The Gaullist state was run by civil service whiz-kids – technocrats imbued with the goal of modernisation and the ethos of public service in the higher interests of France. De Gaulle saw French “independence” as necessary for defending corporatist state interventionism from the dangerous free-market liberals in Brussels, whom he believed would expose France (and Europe) to the depredations of multinational businesses and international markets that would act in their own interests and not in the interests of France. “Independence” was based on the ideal of a proactive state not afraid to intervene in economic matters where it served the common interest – a “third way” between capitalism and communism.
How unlike Britain’s free-market Europhobes, who would not know what to do with “independence” if they had it (if it were indeed possible in today’s world). WHY do British commentators like Neal Ascherson think that Euro- sceptic British Conservatives represent “English Gaullism” (“Don’t expect businessmen to protect any interests other than their own”, 5 March)? It was de Gaulle’s government that nationalised basic industries from coal to banking after the Second World War. Their defeat soon proved to be a more prophetic guide to the mood of the country than Sir Alec Douglas-Home’s triumph in the glens of Perthshire.The writer is the Labour MP for Cunninghame North.. I have too many houses already.” The Liberals called for a ban on opinion polls during by-elections, describing them as “a dangerous interference in the democratic process”.On the same night, the Tories lost Luton where Charles Hill, “the Radio Doctor”, had been unwisely elevated to the peerage.

The Tory share of the vote dropped to a healthy 58 per cent, the Liberals came second and Rushton received 45 votes.Asked if he intended to buy a house in the constituency, Sir Alec replied: “Good heavens, no. For, if Britain is to prosper, all must play their part.”The by-election outcome was never in doubt. To enhance all- round prosperity, he said, “we have set up the National Economic Development Council in which the Government, industry and trade unions are co-operating. When Sir Alec addressed “1,000 cheering women voters” in Crieff, he advised them that the policy of the Conservative Party was “not greedy materialism”. “In the morning, suitably dressed in an old tweed knickerbocker suit, thick woollen socks and stout shoes, he went hill- farming…This evening, he took off, as Prime Minister, for London.”But while the style was quintessential grouse-moors Toryism, the political message makes curiously consensual reading today. Opponents protested when schoolchildren were given a half-day to cheer his presence.The Glasgow Herald reported admiringly how he combined the roles of candidate and statesman. Rushton announced that his candidacy was a protest against “the completely arrogant way Lord Home has moved into Downing Street”.This reflected a widespread resentment and sense of astonishment throughout the country, though Perth and Kinross itself was the least likely breeding ground for such sentiments of lse majest Sir Alec went on his stately way through the constituency.

It was the hey-day of BBC Television’s That Was the Week That Was, on which Rushton was accustomed to playing Macmillan, while Lance Percival sent up Home.However, his opening meeting in Killin attracted an audience of 300 who heard Rushton go “lightly and scathingly through the Prime Minister’s life” and “frequently mimicking” the great man Killin had seen nothing like it before. Sir Alec combined the roles of prime minister and candidate.A colourful field lined up against him, including Willy Rushton. Sir Alec Douglas-Home, as he now became, was nominated as Conservative and Unionist candidate, and the shortest by- election circus in modern political history was under way. The Tory MP for Kinross and West Perthshire, Gilmour Leburn, had died in August at the age of 50. George Younger was to be the Tory candidate in a by-election scheduled for 7 November.Younger agreed to stand down, was found a seat in Ayr instead and never had cause to look back. Earlier in 1963, Parliament had passed the Peerage Act allowing hereditary peers to renounce their titles on accession, or within 12 months of the passing of the Act The new prime minister quickly set about doing so He had, however, to remain in Parliament. These were the days when leaders of the Conservative Party “emerged” rather than triumphed through any electoral process, and on 18 October Macmillan advised the Queen to send for Lord Home – the first peer to become prime minister since Lord Salisbury in 1895.By the early 1960s, however, the idea of a prime minister in the Lords was unacceptable This was where chance recent events came to the aid of Home.