Cars for MPs

Is Gordon Brown the first prime minister who can’t drive since, well, since Asquith?

Is Gordon Brown the first prime minister who can’t drive since, well, since Asquith? Hard to imagine the 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith mastering a non-synchromesh gearbox. His successor and rival, Lloyd George, was out of office for 23 years and lived until 1945, so had plenty of time to learn; but neither cars nor driving are indexed in John Grigg’s definitive biography. In those days he wouldn’t have had to pass a test, of course, and anyway motoring (motorism to early enthusiasts) was such a minority pursuit that perhaps it shouldn’t be expected of pre-war prime ministers.

It’s a little like inquiring about their adulteries: who was the last prime minister to have done the deed while in office? Harold Wilson’s and John Major’s well-known affairs were pre-office. Are we back to Lloyd George again? A case might be made for Ramsay MacDonald and Lady Londonderry, but his rhapsodical letters about her nightdress read more like infatuation on his part and manipulation on hers than actual adultery. For modern prime ministers it must be all but impossible, anyway; they’re hardly ever alone and the physical arrangements within that rabbit warren of houses in Downing Street would make smuggling paramours in or out extremely difficult. If not caught by security, she (conceivably he) would doubtless get lost and be found on Monday morning shivering in the honours office, where she might be mistaken for payment. They’d have to manage with the occasional tryst behind the garage at Chequers.

As for cars and post-war PMs, the most memorable connection between Attlee and wheels is Churchill’s quip to the effect that an empty taxi drew up in Downing Street and out got Mr Attlee.