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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #115942 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 542 pages

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, enjoyably trash 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 some entertaining stories, some of them new, and vitriol poured impartially on the press, Labour politicians and Tory disloyalists--and 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

About the Author
Gyles Brandreth is a former Oxford Scholar and President of the Oxford Union and worked in theatre, television and publishing before becoming MP for the City of Chester in 1992. He held a number of junior ministerial appointments before becoming a Government Whip. In the run-up to the 1997 General Election he was Lord Commissionar of the Treasury with special responsibility for the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Kenneth Clarke), the Cabinet Office, and the Deputy Minister (Michael Heseltine). He is married with two children.

Customer Reviews

Camp, witty, stylish....enough about me...this is a triumph!
Gyles Brandreth's (he of odd jumpers and word games) account of how he came to be elected and serve as a Member of Parliament.

Cutting (could he really say that about the fellow Tory he succeeded!!!), brutally honest account of the characters he came across.

His best mates appeared to have been Neil Hamilton, Jonathon Aitken and Stephen Milligan and he does admit to a lack of judgement at various stages in the book - indeed he celebrates his amatuerism, a brilliant David Mellor putdown of Brandreth is included showing that this author despite all the flaws he readily admits to, has a humility not found in the A.Clark diaries.

Excellent, full of inuendo, a book which for the most part makes politics interesting even if by the end he wasn't too unhappy to leave.

Excellent gossipy romp through the bizarre Major years
This book is a minor political masterpiece, and I say this as an avowed lefty. Its genius lies in the fact that it can be read on two levels. Firstly as a magnificently gossipy, fruity ( occassionally bitchy) romp through the frankly bizarre Major years. Secondly, though, one also gets a deceptively acute analsis of the theatre of absurdity that is our parliamentary process. Mercifully, this book is largely free of the fluff and nonsense that many a TV viewer may associate the author with. Indeed, Brandreth's self-deprecatory humour throughout is one of the book's principle charms. This certainly ranks alongside Alan Clark's diaries and for me is ultimately a warmer and more human book. I would recommend it heartily to anyone with even a smidgen of political curiosity, with the possible exception of the mercilessly lampooned Harriet Harman.

An amusingly indiscreet view of politics - with undertones
This book is fun. On its evidence, Gyles Brandreth is a born storyteller (and collector of anecdotes) and a delightful gossip. For reasons which he doesn't make very clear he chose - and this wasn't an easy thing to accomplish - to become a conservative MP in the stormy final years of John Major's administration. This placed him in a fine position (ending in the Whips' Office, the very centre of the firefighting) to chronicle the muddle and plotting of those five years.

The awfulness of it all is vividly recounted. If I were putting together Labour's campaign for the next election, I think I would simply have chunks of this book broadcast. No further comment would be needed.

Though the book is mostly lighthearted, there are some touching undertones - such as Mr Brandreth's tributes to his wife and his response to the illness and death of close friends. There are some darker undertones too, as various Tory MPs are disgraced. Again, I felt touched by Mr Brandreth's loyalty to, for instance, the Hamiltons and Jonathan Aitken. Whatever one thinks of these people, loyalty is a good thing.