06-04-2009, 09:08 AM
Sources: June 29, 1997, The Independence, 'Aitken dropped by the Right's secret club; Is it the ultimate dishonour' ; July 10, 1997 An Phoblacht/Republican News, 'Editor's Desk'; 18 June 2000, Sunday Telegraph / Lobster Magazine, Issue 40, winter 2000-2001
Member of the very powerful Cecil family that has produced numerous members of the Order of Garter and the Privy Council, starting with Sir William Cecil in the 1500s. They intermarried with elite blue blood families as de Vere, Arundel, Plantagenet, and Cavendish. Sir William Cecil was a student of John Dee, the official founder of Enochian Magic. The family forged links with the Republic of Venice around 1600 and built Hatfield House, which still is the family's residence, in 1607. William Cecil and his protege Sir Francis Walsingham devised an intricate spy network during the latter years of Elizabeth I's reign that succeeded in uncovering numerous Catholic plots against the monarch. Some people of that time have stated Cecil himself was a plotter behind these assassinations. Sir William Cecil’s daughter, Anne, married Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford and a member of what was quite possibly the bluest of blue blood families in existence. De Vere had worked for William Cecil and the throne since a young age and was later rumored to have written the works of Shakespeare. Lady Diana Cecil married the 18th Earl of Oxford.
This Pilgrim was the third son of (his namesake) Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, who was a member of the Order of the Garter and the Privy Council. The 3rd Marquess of Salisbury was the Chancellor of Oxford University from 1869 to 1903, a fellow of All Souls, and a British prime minister for 14 years. Carroll Quigley described the Rhodes Secret Society and the Milner Group as having evolved from the 3rd Marquess' "Cecil Bloc". The 3rd Marquess grew to like Benjamin Disraeli, who he had previously been distrusted as a Jew. Disraeli eventually became a housefriend of the family and was invested into the Order of the Garter. Baron Lionel de Rothschild was another close friend of Disraeli. One of Cecil's sisters was the mother of Arthur J. Balfour (wrote a letter to Lionel de Rothschild in November 1917 declaring that the British government stood behind Zionist plans to build a Jewish national home in Palestine) and Gerald W. Balfour. Even today, the Hatfield House is the Hertfordshire home of the family, built between 1609 and 1611 by the1st Earl of Salisbury; a Privy Councillor and Knight of the Garter who was the Chief Minister to James I.
The 5th Marquess of Salisbury (KG; PC; married into Cavendish family) was president of the Conservative Monday Club from 1961 to 1972. This was the center of the pro-colonial movement in Britain, which even prepared for a coup against the "KGB-infiltrated" Labour government of Harold Wilson in the 1970s. General Walter Walker and later Cercle chairman Julian Amery were among the members of this club. His son, the 6th Marquess of Salisbury, took over the Conservative Monday Club in 1974 and ran it until 1981. September 13, 1965, The Times, letter of the 5th Marquess of Salisbury, 'Government in Rhodesia - Arguments against majority rule': "[Churchmen] fall into the all too common error of assuming that the only form of Government compatible with the Christian way of life is majority rule. Actually, at any rate, in the case of primitive peoples, that has, I believe, never been so: nor, judging by our experience with other African states which have recently gained their independence, is it so now. Democracy is the most difficult of all sytems to work. It requires the highest degree of civilization. Can anyone who knows Rhodesia say that the average African in that country is ready for it yet? It could no doubt be argued - though I am sure that the signatories of the letter would not use such an argument - that majority rule is more important than the Christian way of life. But do they really expect anyone who has personal experience of Rhodesia to believe that the people of that country, whether white or black, would benefit either spiritually or materially by the introduction of majority rule at the present time?"
Lord Cranborne and later 7th Marquess of Salisbury. Born in 1946. Attended Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford and became a merchant banker before going to work on the family estates. He began using Robert as his preferred Christian name from his 21st birthday. In 1970, aged 23, he married Hannah Stirling, niece of Lt Col David Stirling. Stirling was the co-founder of the SAS, founder of GB 75 (seemingly a short-lived psyop in 1974), worked with MI6 at times, ran Television International Enterprises which ran a security service for overseas heads of state, was gold stick to the queen, and headed Operation Lock, a pro-apartheid assassination program in Southern Africa.
Cecil was selected, unexpectedly, as Conservative candidate for South Dorset in 1976, where his family owned lands, despite the presence of several former MPs on the shortlist. He spoke at the 1978 Conservative Party conference to oppose sanctions on Rhodesia, which had broken off from England illegally to maintain its fascist white-minority regime. He won the seat in the 1979 general election, the seventh consecutive generation of his family to sit in the Commons, and in his first speech urged Ian Smith to stand aside in favour of Abel Muzorewa. He attracted a general reputation as a right-winger, especially on matters affecting the Church of England. Member of the Other Club since 1981, together with the Duke of Devonshire (Cavendish), Lord Carrington (Pilgrims Society president), Lord Richardson of Duntisbourne (major Pilgrims Society member), Lord Julian Amery (former head Le Cercle), Lord Rothschild, Lord Rees-Mogg, Prince Charles, Paul Channon (Le Cercle), Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Sir Edward Heath, Sir Denis Thatcher, Winston S. Churchill (grandson of), and several dozen others.
Took an interest in Northern Ireland, and when Jim Prior announced his policy of 'Rolling Devolution', resigned an unpaid job as assistant to Douglas Hurd. Lord Cranborne became known as an anti-communist through activities in support of Afghan refugees in Pakistan in the early 1980s, and sending food parcels to Poland (a joint operation of the Vatican, Opus Dei, SMOM and the CIA). He was involved in efforts to fund the Afghan resistance. His strong opposition to any involvement by the Republic of Ireland in Northern Ireland led him to oppose the Anglo-Irish Agreement and contributed to his decision to retire from Parliament in 1987. However, he had made a useful friendship with John Major while in Parliament. After the 1992 general election, Major utilised a rarely-used process known as a writ of acceleration, to call Lord Cranborne up to the House of Lords in one of his father's junior baronies. Lord Cranborne was summoned as Baron Cecil of Essendon (his father's most junior dignity), though continued to be known by his courtesy style of Viscount Cranborne. He served for two years as a junior Defence Minister before being appointed as Leader of the House of Lords. In 1994, he became a member of the Queen's Privy Council. When Major resigned to fight for re-election as Conservative Party Leader in July 1995, Lord Cranborne led his re-election campaign. He was recognised as one of the few members of the Cabinet who were personally loyal to Major, but continued to lead the Conservative Peers after Labour won the 1997 general election.
March 30, 1997, The Independent, 'Courtiers down the centuries; Profile Robert Cranborne' (Lord Cranborne at the time and confidante of Prime Minister John Major): "At least for a few weeks more, a Cecil is in a position the family knows well: very close to the seat of power. It may be a slight exaggeration to say that he is running the government, but Lord Cranborne, Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the Lords, is spending the election as chief of staff at No 10 Downing Street. The peer, who has emerged as something of an icon to the Conservative right, is not only the link between Central Office and No 10, but has day-to-day responsibility for the latter... As one (well-bred) Tory puts it: "Robert has a remarkably close relationship with the Prime Minister. He is an engaging figure with considerable charm. People rather like glimpsing into his solid, English, aristo world of which they are not a part. They find it rather intoxicating. The truth is that they all fall for the toffs - even Thatcher fell for Ridley."... After the Guards it was the City and in 1970 he married, causing a family crisis because his bride, Hannah Stirling (daughter [actually niece] of the founder of the SAS), was a Roman Catholic. The Cecils take the defence of Protestantism and the Church of England seriously and Robert's mother, Mollie, took time to be reconciled. A compromise was reached and the two sons (the "heir and the spare") were brought up as Anglicans, the three daughters as Roman Catholics. In 1978 domestic calm was shattered when Lord Cranborne's brother Richard was killed by guerrillas while filming in Rhodesia. The family were strong supporters of the white settlers - the name of the country's capital, Salisbury (after the 3rd Marquess), giving away the connection. Robert went to Africa to try to find out how his brother died. His brother's death seems only to have reinforced his public support for the whites. During the 1980s he helped organise a secret meeting between Ian Smith and Tory MPs, and backed sporting links with apartheid South Africa. For a decade Lord Cranborne had a habit of turning up in war zones, places he found intriguing, according to friends, because of his fascination with military history. Often visits were combined with business trips. He is thought to have done well financially during the 1970s although, as one observer remarks, "it's almost impossible to know with that family who's inherited and who's made money". Friends see him as a sort of 19th- century Romantic figure, popping up in support of the mujahedin's opposition to Soviet expansionism or to back Polish dissidents... Ironically, for someone now seen as a champion of the right, he did not prosper under Margaret Thatcher, perhaps because his Toryism is of a more "trad right" hue... But eight years in the Commons had not been wasted. For one thing Lord Cranborne had become good friends with a Conservative MP of more humble origins who was to go on to become the Prime Minister [John Major]... Mr Major joined later in the 1979 parliament and got on well with Lord Cranborne who, far from patronising the young MP, invited him to Cranborne for the weekend... Inviting Lord Cranborne to his Downing Street flat, Mr Major has more than once apologised for bringing a man used to inhabiting the great houses of England to such humble surroundings. When John Major won the last election he speeded Lord Cranborne into the House of Lords and, after a mere two years as a defence minister in the Lords (salvaging the VE-Day span-fritters fiasco), he was catapulted into the Cabinet with a direct line to the premier. Mr Major relies on him for advice, knowing that, unlike most of the other ministers around him, Lord Cranborne, who will never be party leader, is not a threat. He has thrown himself with enthusiasm into the job of leading the Lords... Meanwhile, his political salon at Cranborne Manor, and in London, attracts many of the most colourful right-wing thinkers, with a sprinkling of hard-line Unionists from the organisation he helped to found, the Friends of the Union... He is a fierce Eurosceptic, who, despite speaking excellent French, sincerely prefers Dorset to the Dordogne. Yet he has not actively engaged with the parliamentary sceptics... He practises politics only in the rather detached manner of someone who knows that his historical duties have been fulfilled and that he can always return to cultivate a rather substantial garden. "His agenda," says a close friend, "is rather different from the normal one. It looks 100 years ahead.""
When the new Prime Minister Tony Blair proposed the removal of the hereditary element in the House of Lords, Lord Cranborne negotiated a pact with the government to retain a small number (later set at ninety-two) of hereditary peers for the interim period. For the sake of form this amendment was formally proposed by Lord Weatherill, Convenor of the Cross-Bench Peers. However, Lord Cranborne gave his party's approval without consulting the Leader, William Hague (invited to Le Cercle), who knew nothing and was embarrassed when Blair told him of it in the House of Commons. Hague then sacked Lord Cranborne, who accepted his error, saying that he had "rushed in, like an ill-trained spaniel".
All former Leaders of the House of Lords who were hereditary peers accepted Life Peerages to keep them in the House in 1999. Lord Cranborne, who had received the life Barony of Gascoyne-Cecil, remained active on the backbenches, until the House adopted new rules for declaration of financial interests which he believed were too problematic.
Cranborne is known to have attended meetings of Le Cercle in the 1990s and 2000. Very good friend of Cercle chairman Julian Amery. Took 'Leave of Absence' on November 1, 2001. Therefore out of the House when he succeeded his father as 7th Marquess on July 11, 2003. Good friend of Lord Lamont, the Rothschild employee and Cercle chair. Member of the Other Club, together with the Duke of Devonshire (Cavendish), Lord Carrington (Pilgrims Society president), Lord Rothschild, Lord Rees-Mogg, Prince Charles, Lord Richardson of Duntisbourne (major Pilgrims Society member), Lord Julian Amery (Cercle head), Paul Channon (Le Cercle), Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Sir Edward Heath, Sir Denis Thatcher, and Winston S. Churchill (grandson of). Member of the Grillion's Club, together with the Duke of Norfolk (Howard), the Duke of Devonshire (Cavendish), the Earl of Perth (Drummond), Lord Carrington, Lord Richardson of Duntisbourne, Nicholas Baring (vice chair Baring Brothers until 1989) and John Major. Like his father and a number of ancestors, a member of the Roxburghe Club, together with the several generations of the Dukes of Norfolk, the Dukes of Devonshire, the Earls of Perth, the Rothschilds, Oppenheimers, Lord Rees-Mogg, and formerly Paul Mellon.
His uncle and namesake was chairman of the Supreme Economic Council of the Versailles Peace Treaty, member of the Pilgrims Society, first chairman of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, and a principal draftsmen of the League of Nations Covenant in 1919. The 3rd Marquess of Salisbury was possibly the most important founder of Quigley's Round Table. An older generation Robert Cecil, either the 1th Viscount of Chelwood or the 5th Marquess of Salisbury, is supposed to have said: "The Blood of Christ was replaced by the blood of the German war dead. From the Mayas to the Nazis, the shedding of blood to attract the attention of indifferent powers was the magic significance of human sacrifice. He would have sacrificed the happiness of the whole human race if ordered to do so by the mysterious Force whose commands he obeyed." This is very similar to what Lord Lothian said to the New York Pilgrims on the eve of WWII: "At bottom we are fighting a defensive war. We are trying to prevent the hordes of paganism and barbarism destroying what is left of civilized Europe." It is also similar to what Fritz Kramer supposedly said according to his son: "[He] publicly denounced Hitler's National Socialists as barbarian pagans and their communist rivals as proletarian thugs. He sometimes carried his small German imperial flag with its Christian cross of Malta into their street demonstrations..."
Member of the very powerful Cecil family that has produced numerous members of the Order of Garter and the Privy Council, starting with Sir William Cecil in the 1500s. They intermarried with elite blue blood families as de Vere, Arundel, Plantagenet, and Cavendish. Sir William Cecil was a student of John Dee, the official founder of Enochian Magic. The family forged links with the Republic of Venice around 1600 and built Hatfield House, which still is the family's residence, in 1607. William Cecil and his protege Sir Francis Walsingham devised an intricate spy network during the latter years of Elizabeth I's reign that succeeded in uncovering numerous Catholic plots against the monarch. Some people of that time have stated Cecil himself was a plotter behind these assassinations. Sir William Cecil’s daughter, Anne, married Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford and a member of what was quite possibly the bluest of blue blood families in existence. De Vere had worked for William Cecil and the throne since a young age and was later rumored to have written the works of Shakespeare. Lady Diana Cecil married the 18th Earl of Oxford.
This Pilgrim was the third son of (his namesake) Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, who was a member of the Order of the Garter and the Privy Council. The 3rd Marquess of Salisbury was the Chancellor of Oxford University from 1869 to 1903, a fellow of All Souls, and a British prime minister for 14 years. Carroll Quigley described the Rhodes Secret Society and the Milner Group as having evolved from the 3rd Marquess' "Cecil Bloc". The 3rd Marquess grew to like Benjamin Disraeli, who he had previously been distrusted as a Jew. Disraeli eventually became a housefriend of the family and was invested into the Order of the Garter. Baron Lionel de Rothschild was another close friend of Disraeli. One of Cecil's sisters was the mother of Arthur J. Balfour (wrote a letter to Lionel de Rothschild in November 1917 declaring that the British government stood behind Zionist plans to build a Jewish national home in Palestine) and Gerald W. Balfour. Even today, the Hatfield House is the Hertfordshire home of the family, built between 1609 and 1611 by the1st Earl of Salisbury; a Privy Councillor and Knight of the Garter who was the Chief Minister to James I.
The 5th Marquess of Salisbury (KG; PC; married into Cavendish family) was president of the Conservative Monday Club from 1961 to 1972. This was the center of the pro-colonial movement in Britain, which even prepared for a coup against the "KGB-infiltrated" Labour government of Harold Wilson in the 1970s. General Walter Walker and later Cercle chairman Julian Amery were among the members of this club. His son, the 6th Marquess of Salisbury, took over the Conservative Monday Club in 1974 and ran it until 1981. September 13, 1965, The Times, letter of the 5th Marquess of Salisbury, 'Government in Rhodesia - Arguments against majority rule': "[Churchmen] fall into the all too common error of assuming that the only form of Government compatible with the Christian way of life is majority rule. Actually, at any rate, in the case of primitive peoples, that has, I believe, never been so: nor, judging by our experience with other African states which have recently gained their independence, is it so now. Democracy is the most difficult of all sytems to work. It requires the highest degree of civilization. Can anyone who knows Rhodesia say that the average African in that country is ready for it yet? It could no doubt be argued - though I am sure that the signatories of the letter would not use such an argument - that majority rule is more important than the Christian way of life. But do they really expect anyone who has personal experience of Rhodesia to believe that the people of that country, whether white or black, would benefit either spiritually or materially by the introduction of majority rule at the present time?"
Lord Cranborne and later 7th Marquess of Salisbury. Born in 1946. Attended Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford and became a merchant banker before going to work on the family estates. He began using Robert as his preferred Christian name from his 21st birthday. In 1970, aged 23, he married Hannah Stirling, niece of Lt Col David Stirling. Stirling was the co-founder of the SAS, founder of GB 75 (seemingly a short-lived psyop in 1974), worked with MI6 at times, ran Television International Enterprises which ran a security service for overseas heads of state, was gold stick to the queen, and headed Operation Lock, a pro-apartheid assassination program in Southern Africa.
Cecil was selected, unexpectedly, as Conservative candidate for South Dorset in 1976, where his family owned lands, despite the presence of several former MPs on the shortlist. He spoke at the 1978 Conservative Party conference to oppose sanctions on Rhodesia, which had broken off from England illegally to maintain its fascist white-minority regime. He won the seat in the 1979 general election, the seventh consecutive generation of his family to sit in the Commons, and in his first speech urged Ian Smith to stand aside in favour of Abel Muzorewa. He attracted a general reputation as a right-winger, especially on matters affecting the Church of England. Member of the Other Club since 1981, together with the Duke of Devonshire (Cavendish), Lord Carrington (Pilgrims Society president), Lord Richardson of Duntisbourne (major Pilgrims Society member), Lord Julian Amery (former head Le Cercle), Lord Rothschild, Lord Rees-Mogg, Prince Charles, Paul Channon (Le Cercle), Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Sir Edward Heath, Sir Denis Thatcher, Winston S. Churchill (grandson of), and several dozen others.
Took an interest in Northern Ireland, and when Jim Prior announced his policy of 'Rolling Devolution', resigned an unpaid job as assistant to Douglas Hurd. Lord Cranborne became known as an anti-communist through activities in support of Afghan refugees in Pakistan in the early 1980s, and sending food parcels to Poland (a joint operation of the Vatican, Opus Dei, SMOM and the CIA). He was involved in efforts to fund the Afghan resistance. His strong opposition to any involvement by the Republic of Ireland in Northern Ireland led him to oppose the Anglo-Irish Agreement and contributed to his decision to retire from Parliament in 1987. However, he had made a useful friendship with John Major while in Parliament. After the 1992 general election, Major utilised a rarely-used process known as a writ of acceleration, to call Lord Cranborne up to the House of Lords in one of his father's junior baronies. Lord Cranborne was summoned as Baron Cecil of Essendon (his father's most junior dignity), though continued to be known by his courtesy style of Viscount Cranborne. He served for two years as a junior Defence Minister before being appointed as Leader of the House of Lords. In 1994, he became a member of the Queen's Privy Council. When Major resigned to fight for re-election as Conservative Party Leader in July 1995, Lord Cranborne led his re-election campaign. He was recognised as one of the few members of the Cabinet who were personally loyal to Major, but continued to lead the Conservative Peers after Labour won the 1997 general election.
March 30, 1997, The Independent, 'Courtiers down the centuries; Profile Robert Cranborne' (Lord Cranborne at the time and confidante of Prime Minister John Major): "At least for a few weeks more, a Cecil is in a position the family knows well: very close to the seat of power. It may be a slight exaggeration to say that he is running the government, but Lord Cranborne, Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the Lords, is spending the election as chief of staff at No 10 Downing Street. The peer, who has emerged as something of an icon to the Conservative right, is not only the link between Central Office and No 10, but has day-to-day responsibility for the latter... As one (well-bred) Tory puts it: "Robert has a remarkably close relationship with the Prime Minister. He is an engaging figure with considerable charm. People rather like glimpsing into his solid, English, aristo world of which they are not a part. They find it rather intoxicating. The truth is that they all fall for the toffs - even Thatcher fell for Ridley."... After the Guards it was the City and in 1970 he married, causing a family crisis because his bride, Hannah Stirling (daughter [actually niece] of the founder of the SAS), was a Roman Catholic. The Cecils take the defence of Protestantism and the Church of England seriously and Robert's mother, Mollie, took time to be reconciled. A compromise was reached and the two sons (the "heir and the spare") were brought up as Anglicans, the three daughters as Roman Catholics. In 1978 domestic calm was shattered when Lord Cranborne's brother Richard was killed by guerrillas while filming in Rhodesia. The family were strong supporters of the white settlers - the name of the country's capital, Salisbury (after the 3rd Marquess), giving away the connection. Robert went to Africa to try to find out how his brother died. His brother's death seems only to have reinforced his public support for the whites. During the 1980s he helped organise a secret meeting between Ian Smith and Tory MPs, and backed sporting links with apartheid South Africa. For a decade Lord Cranborne had a habit of turning up in war zones, places he found intriguing, according to friends, because of his fascination with military history. Often visits were combined with business trips. He is thought to have done well financially during the 1970s although, as one observer remarks, "it's almost impossible to know with that family who's inherited and who's made money". Friends see him as a sort of 19th- century Romantic figure, popping up in support of the mujahedin's opposition to Soviet expansionism or to back Polish dissidents... Ironically, for someone now seen as a champion of the right, he did not prosper under Margaret Thatcher, perhaps because his Toryism is of a more "trad right" hue... But eight years in the Commons had not been wasted. For one thing Lord Cranborne had become good friends with a Conservative MP of more humble origins who was to go on to become the Prime Minister [John Major]... Mr Major joined later in the 1979 parliament and got on well with Lord Cranborne who, far from patronising the young MP, invited him to Cranborne for the weekend... Inviting Lord Cranborne to his Downing Street flat, Mr Major has more than once apologised for bringing a man used to inhabiting the great houses of England to such humble surroundings. When John Major won the last election he speeded Lord Cranborne into the House of Lords and, after a mere two years as a defence minister in the Lords (salvaging the VE-Day span-fritters fiasco), he was catapulted into the Cabinet with a direct line to the premier. Mr Major relies on him for advice, knowing that, unlike most of the other ministers around him, Lord Cranborne, who will never be party leader, is not a threat. He has thrown himself with enthusiasm into the job of leading the Lords... Meanwhile, his political salon at Cranborne Manor, and in London, attracts many of the most colourful right-wing thinkers, with a sprinkling of hard-line Unionists from the organisation he helped to found, the Friends of the Union... He is a fierce Eurosceptic, who, despite speaking excellent French, sincerely prefers Dorset to the Dordogne. Yet he has not actively engaged with the parliamentary sceptics... He practises politics only in the rather detached manner of someone who knows that his historical duties have been fulfilled and that he can always return to cultivate a rather substantial garden. "His agenda," says a close friend, "is rather different from the normal one. It looks 100 years ahead.""
When the new Prime Minister Tony Blair proposed the removal of the hereditary element in the House of Lords, Lord Cranborne negotiated a pact with the government to retain a small number (later set at ninety-two) of hereditary peers for the interim period. For the sake of form this amendment was formally proposed by Lord Weatherill, Convenor of the Cross-Bench Peers. However, Lord Cranborne gave his party's approval without consulting the Leader, William Hague (invited to Le Cercle), who knew nothing and was embarrassed when Blair told him of it in the House of Commons. Hague then sacked Lord Cranborne, who accepted his error, saying that he had "rushed in, like an ill-trained spaniel".
All former Leaders of the House of Lords who were hereditary peers accepted Life Peerages to keep them in the House in 1999. Lord Cranborne, who had received the life Barony of Gascoyne-Cecil, remained active on the backbenches, until the House adopted new rules for declaration of financial interests which he believed were too problematic.
Cranborne is known to have attended meetings of Le Cercle in the 1990s and 2000. Very good friend of Cercle chairman Julian Amery. Took 'Leave of Absence' on November 1, 2001. Therefore out of the House when he succeeded his father as 7th Marquess on July 11, 2003. Good friend of Lord Lamont, the Rothschild employee and Cercle chair. Member of the Other Club, together with the Duke of Devonshire (Cavendish), Lord Carrington (Pilgrims Society president), Lord Rothschild, Lord Rees-Mogg, Prince Charles, Lord Richardson of Duntisbourne (major Pilgrims Society member), Lord Julian Amery (Cercle head), Paul Channon (Le Cercle), Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Sir Edward Heath, Sir Denis Thatcher, and Winston S. Churchill (grandson of). Member of the Grillion's Club, together with the Duke of Norfolk (Howard), the Duke of Devonshire (Cavendish), the Earl of Perth (Drummond), Lord Carrington, Lord Richardson of Duntisbourne, Nicholas Baring (vice chair Baring Brothers until 1989) and John Major. Like his father and a number of ancestors, a member of the Roxburghe Club, together with the several generations of the Dukes of Norfolk, the Dukes of Devonshire, the Earls of Perth, the Rothschilds, Oppenheimers, Lord Rees-Mogg, and formerly Paul Mellon.
His uncle and namesake was chairman of the Supreme Economic Council of the Versailles Peace Treaty, member of the Pilgrims Society, first chairman of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, and a principal draftsmen of the League of Nations Covenant in 1919. The 3rd Marquess of Salisbury was possibly the most important founder of Quigley's Round Table. An older generation Robert Cecil, either the 1th Viscount of Chelwood or the 5th Marquess of Salisbury, is supposed to have said: "The Blood of Christ was replaced by the blood of the German war dead. From the Mayas to the Nazis, the shedding of blood to attract the attention of indifferent powers was the magic significance of human sacrifice. He would have sacrificed the happiness of the whole human race if ordered to do so by the mysterious Force whose commands he obeyed." This is very similar to what Lord Lothian said to the New York Pilgrims on the eve of WWII: "At bottom we are fighting a defensive war. We are trying to prevent the hordes of paganism and barbarism destroying what is left of civilized Europe." It is also similar to what Fritz Kramer supposedly said according to his son: "[He] publicly denounced Hitler's National Socialists as barbarian pagans and their communist rivals as proletarian thugs. He sometimes carried his small German imperial flag with its Christian cross of Malta into their street demonstrations..."
![[Image: sailsbury_2235775b.jpg]](http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02235/sailsbury_2235775b.jpg)