Window on Westminster A Canon’s Diary, 1976-1987

Trevor Beeson was a Canon of Westminster Abbey for nearly eleven years and for five of these was also Rector of St Margaret’s Westminster and Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons. The diary he kept during this time provides unique insights into the day-to-day workings of two world-famous churches and the Anglican Church’s involvement in Parliament. This book is full of surprises and not lacking in waspish comments on people and situations. He was at the Abbey for the funeral of Earl Mountbatten and the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of York, and was involved closely in many other national events. The Falklands War dominated his early weeks as Chaplain to Speaker George Thomas, who encouraged him to develop a wide-ranging ministry among the MPs and staff of the House of Commons. The diary also reveals how a priest who was deeply committed to reform and renewal in both church and society coped with the many compromises required in work at the heart of the ecclesiastical and political establishments. The facts and the tensions are compellingly revealed.