Walden, George 1939–

(George Gordon Harvey Walden)

PERSONAL: Born September 15, 1939, in Petworth, England; son of G.G. and Louise (a seward) Walden; married Sarah Nicolette Hunt, 1970; children: three. Ethnicity: "Scot/English." Education: Attended Jesus College, Cambridge, 1959–61; graduate study at University of Moscow and University of Hong Kong, between 1965 and 1967; attended École Nationale d'Administration, Paris, France, 1973–74. Hobbies and other interests: Art, literature.

ADDRESSES: Agent—Rogers, Coleridge & White Ltd., 20 Powis Mews, London W11 1JN, England.

CAREER: British Foreign Office (now British Foreign and Commonwealth Office), London, worked in research department for Russia, 1962–65; Office of Her Majesty's Charge d'Affaires, Peking, China, second secretary, 1967–70; British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, first secretary at Soviet desk, 1970–73; British Embassy, Paris, France, first secretary, 1974–78; British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, principal private secretary to foreign and commonwealth secretary, 1978–81, head of planning staff, 1982–83; retired, 1983; British Parliament, London, Conservative member of House of Commons for Buckingham, 1983–97; principal private secretary to British secretary of state for education and science, 1984–85; parliamentary under-secretary of state and minister of education, 1985–87. Booker Prize, chair of judges, 1995. Harvard University, visitor, 1981. Chairman of the Russian Booker Prize for Fiction.

AWARDS, HONORS: Decorated companion, Order of St. Michael and St. George, 1981.

WRITINGS:

The Shoeblack and the Sovereign: Reflections on Ethics and Foreign Policy, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1988, published as Ethics and Foreign Policy, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1990.

We Should Know Better: Solving the Education Crisis, Fourth Estate (London, England), 1996.

Lucky George: Memoirs of an Anti-Politician, Allen Lane/Penguin Press (London, England), 1999.

The New Elites: Making a Career in the Masses, Penguin (London, England), 2000.

Who's a Dandy?, Gibson Square Books (London, England), 2003.

God Won't Save America, Gibson Square Books (London, England), 2006.

Time to Emigrate?, Gibson Square (London, England), 2007.

Columnist, Evening Standard, 1991–.

SIDELIGHTS: George Walden, a British career diplomat and, later, member of Parliament, initially wrote about politics and foreign affairs. His estrangement from that milieu became increasingly apparent through his output, and eventually he left the Conservative Party.

In Walden's first book, The Shoeblack and the Sovereign: Reflections on Ethics and Foreign Policy, one can sense the incipient disillusionment that eventually led to the 1997 resignation of his seat in the House of Commons. Walden draws both the title and a central argument of the book from Thomas Carlyle's History of the French Revolution: the idea that all members of society, from sovereign to shoeblack, are responsible on some level for the condition of their society. Walden pursues his thesis in terms of the application of ethics to the great questions facing governments, including foreign arms sales, foreign aid, immigration policy, and nuclear arms. Peter Grose, in the New York Times Book Review, described the work as "less a guide to action than a new look at old thoughts, from a fresh, down-to-earth perspective."

An outgrowth of Walden's tenure as minister of education from 1985 to 1987, We Should Know Better: Solving the Education Crisis is Walden's proffered solution to what he perceives as England's educational crisis. He lays blame for the situation on the chasm between the private and public school systems. According to Walden, the high quality of the private schools draws the small percentage of powerful people who can afford them, removing the need for these people to exercise their power over the public school system on behalf of their own children. In what Eric Anderson of the Times Literary Supplement called "some forcibly argued solutions," Walden suggests making most independent schools available to all (rather than destroying them), on a basis of admission by academic merit alone, and a pilot scheme was founded in Liverpool by the philanthropist Peter Lampl. Progressive methods have failed, maintains Walden, and teachers' pay should be raised. With his long political career, Walden is in a unique position to understand that improvement comes at a cost, but not an exorbitant one. In New Statesman, Colin McCabe pointed out that Walden's "sensible proposals cleverly balance educational against both political and economic arguments."

Lucky George: Memoirs of an Anti-Politician is Walden's first book since his retirement from politics. Walden is especially candid about his early life, which included poverty and flirtations with juvenile delinquency. His beginnings in diplomatic service took him to Peking, Russia, and Paris, and then to Harvard for a sabbatical year during which he began work on what would become The Shoeblack and the Sovereign. He served as principal private secretary to two foreign secretaries. Walden's narrative on this stretch of his career inspired admiration from Times Literary Supplement contributor Richard Davenport-Hines: "His diplomatic gossip is consistently discreet; but the analysis and digressions are often fascinating … enjoyable and incisive … graceful and convincing." On Margaret Thatcher, for example, Walden is "respectful but candid." Walden is also "wonderfully caustic" about the "rituals and rigamaroles" of the House of Commons. "Political disenchantment," said Davenport-Hines, "is so much more instructive than triumphalism." Walden's work tends to be instructive, no matter what his specific intent.

Walden once told CA: "My book The New Elites: Making a Career in the Masses is more about culture than politics, and will be the last touching on British social or political offices. Life is too short, and England too cramping."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Walden, George, Lucky George: Memoirs of an Anti-Politician, Allen Lane/Penguin Press (London, England), 1999.

PERIODICALS

London Review of Books, October 3, 1996, pp. 9-10.

New Statesman, September 13, 1996, Colin McCabe, review of We Should Know Better: Solving the Education Crisis, pp. 44-45.

New York Times Book Review, February 26, 1989, Peter Grose, review of The Shoeblack and the Sovereign: Reflections on Ethics and Foreign Policy, p. 27.

Publishers Weekly, October 14, 1988, review of The Shoeblack and the Sovereign, pp. 54-55.

Spectator, April 14, 1990, review of The Shoeblack and the Sovereign, p. 32.

Times Literary Supplement, October 25, 1996, Eric Anderson, review of We Should Know Better: Solving the Education Crisis, p. 29; May 14, 1999, Richard Davenport-Hines, review of Lucky George: Memoirs of an Anti-Politician, p. 27.

Virginia Quarterly Review, summer, 1989, review of The Shoeblack and the Sovereign, p. 95.