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A View From The Foothills
 
 
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A View From The Foothills [Kindle Edition]

Chris Mullin (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews) |
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Review

`The funniest, most revealing political diaries since Alan Clarke's 15 years ago... Gentle, self-deprecating humour, but no less sharp for that' - Daily Mail Summer Read
--Daily Mail Summer Read

`You could think of Mullin as an Alan Bennett of the Labour back-benches...' --Sam Leith, Daily Mail

`highly amusing' --David Steel, Herald

`Hilarious' --Stephen Robinson, Sunday Times

`the best political diaries for a decade' --Quentin Letts, The Lady

'For anyone who thinks that politicians are all in for themselves, Mullin's wise book is the antidote they need'
--Phil Collins, The Times

Book Description

Alan Clarke meets Yes Minister in this wry and self-deprecating diary about life in the New Labour Government from 1999 to 2007. Says Mullin, 'It is said that failed politicians make the best diarists. In which case I am in with a chance.'
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Chris Mullin
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
111 of 114 people found the following review helpful
Excellent! 19 Mar 2009
Format:Hardcover
I have to admit that my heart sank a little when this book arrived from Amazon, it's got a rather dull front cover and at 600 pages is something of a brick. Nevertheless, I had read a couple of good reviews in the papers so I thought I would give it a go...and three hours later I was still reading it. It's a truly engrossing account of ministerial life on the lowest rung of the ladder, Mullins upon being promoted to junior minister for transport and environment sets himself just three goals for the duration of his tenure: an end to night flights, greater regulation of leylandi hedges and cancelling his ministerial car. Two years later on leaving his post he reflects that he has failed on the first two counts, and merely reduced the ministerial bill (from £700 to £400 per week) for the third. In the intervening months he catalogues with almost daily despair his lack of any policy influence and how he is slowly ground down by the civil service machine.

There is a real gearchange in the diary after he returns to the back benches after tendering his resignation. It is clear that he finds a new enthusiasm once he escapes from the stifling Whitehall centralised control structures designed to ensure that everyone remains "on message", where every interview and TV appearance has to be approved and prepped to mirror exactly the party line. Now just a humble MP he finds himself with much greater influence through his select committee work.

The second part of the diary therefore progresses much more like a conventional political memoir. We get to hear at first hand government reaction to 911, the political infighting between Gordon and Tony, the divisions over first Afghanistan and then Iraq, the inside reactions to the scandals, the media hysteria, the sackings, the election triumphs. I found it an absolutely fascinating read. The greatest compliment you can pay a autobiography is that it makes you feel like you yourself are living that life. And this book achieved that feat. Want to be a government minister? Want to be an MP? Then read this book and live it through someone else's eyes.

A must read!
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50 of 54 people found the following review helpful
By Petrolhead VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover
A finely written diary, long in pages but short in reading time, which reveals more than Chris Mullin probably meant to about Tony Blair's New Labour government. Mullin is do-gooder of the old school and a bit of a grumpy old bloke, but very honest with it. His diary is an amazing through-his-eyes view of the end of the beginning, and the beginning of the end, of New Labour.

What's so amazing about it is that it's not an "insider account". Even though Mullin was a senior MP and a junior minister, he was not walking the corridors of power. Indeed, he seems to have been barely more informed than the average newspaper reader. His attempts to read the political tea-leaves and foresee what might happen - when Tony Blair might stand down, for example - are complete guesswork and frequently way off the mark. He seems to have been rather naive and he had absolutely no power. In fact, it reminded me of school, with Mullin and his friends excluded from (and fascinated by) a gang of cool kids they long to join. But good on him for telling it so honestly. This is not an airbrushed version of history.

Mullin might perhaps admit to being an idealist, although he has moments of misanthropy that are nice to see in a left-wing MP. He moans amusingly to his diary about the meaningless speeches he is asked to give and the media-handling, messages and photo-ops demanded by New Labour's spin doctors. A valiant fight, but in vain: he can do nothing about it.

I'm sure he would call himself a man of principle. Yet when it came to the ultimate test - over the final vote on going to war in Iraq, he wavered and very nearly went with Blair. Although Mullin eventually stuck to his guns, he was almost lured to support the case for war and one of his closest allies did cave in. Why? Because of pressure from the whips, who raised the terrible prospect of the government losing the vote. So, faced with a bit of partisanship, principle goes out the window. (Maybe it's me who's naive...)

So this book is a quirkily honest insight into what it's like to be an MP, written by a rather ordinary guy on the sidelines. Not a great politician, but a very good book.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The most readable, honest and funny political diaries I have read. An insight into the Blair years in which the latter is gently mocked but comes out of it better than might be expected (and I started with an anti-Blair prejudice). Mullin is good at self deprecation and takes no sides, other than to be very suspicious all along of Brown. But this book is not just about British politics. Other walk on parts are played by people as diverse as the Dalai Lama, the splendid Edna Adan of Somaliland, various people who found themselves falling foul of our immigration and assylum laws and practice, and not least, his family. He comes over as a very humane, decent, observant and believable source.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great gossipy book
I've come to this book late, in many ways though I think this book is essential reading if you even have a passing interest in the New Labour period. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Jeremy
A Great Doorstop?
A little late coming to this tome - I'd read quite a bit about Chris Mullin in the papers regarding his latest offering "A Walk On Part" and thought that as I am a fan of Yes... Read more
Published 7 months ago by J. M. Green
Capitalising on being a socialist...
Just finished the book tonight and couldn't wait to! (bit of a stickler for finishing indifferent books)
Let's face it... Read more
Published 8 months ago by pearldiver
The Honourable Member
A Member of Parliament has many allegiances: to his constituents, his constituency party, his national party, his parliamentary party - and to himself. Read more
Published 9 months ago by G. M. Sinstadt
An honourable, talented individual churned up in the New Labour...
Chris Mullin comes across in a way not seen in many political memoirs; his modesty and self-deprecation prove him to be a very honourable man. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Roo
An excellent book
This is an excellent book: well-written and interesting all the way through. I will now buy the other two volumes and hope they are equally good!
Published 9 months ago by Tanya Sutton
well written but highly irritating
This a book i can only dip in and out of . The reason is not the writing style but the sheer irritation I get when reading about this person's pathetic attempts to do any good in... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Mr. Philip Whalley
A good man in a bad job
I read this volume after first reading his later "Decline and Fall" 2005-10 diaries. Mullin is a leftie, and I am not, but he comes across as a decent human being, conscientiously... Read more
Published 13 months ago by SidneyD
Good book but, the kindle edition is full of errors.
I like reading books on my kindle, however, as with almost every book I have bought for it on Amazon, it is littered with errors. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Sonicrob
Unputdownable!
Most political diaries are self serving and generally rather dull. Mullin's has few of those characteristics. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Embers
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