Product Description

The gripping inside story of the complex and ambitious Chancellor of the Exchequer -- and Prime Minister in waiting. Gordon Brown's arrival at the Treasury in May 1997 was greeted with great excitement -- not to mention anticipation. Officials of every rank looked on expectantly to see what miracles the chancellor would work. And so, as Master of the New Era, Brown created relationships across every Whitehall department and extended his influence to every aspect of government. He brought into effect the most important budgetary changes of the past decade: the commitment to Private Finance Initiative, which altered infrastructure from the London Underground to the NHS and state schools; the management of the Inland Revenue; the increase in taxes; and the demise of Britain's pension funds. In this gripping and fully updated biography, reissued to coincide with Brown's assumption of Tony Blair's mantle, best-selling author Tom Bower documents the rise to power of a driven and complex politician, and exposes how the ambitions of the Labour Party's leader-in-waiting will affect the country for decades to come.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30498 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Independent
'Intensively researched but coolly critical...this remains the
most thorough biography we have.'

The Times
'What makes this worth reading is Bower's damning indictment of
Brown's main boast: his supposedly sure stewardship of the economy.'

About the Author
Tom Bower is a brilliant investigative writer and biographer. His subjects have included Robert Maxwell, Mohammad Al Fayed, the head of British Intelligence Stewart Menzies and Conrad and Lady Black.

Customer Reviews

If only 10% is true
If only 10% of this book is true we are dealing with a VERY dangerous Prime Minister who after 10 years of waiting hasn't a clue what to do and is so indicisive he can't even buy his own clothes.

The indications are that he will be a poor PM but we will see.

A book worth reading if you want to be shocked about the billions wasted in the last 10 years ... I was.

Update March 2009 ... this book is essentially correct e.g. dithering over the election in autumn 2008 and the collapse of our financial system run by the Brown inspired FSA.

Update April 2009 McBridegate ... so much of what is in this book makes the McBride/Draper emails so understandable and so easy to believe that Brown knew and condoned what was happening, even if not in precise detail.

Many Inconvenient Truths
Magnificently well researched, authoritative, indexed and referenced. Bower is well known for independent, 'no holds barred' biographies which others call vindictiveness. But it is not his job to be the subjects PR man and you can rely on the fact that he isn't printing spin from the subject. The book is relentlessly negative about Brown because that is what the facts suggest. It is the facts of Brown's failure and manoeuvring over the last ten years that are negative not the writing.

In classic Brown style he "intimated" to be interviewed but never responded to attempts to arrange an interview. This book has the quality of not being a spin exercise and an Orwellian opportunity for Brown to re-write history as with Routledge's effort.

So-called mistakes are nothing of the sort for example George Galloway was born a Catholic (easily searched). But no book is published without small mistakes, Tony Wright was mistakenly called a councillor when he was an MP from 1992.

It is written in a refreshingly anti-political way which means no spin, no couching, no obfuscating and is especially revealing in the use of economic and financial figures.

There are not that many revelations to someone who follows politics closely but for the average voter this book will be dynamite. And to most readers the relentless catalogue of failures and political manoeuvring is mind-boggling and horrific. The last ten years will make sense after reading this book. This book is a must to read before the next election.

Meticulously researched, and horrifying
This book isn't brilliantly written, but it's racy, readable and utterly horrifying. Reading this as events continue to unfold, you'll find you'll rarely be surprised by Brown's decisions and indecisions. You'll feel you'll be able to second guess his machinations and those of and his cronies. And when this is all over, you'll look back and you'll know how the British people were misled into tolerating this man for so long.