AS SEEN ON TV: LORD SALISBURY

A little something for election day......

LORD SALISBURY

AS SEEN IN:
'Edward The King'

AS PLAYED BY:
Richard Vernon

From Wikipedia:
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, KG, GCVO, PC (3 February 1830 – 22 August 1903), styled Lord Robert Cecil before 1865 and Viscount Cranborne from June 1865 until April 1868, was a British Conservative statesman and thrice Prime Minister, serving for a total of over 13 years. He was the first British Prime Minister of the 20th century and the last Prime Minister to head his full administration from the House of Lords.

He became Prime Minister in June 1885 when the Liberal leader William Ewart Gladstone resigned, and he held the office until January 1886. When Gladstone came out in favour of Home Rule for Ireland, Salisbury opposed him and formed an alliance with the breakaway Liberal Unionists and the won the subsequent general election. He remained Prime Minister until Gladstone's Liberals formed a government with the support of the Irish Nationalist Party, despite the Unionists gaining the largest number of votes and seats in the 1892 general election. However the Liberals lost the 1895 general election and Salisbury once again became Prime Minister, leading Britain to war against the Boers and the Unionists to another electoral victory in 1900 before relinquishing the premiership to his nephew Arthur Balfour. He died a year later in 1903.

For quite a bit more, click here.

BCnU!

Not that it has any bearing in Toobworld, but fans of the televised version of 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy' should recognize him once they hear his voice. Richard Vernon played Slartibartfast......