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Magic circle (act. 1963), was a phrase used by the Conservative politician Iain Macleod in an article in The Spectator on 17 January 1964 about the tory leadership contest of October 1963. By referring to a 'magic circle' Macleod sought to draw attention to a coterie of nine men from the party's élite whom he thought responsible (and, in his opinion, against the majority wishes of the cabinet) for the selection of Alec Douglas-Home, fourteenth earl of Home, as the successor to Harold Macmillan as party leader and prime minister. At the time of the selection, which becam