Strenuous Liberty

Strenuous Liberty is a biography of father and son: both Tufton Beamish, both Tory MPs for Lewes, both distinguished military men. Primarily, it is about the son and the inspiration behind Private Eye's Sir Bufton Tufton. Tufton Jr led a distinguished life as both soldier and politician - he won the Military Cross in France in 1940, escaped from both Dunkirk and Singapore, and ended up wounded in Italy. As an MP, he championed the Eastern Europeans, victims of the Katyn Massacre and the Palestinians, despite his Jewish heritage. A lifelong passionate European, he helped Ted Heath get Britain into Europe and went on to serve as an MEP. Margaret Thatcher called him "one of the great Parliamentary personalities of our age".