WHY do men go in for politics? The cynic will reply, to feather their nests, but I believe that quite a large proportion go in with the belief that they might be able to do some good.So now you know. Forget the NOTW and Coulson. It all started a long time ago ... but it was the Tories wot dun it. It is always the Tories ... then and now.
But why did Douglas Hacking take it up? Douglas, as you probably know, has got on as a politician. Since 1918 he has represented the Chorley Division of Lancashire, and is now chairman of the Conservative Party organisation. Big promotion is certain to come his way.
But Douglas had no urge to do anything. He was no reforming zealot. "Twenty-five years ago my father entertained Lord Derby to lunch", said Hacking, a few days ago. "After lunch, Lord Derby asked my father whether he would consider my entering the political field."
And that was how Hacking started. And, perhaps, that is why he is doing so well!
And Hacking, having been first elected in 1918, never really amounted to much ... just a steady political workhorse - a political hack, you might even say. He was finally unseated in the great general election clear-out of 1945.
As was the custom, he was then raised to the Peerage, taking the title of Baron Hacking, of Chorley in the County of Lancaster.
So Hacking ended up in the Lords, where they looked after their own. And there is nothing new under the Sun, as Mr Murdoch might now say.
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