Benjamin Disraeli served as the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister during two separate terms in the latter half of the 1800’s. Disraeli is best known for being England’s first and only Jewish prime minister (although he was baptized in the Anglican Church when he was 12). This oft-quoted, colorful man was known as a brilliant debater. His terms as PM were marked by bringing India and the Suez Canal under control of the crown. In return, the Queen gave him the title of Earl of Beaconfield. Once, in a heated debate in parliament, an adversary referred to Disraeli’s Jewish ancestry in disparaging terms to which Disraeli responded: “Yes, I am a Jew and when the ancestors of the right honourable gentleman were brutal savages in an unknown island, mine were priests in the temple of Solomon.”
