Rosebery

With a story full of colour, contradictions and controversy, the Fifth Early of Rosebery is the ideal subject for a biography. Gifted with dazzling charisma, oratorical power, intellectual brilliance and fabulous wealth, he was the last Liberal peer to become Prime Minister, succeeding William Gladstone in 1895. But his career was undermined by his erratic character, which featured chronic self-doubts and bleak melancholia. Neither his celebrity nor his fortune brought him happiness. Thrust into the public realm by his aristocratic stature and vast popularity, he constantly yearned for solitude. His insecurities were made all the worse by dark whispers about his private life which reached their climax during the trials of Oscar Wilde at the very time of his Premiership. When first published in 2005, Leo McKinstry’s study was greeted with widespread acclaim and was shortlisted for several prizes, ultimately winning the Channel 4 Political Book of the Year. Based on a wealth of unpublished archive material, including private papers belonging to the Rosebery family, this biography represents a major contribution to British political history.