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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Vanessa Thorpe

Sex and secrets in PM’s limo: Asquith’s wild trysts with socialite mistress

Herbert Asquith in 1911, at the height of his affair with Venetia Stanley, when they would meet in the back of his official car.
Herbert Asquith in 1911, at the height of his affair with Venetia Stanley, when they would meet in the back of his official car. Photograph: PA Images/Alamy

She was a young aristocrat who knew all the “best” people. He was an ageing politician leading a nation on the brink of international conflict. Yet their passionate weekly trysts in the back of the official prime-ministerial car changed the course of history.

Add the fact that our heroine was the closest friend of our hero’s daughter, and it reads like the tagline for a tale of forbidden love and secrecy in high places. But it happens to be true.

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