Product Description

This autobiography looks at the life and work of the politician David Owen as well as the major political issues of the last 30 years - the National Health Service, the Labour Party, his time in office, culminating in appointment as Foreign Secretary, the creation of the SDP and his future.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #475967 in Books
• Published on: 1992-03-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 832 pages

Customer Reviews

The Definitive Political Autobiography
This magisterial volume provides the definitive account of Dr (now Lord) Owen's stellar political career. This began with his election to the Sutton constituency in Plymouth in 1966. His remarkable talents could not have gone unnoticed, and indeed they did not. He became a minister (for the Navy) just two years later, and in 1977 became the youngest Foreign Secretary since Eden.

The narrative of British politics and world affairs in the 1960s and 1970s is superb. The analysis and comment give the reader the benefit of both Owen's wealth of experience and his sharp eye for identifying the real issues. Any student of the history of these decades will find these chapters invaluable.

Owen's history of the 1980s and his pivotal role in that period is unsurpassed. There is excellent coverage of his accession to the leadership of the SDP and his experiences in the post. The account of the relationship with the amateurish and wayward Liberals (with whom the SDP were in Alliance with throughout much of the 1980s) is at once amusing, frustrating and saddening, but always engrossing. It is a testament to Owen's leadership and teamworking skills, and a constant willingness to reach mutually beneficial compromises, that he succeeded in holding things together for as long as he did.

Though the title of the work is "Time To Declare", Owen did of course have a second innings after the publication of this book. In the mid-1990s he worked to bring peace to the Balkans, and currently campaigns against Britain's entry in to the European single currency via his leadership of pressure group New Europe.

If this book is anything to go by, we should hope for a second volume covering his latest period at the crease of world affairs.