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Lead book review

Disraeli, by Douglas Hurd; The Great Rivalry, by Dick Leonard - review

<em>Sam Leith</em> finds shades of Jeffrey Archer and Boris Johnson in the 19th-century prime minister

13 July 2013

9:00 AM

13 July 2013

9:00 AM

Disraeli: or, The Two Lives Douglas Hurd and Edward Young

Weidenfeld and Nicolso, pp.300, £20

The Great Rivalry: Gladstone and Disraeli A Dual Biography Dick Leonard

I.B. Tauris, pp.226, £22.50

‘Who the hell is Disraeli?’ This, as a gleeful footnote in Douglas Hurd and Edward Young’s new book reminds us, was the response of John Prescott when asked on television what he made of Ed Miliband’s speech last year extolling the virtues of Dizzy’s world-view. Actually — as their book goes on to make clear — Prescott asked the right question.

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