Momentum: The Struggle for Peace, Politics and the People (Hardcover)

It's a rare British politician who is as popular with the British public as Mo Mowlam. As Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in the first Labour parliament under Tony Blair, she advanced the peace process towards the Good Friday Agreement unlike few of her predecessors--until she was unceremoniously shifted to a low-key role in the Cabinet office, amid accusations (from Unionists and fellow ministers) that she'd become "too close" to Sinn Fein (Mowlam's blistering passages on these events make for riveting reading).

Her personal demeanour always seemed the antithesis of the duplicity of most politicians (of both the Left and Right) and won her a reputation for unflinching honesty--a quality all too evident here (although it has to be said that many politicians--and not just the enemies identified in this book--have accused her of sour grapes, and have pointed out that the "Saint Mo" image is not the whole truth). But as Momentum makes clear, Mowlam is too clear-sighted a politician to see herself as a saint (her sense of the ridiculous would quickly torpedo such an idea), and while her attacks here on ex-colleagues whom she considered undermined her career are anger filled, they still retain a dispassionate quality that makes for more than simple score-settling. This is a book that may make uncomfortable reading for the government; for the rest of us, it's a wonderfully candid and revealing memoir. --Barry Forshaw

Review
Few contemporary pols have captured the hearts of the British public in the way Mo Mowlam has. Her role in Northern Ireland in Blair's first parliament was widely praised, and her ability to go into prisons and share a ciggie with men reviled by the British establishment drew sharp criticism yet helped immeasurably toward the Good Friday Agreement. For Mo's style was light years away from that of every other politician who'd ever been sent to the Province and who regarded it as a political Siberia: she actually wanted the job - which made her removal from it all the more unjust. Her account of her years in government, during which she battled with her health, is a refreshingly candid portrait of British politics told with warmth and humour by a woman content merely to be honest rather than grind axes.

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• Books > Biography > Political > Political Leaders & Leadership
• Books > Biography > Women
• Books > History > Political History > Politicians

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