- Paperback: 323 pages
- Publisher: Penguin; SPECIAL EDITION 1ST edition (2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0141026618
- ISBN-13: 978-0141026619
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,393,511 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Number Ten
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Product Description
Prime Minister Edward Clare and his wife Adele Floret-Clare live at Number 10 Downing Street. PC Jack Sprat is the policeman who stands outside on the door.
Five years ago, Edward Clare was voted into Number 10 after a landslide election result. But now, things are starting to go wrong. The love has gone. The people are turning. In short, it's a very real problem.
Edward worries about this. All he wants is for the people of Clare's Britain to like him, and for them to be happy. He enlists the help of Jack Sprat and together they travel round the country incognito, ending up at Jack's childhood home. His mother Norma lives in Leicester, and her address is Number 10 too, but that's where the similarity ends...
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First Sentence
He was still urinating when he heard the telephone ring in the hall downstairs. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
He was still urinating when he heard the telephone ring in the hall downstairs. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I've just read Number 10 by Sue Townsend. It was brilliant.
The PM, Edward Clare (not much concealment here) has lost touch with the people. He decides to go walkabout, incognito, in Britain, with that famous cop-at-the-front-of-number-10, who's called Jack. It's set in 2002. You'd think Sue Townsend was a mind reader: the book is well up to date even two years later, except that she thought He wouldn't invade Iraq. (She misjudged him.)
The PM, Edward Clare (not much concealment here) has lost touch with the people. He decides to go walkabout, incognito, in Britain, with that famous cop-at-the-front-of-number-10, who's called Jack. It's set in 2002. You'd think Sue Townsend was a mind reader: the book is well up to date even two years later, except that she thought He wouldn't invade Iraq. (She misjudged him.)
Clare and PC Jack go around Britain queing for buses and taxis, getting ripped off, visiting care homes, sink housing estates, and meeting deranged people of all descriptions.
Meanwhile, at Downing Street, Mrs Clare, the cleverest woman in Europe, goes mad without her husband and suggests that warts and amputated body parts deserve christian burial.
Also at Downing Street, Alex McPherson, Press Officer, is running news management and damage limitation and monitoring the PM's every move. Oh, and the PM is dressed as a woman and at once stage lands the lead part in an anti-establishment satirical play about a PM who's lost all his principles. .
Also at Downing Street, the Chancellor is helping the PM's son with his homework project - about Socialism.
Mrs Townsend does not like what New Labour has become, and you would soon know it. But it's laugh aloud funny.
My favourite bit: the PM's sister runs Kennels, £100 per dog per night. Being shown around, the visitors get to the dogs' quarters: Jack "..was astonished to find cubicles, carpets and soft lighting. Each dog had an outside run and a colour television; a few of them were watching Crossroads."
If your taste is for a bleak look at what New Labour has done (or not done) for Britain, this is your tome.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Without giving away too much, I think that the idea of politicians developing more empathy with the people over whose lives they have power is am extremely important one. I'm not sure if Sue Townsend meant to make a statement about the detachment of politicians but irrespective of this the book is very enjoyable and pretty funny in parts too. Worth a read.
76 of 86 people found the following review helpful
Format:Unknown Binding
This the latest from the pen of Sue Townsend deals with the adventure that Jack Sprat the white sheep of a family of criminals who ends up guarding the door at 10 Downing Street.
When the PM is embarrassed at PMQ's he decides he needs to be seen as a man of the people and decides to take on a visit around the UK-the only problem is he decides to do it in drag so Edward Clare -the PM becomes Edwina St Clare actress and Jack is dragged along for the ride.The characters including an ambitious Chancellor of the Exchequer the all powerful media fixer and a Mandelsonesque 'best friend' are all drawn probably too near the knuckle for some but in this the fun is guessing who is being described,my favourite being the PM's wife the 'cleverest woman in the world'
The tour which takes in Edinburgh via Leeds to the Cotswolds and ends up at Jacks mothers house in Leicester which has been turned into a crack den is a another winner the characters including some that would be very easy to recognise for anyone with a smidge of political knowledge are written well and Townsends unique comic insight and a healthy dose of left wing politics makes the book another winner in my book,the inadequicies of modern Britain are dealt with in an intelligent way and there are some genuine funny moments along with a touch or two of pathos .
All in all another page turner that well deserves some of your time.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Ideal for a journey by train or air.
This is an entertaining light read suitable for a journey by train or by air but I was disappointed in it after the Queen and I. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Mr. Neville S. Gay
slightly disturbing
I read this book after reading the Queen and I expecting another witty, if unbeleivable tale. What I found was something totally different. I found this book quite disturbing. Read more
Published on 17 Aug 2009 by Night Worker
Satire, drag and social comment
The celebrated satirist Sue Townsend has created this analogy about an entirely fictitious Prime Minister, Edward Clare, who, to get nearer to his people, dresses as a woman and... Read more
Published on 14 Oct 2008 by SilentSinger
Very disappointing
I usually very much enjoy the books by Sue Townsend and I was looking forward to reading this book that promised an interesting view on "high politician meets normal English life". Read more
Published on 5 Sep 2005
Number Ten, a very enjoyable book
I had never read and enjoyed a book before this one, I thought books were boring and a waste of time. This book has totally overturned my view. Read more
Published on 19 Feb 2005 by Jason Key
Number Ten
After Adrian Mole of course when you pick up a book by Sue Townsend you expect a masterpiece, unfortunately in picking up Number Ten, you get nowhere near this sort of... Read more
Published on 14 Dec 2004 by Rich Milligan
Sue Strikes Again!
This is a quality, solid novel from Townsend and I found myslef compelled to finish it within a matter of days. Read more
Published on 1 Jun 2004 by "slothling"
Number Ten
This book was a good read, it was a bit slow to start with but once it got going it was quite funny. Read more
Published on 13 May 2004 by "laminatedbaby"
Loved it!
I loved this book. It's relevant and very funny. A true proof that theBrits known how to humour their own kind.
Published on 20 April 2004
Disappointing
I had great hopes for this book - its a brilliant concept with enormous scope for a satirical take on the present-day disconnection between politicians and the general public. Read more
Published on 13 Feb 2004
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