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[The Blog of Phileas Fogg: 1883 onwards] April 25th 1884

From: Harry Hayfield <harryhayfield~at~googlemail.com>
Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2009 03:26:05 -0700 (PDT)
To: jvf~at~gilead.org.il

Thank goodness today is a constituency day, I need it after yesterday's
exertions. As I mentioned a few days ago it was Budget Day yesterday
and as with the Queen's Speech it was another early start. The Cabinet
met at ten o'clock to hear the Budget summary and agree to it's
contents (which took a good hour). After the meeting I took the Chief
Whip to one side and asked his opinion as to my concerns about what I
called a "sense of duty". Now I was expecting him to wonder what I was
talking about, but he just smiled at me and said "You're wondering if
you should accept any invitation from President Garfield aren't you?"

He then explained that the Prime Minister was planning to hold a
general election sometime next year and that between now and then he
was going to have a Cabinet reshuffle and was thinking of appointing me
as Minister for Science with special responsibilty for space
expolration. He then also explained that due to the boundary changes
that the Speaker's Commission had requested all two member seats were
going to be reduced to just one member and he felt that I would have
a "special place" in the Liberal Cabinet and then started to laugh as
he left leaving me a little in the dark as to what he meant.

Anyway, the afternoon came around and after a particulary rowdy Prime
Minister's Questions (which is always the case) the Chancellor of the
Exchequer rose to his feet and presented his Budget. Now I have to
admit I don't quite understand everything he said, but I did note one
thing of interest. Towards the end of the speech (which was a long one
as is usually the case) he announced that for every twenty shillings
that a property is worth five pence would be charged as duty (which was
an effective tax cut) so that when the Chancellor sat down we all waved
our order papers and I glared at my opposite number on the Conservative
front bench and whispered "Beat that!"

I got back home late in the evening and found Passepartout with a hot
cup of tea for me and the day's post which included a postcard from
William (who was on an exchange visit to the American college that
Harrow is twinned with in San Francisco) telling me that he hoped to be
back in England by the end of the month and a letter from Kent saying
that my wife should also be back home by the end of the month as well.
Therefore I will consult with both of them about what I should do.

--
Posted By Harry Hayfield to The Blog of Phileas Fogg: 1883 onwards on
4/25/2009 11:25:00 AM

Received on Sat 25 Apr 2009 - 13:26:13 IDT

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