T. E. Utley

He developed a meticulous memory, after being forced to rely on having books read aloud to him, and learnt how to dictate logical arguments in clear prose.

[4] Educated privately as a child, Utley went on to read History under Kenneth Pickthorn and Charles Smyth at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, graduating with a First with distinction.

[5] Leaving Cambridge during the Second World War, Utley initially joined the staff of the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House, then went into journalism,[6] and by 1944 was a leader writer for The Times.

He composed its leader in response to the 20 July plot to kill Hitler and welcomed it as evidence of anti-totalitarian forces in Germany which might help end the war if encouraged.

[7] His 1975 work, Lessons of Ulster, was described by The Times as "less a study of Irish politics than a brilliant dissection of the inadequacies of liberal statecraft faced with the intransigent passions of nationalism".

[2][8] Utley argued that Thatcherism, rather than being a radical deviation from traditional conservatism, was a necessary application of Conservative principles to the problems of an over-powerful state and trade union militancy.

This latter move was occasioned by a falling-out with Max Hastings, the then editor of The Telegraph, who disagreed with Utley's views on matters relating to Northern Ireland.

He was an important influence on the thinking of the Tory Party, an intellectual precursor of Thatcherism, and throughout his life a mentor – revered, consulted and endlessly quoted – to the young".