The Independent - London, May 24th, 1997
When John Major became prime minister, one commentator likened him to Mr Pooter wandering into Downing Street by mistake. Melbourne's accession to power, after a scant six years as a minister, excited similar incredulity. He was a political nobody, without an ounce of charisma or drive. Metternich scathingly dismissed him as Charles Grey's "understudy". But the understudy played the role of prime minister, night after night, for seven years. How a man who was an acknowledged human failure could be such a success is one of the many, intriguing issues explored in L G Mitchell's Lord Melbourne 17...
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