Product Description

Jo-Anne Nadler is a political journalist and a professional, metropolitan, style-conscious woman -- but she has one unfashionable allegiance. She is a Conservative. In recent years her affiliation has felt more like an affliction -- since coming out as a teenage Tory twenty years ago the Conservative Party has gone from Downing Street to disaster. So why persist? Fearlessly delving back through her own history of Young Conservative discos, bedroom posters of Mrs Thatcher and a career which has taken her from party activist to party worker to professional party observer, Jo-Anne explores the deep roots of her political convictions and her ambivalence about the behaviour of some of her Tory fellow-travellers. Funny and affectionate, balanced and passionate, TOO NICE TO BE A TORY reveals a great deal about the fate of the post-Thatcher party, and shows us just how much it still has to do to broaden its appeal.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #284462 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

New Statesman
'Excellent . . . A lively, entertaining, informative and fascinating account of Conservative politics since 1979'

Daily Express
‘Has the party changed or have I?’ she asks. This book chronicles her witty and often incisive search for answers.'

About the Author
Jo-Anne Nadler is a writer and broadcaster who has worked for the BBC's ON THE RECORD, and is a frequent political commentator for network television and radio. She has contributed to a range of newspapers and magazines and is the author of IN HIS OWN RIGHT, a biography of former Conservative leader William Hague.

Customer Reviews

It's OK, you can read this book - it's funny!
If you enjoyed John O Farrell's "Things can only get better", you'll love this book. Jo-Anne Nadler's story begins in 1979 and then traces the varying fortunes of the Tory Party in government and out. It sounds like it could be dry stuff but Nadler turns out to be a witty and self deprecating writer. She uses her own experience of teenage activism and later working at the party's HQ (via being a pop producer at Radio 1) to give us a particular insight behind the scenes. When she moved on to a career in journalism she also maintained close links with Tory big wigs and is able to continue to tell us the inside story. There are lots of amusing anecdotes - at times I laughed out loud - but it is also a serious book which isn't afraid to criticise, at times bluntly. I am not a Tory supporter so I must admit I thought Nadler only had herself to blame when she criticises some of the pretty awful sounding Tory boys she has come across - I mean, what did she expect? But she's probably done her Party a great service. If the Conservatives want to figure out why so many of us don't like them, they could do worse than read this book but I don t think you have to be a Tory to get something out of it. If like me you are interested in politics and fancy something a bit quirky and unexpected I recommend this book

It's a good book
It's a shame about the title of this book, as it really is much more than this. Sadly it's been type cast into a piece which may only be read by Tories. The first section talks about her Polish father, and his influence on her life. This gives a brilliant context to the political sphere she later went on to enter, as it breaks the stereotypical mould that many Conservatives are often cast in.

Bits of the book were a little predictable, but it didn't detract from the general message of despair that engulfed the Party during the late 80s and 90s. Where now? Well that's the big unanswered question.

Hopefully the hardback version might have a different cover and title. I think this would diversity the readership greatly.

Intensely human and funny political autobiography

You don't have to be either a Tory or a political anorak to enjoy this excellent book.

Unfortunately many of the people who would both enjoy and learn something from this book are likely to be put off by the subject matter. They should not be.

Jo-Anne Nadler is a witty, charming and intelligent young woman of the late 20th and early 21st century who is normal in every respect except one - an interest in politics which has led her to work both as a Conservative party staffer and as a political journalist.

"Too Nice to be a Tory" tells the story of Jo-Anne's life in politics and the media through the Thatcher, Major, and Blair years up to the election of Michael Howard as Conservative leader. It is written in down-to-earth normal terms rather than political platitudes. This is one of the most human books about politics which I have ever read.

The author's political views do come through in the book - for example, she gives one of the best explanations I have ever read of why the infamous out-of-context quote from Mrs Thatcher that "There is no such thing as society" is a travesty of what Mrs T was actually saying. But the political perspective does not dominate.

A healthy attitude to politics ought to find a happy medium between the extremes of Pravda-like subservience ("Prime Minister, would you like to explain your wonderful policies") and Paxman like cynicism (e.g. assuming everyone involved in politics is a lying scoundrel).

The truth is that there are some scoundrels in politics but also plenty of people in all mainstream parties who are honest, decent, and otherwise normal. And it would be good for Britain if more people were involved. This is an account of what life was like for one normal person involved in politics, and it is intensely funny, moving, and readable.