The grey suits were out in force today at the launch of the official history of the 1922 Committee’s first centenary. Knights, grandees and peers of the realm all crammed into Committee Room G of the Palace of Westminster to hail the release of Philip Norton’s updated book. As one quote on the blurb put it: ‘The 1922 is probably the most significant body in British politics that almost no one knows anything about – and what they do think they know is probably wrong.’ Reflecting on the Committee’s history, Norton remarked that:
When they started, there was quite a high turnover [in chairmen] but not a high turnover in leaders. Nowadays it’s the other way round. So we had leaders who would see several chairs of the 1922 Committee. Now we’ve got chairs of the 1922 Committee who see several leaders.
It fell to Sir Graham Brady, the longest-serving chairman of that august body to congratulate Norton on his updated history: ‘We’ve worked very hard to promote your book.
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