SOLOMON HUGHES uncovers government documents showing hidden dinners and meetings between Labour figures and disgraced Peter Mandelson’s lobbying firm, which collapsed after links to Epstein and sleazy influence operations came to light
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The remarkable heritage of a leftie lord
MAT COWARD recalls the communist and pacifist aristocrat whose commitment made a difference in the Spanish civil war, the Blitz and WWII Europe
HIGHLY PRINCIPLED: (Left) Gavin Henderson, 2nd Baron Faringdon, November 1934; (right) Buscot Park, Oxfordshire where Communist Party branch meeting were held and Basque Civi War refugees found accomodation
[(L to R) Elliott & Fry Studio/CC - Daderot/CC]
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WOULD you be awfully embarrassed to find yourself a member of the same secret communist cell as your own butler? I suppose it’s a situation very few of us will ever need to worry about, but allegedly this was an etiquette poser which Alexander Gavin Henderson, second Baron Faringdon, had to negotiate on a regular basis.
The story goes that Henderson’s butler was the local CP convener, while the baron himself was branch secretary. Meetings were held at Buscot Park, the ancestral pile; after serving dinner, the gentleman’s gentleman would take the liberty of discreetly reminding His Lordship that his presence was required in the library this evening.
Once the meeting began, Comrade Butler, in the chair, would instruct Comrade Henderson to read the minutes.
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