Arthur Balfour was British prime minister from 1902 to 1905, and he served as foreign secretary in David Lloyd George’s wartime coalition. Today he is remembered, if he is remembered at all, for the “Balfour Declaration” of 1917—a British promise to secure a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine.
In a long political career that lasted from 1874 to 1929, Balfour held the three great appointments (Privy Councillor, Knight of the Garter, Order of Merit) and every senior government post except Home Secretary. A landed Tory but not a reactionary, Balfour was a philosophical skeptic who nevertheless followed Benjamin Disraeli and Randolph Churchill in understanding the democratic need “to strike the popular imagination” (6). His uncle was Robert Cecil (Lord Salisbury), the greatest Conservative of the age, and his godfather was Arthur Wellesley (Duke of Wellington), the greatest conservative of any age. More to the point, in this book...