- Hardcover: 400 pages
- Publisher: Fourth Estate; illustrated edition edition (4 Mar 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1841152447
- ISBN-13: 978-1841152448
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.5 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 254,078 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| |||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Praise for Paul Routledge:
On GORDON BROWN: THE BIOGRAPHY: ‘This book threatens to do for the Labour government what Diana: Her True Story did for the Royal Family.’ THE GUARDIAN
On JOHN HUME: ‘A brilliant biography’ Grey Gowrie
On MANDY: ‘This is sensitive contemporary history, catching every rustle among the leaves.’ SPECTATOR
On SCARGILL: Absorbing. Fascinating. This is an unputdownable story.’ Paul Barker, THE TIMES
Product Description
The first biography of Airey Neave, Colditz escapee, MI6 officer, mastermind of Margaret Thatcher’s leadership campaign and on the verge of being her first Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he was brutally murdered in the palace of Westminster by the INLA.
Neave’s sensational escape and his equally sensational death are the extent of most people’s knowledge and appreciation of one of Britain’s most mysterious public figures. The two events, separated by thirty-five years are crucially linked: Neave joined a division of MI6 following his wartime bravery to advise other would-be escapees. He was also active in establishing the Gladio network with SOE. Soon after the war, and after working as a prosecutor at the Nurenburg trials, he successfully entered Parliament as Conservative MP for Abingdon, where he sat until his death. Overlooked by Macmillan and Heath for high office, ostensibly on health grounds, Neave pursued a public life of a very unusual kind: he became conspicuously inconspicuous, operating almost entirely outside the public gaze. During the early 1970s Neave was in contact with anti-Wilson plotters and by 1974 he was calling for Edward Heath’s resignation too, seeing weakness in the Tory leader’s capitulation to the miners. Thatcher was his crusading angel and he ran a brilliant leadership campaign, fooling more experienced candidates into complacency and securing Thatcher’s triumph. She offered him any job in her Cabinet in return. Inexplicably to most he chose Northern Ireland and had prepared the most confrontational and explicitly belligerent strategy ever seen there. A matter of weeks before Thatcher’s General Election victory began eighteen years of Conservative government, Neave’s extraordinary life of intrigue and scheming was ended by a plot he had not foreseen.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book covers in depth 4 aspects of Airey Neave:
· His celebrated escapes from Colditz Prisoner of War Camp
· His role as a lawyer at the Nuremberg Trials
· His spell as Margaret Thatcher's confidant and as an agent behind her rise.
· Repeated rumours that UK secret services somehow colluded with his murder.
I read the book primarily out of interest in the latter two topics. But I got no clear answers on either. Either the man was mysterious beyond investigation. Or there has been some exaggeration of his image as an MI6 kingpin who pulled secret strings in democratic politics, an image which this book repeatedly endorses.
As this book quotes, after Neave's murder, Thatcher declared: "I feel like a puppet whose strings have been cut." What had Neave been doing which could make her say a thing like that? That's what I wanted to know - and what part current MI6, MI5 or CIA officers were playing in this. Well, this book reveals nothing on this score. It keeps affirming that Neave covertly retained his wartime MI6 links but it never demonstrates what this could mean in practical terms. Its account of Neave's deceitful orchestration of Thatcher's campaign to oust Heath reveals nothing which isn't common garden politician deceit and ruthlessness.
The book paints a consistent picture of Neave as a pedestrian, unimaginative, low energy, rather wooden politician, who gravitated towards rigid, cliché-ridden, traditional Unionist positions as Tory spokesman on Northern Ireland. He sounds like a nightmare for any conflict resolution role! What did Thatcher see in him? Must there have been more to him? Decide for yourself!
This book cites only a little evidence for Neave's continued covert role with MI6 and these anecdotes can equally make him sound like a former Intelligence insider, trying to get back in. Had he lived, via Thatcher he might have succeeded with this - big-time.
Re his murder, the author daringly interviews some INLA men involved in the plot. But nothing fresh of substance is learned. Various conspiracy theories are examined, though not that rigourously, and no conclusions emerge. The author seems surprisingly vague about the different arms of British Intelligence in Northern Ireland and the important tensions between them. While he repeatedly quotes from Dorril & Ramsay's `Smear! Wilson and the Secret State'[ASIN:0586217134 Smear!: Wilson and the Secret State], he doesn't seem to have absorbed their strong messages on this subject. However, re Airey Neave's murder, this book does make informative comments on reprisal murders of far Left Irish politicians.
The book is an easy read. The early bits about the famous escapes from Colditz are quite pacy. (Reading between the lines, it was Neave's accomplices who made all the bright decisions for him. Even here, it's hard to see how he got his reputation.) But, concerning my key questions, I'm none the wiser.
· His celebrated escapes from Colditz Prisoner of War Camp
· His role as a lawyer at the Nuremberg Trials
· His spell as Margaret Thatcher's confidant and as an agent behind her rise.
· Repeated rumours that UK secret services somehow colluded with his murder.
I read the book primarily out of interest in the latter two topics. But I got no clear answers on either. Either the man was mysterious beyond investigation. Or there has been some exaggeration of his image as an MI6 kingpin who pulled secret strings in democratic politics, an image which this book repeatedly endorses.
As this book quotes, after Neave's murder, Thatcher declared: "I feel like a puppet whose strings have been cut." What had Neave been doing which could make her say a thing like that? That's what I wanted to know - and what part current MI6, MI5 or CIA officers were playing in this. Well, this book reveals nothing on this score. It keeps affirming that Neave covertly retained his wartime MI6 links but it never demonstrates what this could mean in practical terms. Its account of Neave's deceitful orchestration of Thatcher's campaign to oust Heath reveals nothing which isn't common garden politician deceit and ruthlessness.
The book paints a consistent picture of Neave as a pedestrian, unimaginative, low energy, rather wooden politician, who gravitated towards rigid, cliché-ridden, traditional Unionist positions as Tory spokesman on Northern Ireland. He sounds like a nightmare for any conflict resolution role! What did Thatcher see in him? Must there have been more to him? Decide for yourself!
This book cites only a little evidence for Neave's continued covert role with MI6 and these anecdotes can equally make him sound like a former Intelligence insider, trying to get back in. Had he lived, via Thatcher he might have succeeded with this - big-time.
Re his murder, the author daringly interviews some INLA men involved in the plot. But nothing fresh of substance is learned. Various conspiracy theories are examined, though not that rigourously, and no conclusions emerge. The author seems surprisingly vague about the different arms of British Intelligence in Northern Ireland and the important tensions between them. While he repeatedly quotes from Dorril & Ramsay's `Smear! Wilson and the Secret State'[ASIN:0586217134 Smear!: Wilson and the Secret State], he doesn't seem to have absorbed their strong messages on this subject. However, re Airey Neave's murder, this book does make informative comments on reprisal murders of far Left Irish politicians.
The book is an easy read. The early bits about the famous escapes from Colditz are quite pacy. (Reading between the lines, it was Neave's accomplices who made all the bright decisions for him. Even here, it's hard to see how he got his reputation.) But, concerning my key questions, I'm none the wiser.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have just finished reading this remarkable account of the life and death of Airey Neave. I was aware of the amazing Mr Neave through his service to the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials but I did not know much about him. This book has definitely remedied this.
The book is comprehensive, easy to read and obviously well researched. His life is interesting and you realise as you read the book how much of an impact he made "behind the lines" both as a military man/spy/politician. The book is fast paced and keeps your interest in the subject. However, it does suffer a little with all the half truths of the conspiracy theories surrounding his death, and who were the organising forces behind it, but overall it is well worth a read.
The thing that struck me most about Airey Neave was his patriotism and his devotion to Queen and Country. Although not a lot is mentioned about his family (they did not consent to the biography) you get the impression he was happy as a family man and devoted to his wife.
This man was an incredible character, patriotic, brave and ruthless. His passion for his job and the fact that he was never very far away from his beloved security services all his life make this man well worth reading about. I would recommend this book and congratulate Paul Routledge on a job well done
The book is comprehensive, easy to read and obviously well researched. His life is interesting and you realise as you read the book how much of an impact he made "behind the lines" both as a military man/spy/politician. The book is fast paced and keeps your interest in the subject. However, it does suffer a little with all the half truths of the conspiracy theories surrounding his death, and who were the organising forces behind it, but overall it is well worth a read.
The thing that struck me most about Airey Neave was his patriotism and his devotion to Queen and Country. Although not a lot is mentioned about his family (they did not consent to the biography) you get the impression he was happy as a family man and devoted to his wife.
This man was an incredible character, patriotic, brave and ruthless. His passion for his job and the fact that he was never very far away from his beloved security services all his life make this man well worth reading about. I would recommend this book and congratulate Paul Routledge on a job well done
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a very good book. Routledge has managed to avoid the mistakes of two of his previous biographies (the ones on Madelson and on Gordon Brown) the former of which was filled with vitriol. He has produced an interesting, readable, and balanced acount of the life of Airey Neave.
Neave turns out to be an interesting charector, officer at the Nurenberg Trials, escapee from Colditz, secret intelligence officer during WW2. He seems never to have been able to leave his Secret Service background, nor ever wishing to it would seem. Being involved with the leadership election which brought Margaret Thatcher to the leadership of the Conservative power. His life was cut short by an INLA Bomb in the precincts of Parliament.
One criticism of Routledge must be that he gets caught up with the idea that there were right-wing groups involving former Military personnel, Secret Service members and right-wing citizens hoping to form a militia to overthrow the Wilson Government. Whilst this is a fascinating subject, it bears little relation to objective reality, and does pander to those interested in conspiracy theories. On the whole though this is a very well written book.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Was this review helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Biography > Historical > 1501-1700
- Books > Biography > Historical > Britain > Military
- Books > Biography > Historical > Britain > Tudors & Stuarts: 1501-1700
- Books > Biography > Historical > Countries & Regions > Europe
- Books > Biography > Political > Britain
- Books > History > Britain & Ireland > Post-war Period, 1946-Present
- Books > History > Political History > Politicians
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Government & Politics > Countries & Regions > Europe
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
