'"I've got a theory about the political structure of England...I believe that fundamentally it's a matter of Cavalier and Roundhead still. The argument ended when the king's head came off; but the attitudes remain. I believe that the two opposing attitudes are still the main sources of all our political thought and behaviour. Sometimes the pull is one way, sometimes another; but between them they dictate our policies and legislation....
It isn't a question of one side being better than the other," he went on. "In the long run I dare say there's been just as much courage, honour and political genius demonstrated by the puritan-nonconformist-dogooder Roundheads as by the easy-going-laissez-faire-romantic Cavaliers. Allegiance cuts right across Party and class. There are Roundheads on my side of the House and Cavaliers in Labour; there are costermongers and tarts who are Cavaliers like you, and peers who are Roundheads. Both side produce rulers and both sides produce rebels. England wouldn't be what she is if she didn't draw her inspiration from both sources.'"
John Moore, The Waters Under the Earth, p.159.
