mind. No. Can you go on? Could you jump those to the last picture please? Can you go on? I’ll come back to the Disraeli another time. Oh, we’ve missed one. Okay, go back to a picture of him please.

Anyway, when he died, there were many, many obituaries. I’m going to read some of them. This is from Wilfrid Scawen Blunt. He was a writer. He was married to Byron’s granddaughter. “I hold him in high esteem, but a Jew ought to be a Jew. "And I enjoy as a tour de force. "He’s smashing of all those dull solemn robes, the wigs "and his bamboozling of the Tories. "Our dull English nation deserved what it got. "And there is nothing funny in our history "than the way he cajoled our square towed aristocratic party "to put off its respectable broad cloth "and robe itself in its suit of imperial spanglers. "And got our fine ladies after his death "to worship their old world weary kundra begila "under the innocent form of the primroses.”

The Primroses League was set up in his honour after his death. And for years, about a third of the population of London wore the primroses. He was an incredibly popular prime minister. This is what Gladstone said to his secretary. Gladstone was meant to make a speech on Disraeli in the house, but he couldn’t bear to, he had a stomach complaint and he said to his secretary, “As he lived, so he display, "so he died, all display without reality or genuineness. "This is the Roman Catholic nation, Dublin newspaper, "priest or person, book or prayer, cross or crescent, "symbol or signs of faith. "There was nothing to tell "if the dying man thought of Moses, Mohamed or Christ. "Lord Brackenfell died as died a horse.”

This is Victoria to Corey. “I feel so deeply for you who loved him "and devoted yourself to him as few sons do, "the loss is so overwhelming. "Never had I so kind and devoted a minister "and such a devoted friend.” It’s interesting, the evening he died, Alfred de Rothschild arrived and moving. We never know whether there was a Jewish right, but the body was not removed until after the Shabbat, the funeral at Hughendon. And the queen of course was not allowed to attend because sovereigns cannot attend funerals. But two of her sons went. And I’m going to read the description of the funeral because despite everything Gladstone said, he had a private funeral.

And this is from ET Raymond. “The honour of a public funeral was suitably offered "by a liberal government and still more suitably refused. "When amongst his intimate papers "was found a letter from his wife "expressing a wish they should share one grave in Hughendon. "To village Churchyard, "his remains were carried by tenants of the estate. "And there followed the Prince of Wales "and others of the royal family. "Nearly all the members of the late conservative cabinet "harcourt for the government, Gladstone was ill. "And most of the great men of the day, "the queen’s Ruth of Primroses was prominent on the coffin "because they were his favourite flowers. "Four days later, she herself visited the grave "and at her private expense was erected in human and church, "the memorial and what are inscribed the words "king’s love him that speak it right.

"She at least his grateful, sovereign and friend "had little quarrel within any of the words "of the great courtier statesmen. "The tributes in parliament were as generous "and as in opposite as such things always are "Salisbury’s off quoted dictum "that zeal for the greatness of England "was the passion of his life, yields little enlightenment. "Have any of these great men in a moment of mad frankness, "risen to declare that he whom they were praising "was the one unquestionable genius of his age "amongst the statesmen of England "but that the fame of his practical statesmanship "would be dimmed long before his qualities "as a writer and a thinker had been fully recognised "that he was the strangest mixture of profit and comedian "that his make believes and insincerity, "though they were many, were superficial, "and that his honesty was fundamental, "that he served England as well as she allowed him. "And he learned to love England. "But he could never feel for her "as a son feels for his mother. "But he always had an imperfect sympathy "with the party he led. "And indeed with the party system "that he proved himself in most respects "a man of honour and fine feeling. "But in all respects, a Jew. "If this had been said, "everyone would’ve been profoundly shocked. "But something near the truth might have been said.”

I’m going to finish with some of my favourite quotations of Disraeli’s. He and Churchill, I think are the prime ministers that have more quotations in the Oxford dictionary of quotations than any other prime ministers. The very phrase foreign affairs makes an Englishman convince that I’m about to talk of subjects with which he has no concern. I And that from the people and for people, offsprings and all must exist. And remember, I’m reiterating this, the policy is not safe when the cottage is not happy, never take anything for granted was one of his.

We should never forget on occasion, opportunity is more powerful even than conquerors and prophets. There is no act of treachery or meanness of which a political party is not capable for in politics, there is no honour. A majority is better than the best rep party. No government can be secure without a formidable opposition. As a general rule, the most successful man is the man with the best information. Not religions. I am paired for the worst, but hope for the best.

And this I think is one of my favourites. No man is regular in attendance at the House of Commons until he is married. It destroys one’s nerve to be amiable to the same person every day of one’s life. So I think I’ll stop there.

Obviously I have glided over Benjamin Disraeli, but I just wanted to give you, if you like, considering how much darkness we’ve been dealing with of necessity. And of course Disraeli’s career is extraordinary. And I suppose on balance, I find it absolutely fascinating. I think he’s a great psychological study. I find him very appealing, although of course he had an incredible amount of flaws.

But in the end, it’s English state. In the end he did get into every London club. In the end, he was lionised by Britain. But sometimes the Jewish part of me wonders did he sell out for a mess of cottage. Thank you. Okay, I think we’ve got a lot of questions Shauna and I have a deadline of 10 minutes, is that correct?

• [Shauna] Yes. You can still pick a few questions.

Q&A and Comments

• Okay. And I’m going to try and use that pen of mine. Hold on. There are nice people saying wonderful things for Wendy and Lockdown University is marvellous. So we’ve got lots and lots of happy birthdays Wendy, loads and loads and so you deserve it Wendy.

• [Wendy] I’m here. Thank you so, so much, Judy. That was absolutely brilliant. Yes, absolutely. And I just want to say thank you to, whoops, I’m sorry I’m sort of struggling to come on with my camera.

• I can hear you darling.

• Okay, that’s great. Thank you. I want to say thank you for outstanding presentation and for all the beautiful tributes and he was quite a guy, wasn’t he?

• Oh, he was an incredible guy. We will go back to him, Wendy, because I just wanted you to have a fun evening. A fun lunchtime rather. But yes, I mean…

Linda’s asked a question when he went to the Rothschilds to borrow the money. Yes, they did get their money back.

Not certain about the conversion process. Converted to what? He converted to Protestantism. He was converted to the Church of England. Look, he used to read the address down at Hughendon Church. Myself and my family, we did something very naughty. We went to Hughendon on a very bleak day and there was no one else there. And so we said Caddish at his graveyard.

• [Wendy] That’s outrageous. Did you?

• I don’t think that’s outrageous. I just thought he was such a Jew or is that outrageous? I don’t know.

• No, no, no not outrageous. I think that’s great.

• I don’t know. I didn’t like him resting in a country church. I just thought–

• No, no, you’re quite right. I endorse that. I’m saying outrageous, so cool what you did there.

• This is from Leila, don’t you think Sidonia is almost Messianic. Even his horse is called Daughter of a Star. A female translation of You should read “Coningsby” honestly. It’s an interesting book. And you see what he created in Sidonia is the super Jew. In fact, I have an extract from it somewhere, if I can find the right page. And you see, I think he’s put himself into it, not only himself, but he’s put Montefiore and Rothschild. Evidently he could speak according, this character could speak, he can speak 20 languages. He travelled the world. He was incredibly sophisticated. He was the most cultured and richest man in Europe. And that’s the character.

Q: Can you please suggest a good extensive biography of Benjamin Disraeli? A: If I could turn to my bookshelf, I think I’ve got more books on Disraeli than anyone else. Oh, yeah. No, I can’t, I really can’t recommend one. Sarah Bradford, because she… No, Sarah Bradford’s Disraeli because she had access to papers that weren’t known before because it was her grandmother, he played court to. Who else? There’s so many volumes. Look, I’m promising about a bibliography and let me think about it.

Q: Did he try to create a Jewish state? A: No, Michael. Not exactly, but there was proto Zionist’s thought. I think so. I don’t think we can go as far as Zionism.

Oh, this is from Greek Gido, my favourite quote, “The secret of success is constancy to purpose.”

Q: Did he not say Gods treats nations as nations treat the Jews? A: Yes, he did.

Lots and lots of happy birthdays Wendy.

• [Wendy] Thank you Trudy. Thank you everybody. Trudy I want to ask you, when you spoke about Zionism, who would’ve been pushing for the state of, who would’ve been advocating for a state at that time?

• Nobody really.

• [Wendy] Okay. So maybe that’s why, because… What I want to say, maybe because he wasn’t that position. I mean, he was so focused on his Jewish heritage. As we’ve heard from you.

• I think it’s a very interesting question you’ve asked. I’m going to be talking on Monday about Zionism in 1945. And I think I will go back a little to this. The ideas, look, got to remember the Congress of Berlin is also the year that term antisemitism was created. And I think quite a few of the political Zionist, like Herzl, it was because of antisemitism. And also another point about Disraeli, remember there were only 60,000 Jews in England when he was living. It was the year he died that you had the great influx from Russia. I don’t know. But he certainly–

• He created a climate.

• It’s a very important question Wendy.

• Yeah, but he created a climate for the Jews to come. So he obviously created a mindset in England.

• Yes, I think I would definitely go with that. And there’s an interesting question here.

Q: Is there any truth of the notion it was Disraeli who convinced Victoria to come out of isolation? A: Yes, very much so Donnie, because remember what’s going on in the outside world? All the revolutions, Queen Victoria locking herself away, he realised that the country needed their figurehead and it was Disraeli who could jolt her out of retirement.

More and more happy birthdays Wendy.

Q: Arnold, can you confirm that Disraeli had illegitimate daughter who was taken as a bait? A: No, I cannot confirm that. There is one biography by Wilhelm Marr who tries to prove he had illegitimate children. But I don’t think it’s ever been proven. That’s the point. In fact, there are some historians who believe he was probably bisexual.

Have you read all Disraeli’s books? I have. I recommend them to everyone. Valerie, that’s amazing. I’ve read about half a dozen of them. I haven’t read them all, but he’s worth a read more and more.

Thanks for Rothschild. I never found it in the Douglas Herd bio. You see, I’m going to say some really strange Douglas Heard, wrote it as a politician, that biography, he didn’t write it as a Jew. I’m going to say something very controversial, I think to really get under Disraeli’s skin, It helps if you are an alienated Jew. I think what heard brought to it was an understanding of politics. Lord Blake, he wrote a classic. That’s why I’m saying it’s not just one you need, you need so many, because Disraeli had so many facets to his personality.

Q: Are there any decent films about Disraeli? A: There was a series made back in the '80s where Ian McShane played Disraeli. There was another George Arliss played Disraeli, in a film from the 1930s. Oh, Anthony Sher played him in a film called “Mrs. Brown” about Queen Victoria. But that’s another thing waiting, a great film on Disraeli.

And of course in Israel Zangwill’s wonderful book, “Children of The Ghetto.” There’s a wonderful sketch of Disraeli.

He was a better novelist than Churchill, Jonathan. I mean, look, conservatives today say that Disraeli was their second favourite prime minister, but Winston Churchill was their… Look, Churchill was a great writer of history books. Churchill was a great man. Look, even our greatest men have flaws. I just find Disraeli fascinating because how he came from being a middle class Jew who left school at 16 to be prime minister of England.

[Video frozen]

Or in the press (mumbles)

Oh, this is from Linda. “I’m the blank page between the new and the Old Testament.” Yes that’s a wonderful, that is a wonderful line.

Bench Wit and his group. Yes but it’s a little later. More and more.

Q: Any similarity in political style to Churchill? A: Can you give me half an hour on that. We’ll be picking that up. In a couple of weeks, William’s going to give a lecture on Churchill and I’m going to look at Churchill and Jews, and I think we’ll be bringing things like that in.

So I think we have to stop there, Wendy. Have the happiest, happiest, birthday.

• Thank you so much, Trudy. Thank you very much. Thank you all of you, for all your wonderful messages. And thank you, Jordan. Thank you, Judy. Thank you to all the participants for sharing today with me, with Trudy and on Lockdown University.

• Can I just mention, Wendy, you really should have a look at all these comments because so many of them are so lovely about you.

• I have asked. Thank you. You know what, as you can see, I have listened to your entire lecture. I’m not at home and I’m not on my computer, but I have been listening to the lecture and so I have asked Shauna to keep them all for me. So I just wanted to say thank you very, very much. I’ve tried to access them from my phone, but I’m not able to do so. Just as well, I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on the messages and your lecture.

• God bless, darling. Have a wonderful day.

• Thanks everybody. Lots of love. Enjoy the rest of the evening and the night. Take care. Thanks. Bye-bye.

• Shauna thank you.

• Thanks Shauna cha-cha. Bye.