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Golliwogs and biscuit bribes: a Chequered past
Worried that Labour leaders may be too close to the hoi polloi, at the start of the last century the Tories put in place a weekend life of luxury as a country gent for all PMs — SOLOMON HUGHES reveals a shady instance of institutionalised bribery
Chequers

CHEQUERS, the prime minister’s country house retreat, is a classic bit of English Establishment social engineering: Arthur Lee, a Tory MP who got a lot of money when he married a super-rich American banker’s daughter bought and restored the dilapidated Buckinghamshire manor house in 1912.

Lee thought that all prime ministers should relax in a country house at the weekend, but knew that the arrival of universal suffrage meant you could not always expect prime ministers to have one of their own. So Lee bequeathed Chequers to a Trust, which provides it to prime ministers to play the country gent in.

By giving prime ministers the luxury of the rich and accoutrements of the Establishment, Chequers helps ensure prime ministers will be less likely to take away any of the luxuries of the rich or challenge the establishment.

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