Palmerston: A Biography David Brown

(Yale University Press), 2010   576pp., £25 paper, ISBN 978-0-300-11898-8

Palmerston was a politician who was rather like a slow-burning fuse: it took a long time for him to reach the explosive heights of political power.  Born in 1784, he was Secretary for War for nearly two decades before he finally became Foreign Secretary, a position he held intermittently for fifteen years and he was over seventy when he first became Prime Minister, a position he held for seven years before dying in office in 1865.  He spanned the decades between the French Revolution and the beginnings of mass democracy and was regarded by many contemporaries as a flawed figure.  He was simultaneously reactionary and populist, reactionary and democratic, liberal and conservative and a reckless warmonger and astute, moderate diplomat. 

Palmerston has been the subject of several eminent biographies but this sparkling volume is the first to capture the breadth of Palmerston's character and achievement.  Unlike previous studies that have focused on particular elements of his career especially his foreign policy, this dramatic and colourful book considers all aspects of his life.  His role in foreign and domestic policy has a central place but there is also room for Palmerston as an Irish landlord in Sligo, his place in the formation of the Liberal Party and his image as the archetypal playboy and lover.  This is a ‘warts and all' biography and the result is a more rounded examination of his life based on a wide reading of his personal archives.  This is a book not to be missed.  It will prove essential reading for those teaching nineteenth century political history.