Victorian Britain had two players of colossal influence on the world stage: Lord Palmerston - the dominant figure in foreign affairs in the mid-nineteenth century - and The Times - the first global newspaper, read avidly by statesmen around the world. Palmerston was also one of the first real media-manipulating politicians of the modern age, forging close links with a number of publications to create the so-called ""Palmerston press."" His relationship with The Times, however, was turbulent and became a prolonged and bitter rivalry. For The Times, Palmerston was no more than ""a flippant...