by Chris Mullin
|
by Gyles Brandreth
|
by Gyles Brandreth
|
by Alan Clark
|
by Edwina Currie
|
|
Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested in These Sponsored Links(What is this?) |
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
It has, for no especially good reason, been the convention that Government Whips not publish their memoirs, let alone their diaries. Gyles Brandreth's account of his five years in Parliament, and of his time as a Whip in the dying days of the Major Government, trashes that convention to give a memorable and entertaining account of days of drift and uncertainty. Brandreth has a good ear, and a sense of his own absurdity; he was placed to see disorganisation and disloyalty from close at hand, and is touching in his admiration for Major himself, whom he sees as a nice and able man with an impossible task. There are entertaining stories--some of them new; there is vitriol poured impartially on the press, Labour politicians and Tory disloyalists; and there are moments of charm in his tributes to his wife and dead friends like Simon Cadell and Stephen Milligan. The book also provides answers to the difficult questions of what private secretaries and Whips actually do--in Brandreth's case, the answer seems to be endless damage control in a doomed situation. There is an odd telling moment when he finds Peter Mandelson asleep in the Commons library with a Filofax on the table beside him--and virtuously abstains from peeking. --Roz Kaveney
Product Description
Like Alan Clark's Diaries, Brandreth's are not offering a formal account of Government in the 1990s - far from it. These diaries start in 1990 when Brandreth, after a multifarious career in theatre, television and publishing, decided that he wanted to become a Tory MP. The diaries open with his application to get on the Candidates' List, finding a seat (Chester), the 1992 General Election, and his arrival at Westminster as a 'new boy'. All good diaries need set pieces, and Brandreth provides several, in particular working as a Tory Whip when the Tory majority was steadily in decline and every vote counted. No one has ever told the inside story of the Whips' Office because there has been an unwritten rule that what goes on inside remains confidential forever after, but Bradnreth's diaries will break with tradition. There is an all-star cast (Princess Diana to Bill Clinton, Joanna Lumley to John Profumo), plenty of gossip and some intriguing scenes such as sharing dinner with Richard Nixon and Jonathan Aitken, being set up with a prostitute by the News of the World, and falling backwards into the Prime Minister's secret loo in the middle of midnight talks on the future of Northern Ireland. The political cast inevitably includes Jeffrey Archer, Norman Lamont and Neil Hamilton among others. As the publishers of Chips Channon, Nicholas Henderson and Alan Clark it is vital that any political diaries we publish should stand comparison. Brandreth may be a lighter-weight politician but his diaries genuinely reflect life in the last Tory Government of this century. They are also great fun.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
I spoke, not very well, at the London Playing Fields Society Centenary Dinner at the Savoy. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
I spoke, not very well, at the London Playing Fields Society Centenary Dinner at the Savoy. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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)
|
What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?
 |
83% buy the item featured on this page: Breaking the Code: Westminster Diaries, 1992-97 |
 |
8% buy Something Sensational to Read in the Train£12.50 |
 |
4% buy Brief Encounters: Meetings with Remarkable People |
 |
3% buy Oscar Wilde and the Ring of Death (Oscar Wilde Mysteries 2) £6.37 |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
|||||||||||||||||
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Biography > Historical > Britain > Military
- Books > Biography > Historical > Countries & Regions > Europe
- Books > Biography > Political > Britain
- Books > History > Britain & Ireland
- Books > History > Cultural History > London
- 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.
Your Recent History
(What's this?)|
After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. |
