At 12.20 UK time, MICHAEL HOWARD was announced as the new leader of the British Conservative Party.
For those who care about such matters, Mr Howard is Welsh. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Transylvania (Hungary or Romania according to date) who moved to Britain in the 1930s. Michael Howard himself is said to attend a liberal synagogue on Jewish feast days and other special occasions.
I think this makes Mr Howard the first practising Jew to be leader of a major political party in Britain. Benjamin Disraeli, Tory Prime Minister in the 1860s, was Jewish by ancestry, but baptised as a Christian. Lord Rosebery, a Liberal Prime Minister in the 1890s, married a Rothschild heiress (always a smart move) but was not Jewish himself. Mr Howard is married to a blonde former fashion model, which is also a smart move (oops, I first typed model as mohel – which is a very Freudian slip!)
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