LORD SALISBURY'S Visit to the Queen caused a good deal
of suspicion in some quarters and some dark murmurings about the age-old power of his family. Though in a sense, of course, his visit revealed the opposite; he was almost the only leading Conservative who had no chance of be- coming Prime Minister. Both the Sunday Express and Reynolds News printed lists of his relations in the Government and in the House of Com- mons. Reynolds printed a family tree and eleven photographs with the caption: 'The Prime Minister and the Ten Members of Parliament--and they are all in the family.' One of those photographed was Mr. Christopher Soames, and from the family tree I gathered that his relationship to Lord Salis- bury was as follows: Mr. Soames's wife's great- great-grandmother's first cousin-once-removed married Lord Salisbury's great-aunt. I suppose Reynolds is right in thinking that blood will out, but it is perhaps not surprising that the Sunday Express and Reynolds News were unable to agree exactly which members of the Government were Cecils. The Express gave the Cecil imprimatur to both Sir Reginald Manningham-Builer and Mr. Head, but apparently their relationship was not sufficiently close to satisfy the rigorous genealo- gists of Reynolds.
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