In Iolanthe, it was the contemplative guardsman on sentry duty who discerned that every boy and every girl that is born into this world alive is either a little Liberal or else a little Conservative. Similarly, in matters of character, most of us feel an instinctive affinity either for W E Gladstone, the stern, principled statesman, or for his rival, the whimsical and exotic pragmatist, Benjamin Disraeli. A specialist knowledge of Victorian history is not a prerequisite for declaring admiration for one or the other any more than it is the preserve of accredited tennis coaches to admit favouritism between Borg and McEnroe.

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