I’m not too sure that my great-great-great-grandfather James would have been too impressed by the way some leadership candidates are discussing the question of age. He and his brother John were active members of the Dalkeith Liberal Association during Gladstone‘s 1879 Midlothian campaign, when the grand old man was already 69. The Scotsman’s archive records John’s motion of thanks to Gladstone on February 4th, 1879.
As one of the leadership candidates seems a bit unsure of his Liberal Party history, it is perhaps worth mentioning that, following his success in Midlothian, Gladstone went on to be Prime Minister three more times: in 1880 (aged 70), 1886 (aged 76) and 1892 (aged 82).
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