Product Description

The first book ever written by UK political bloggers. Edited by Iain Dale (iaindale.blogspot.com) and Guido Fawkes (order-order.com) the book details 100 instances of Labour sleaze since 1997. Containing a 'sleazeometer' the book includes chapters on Lord Irvine's wallpaper, John Prescott's Cocktail Sausage, Alastair Campbell's lies, Peter Mandelson's double resignation, Ron Davies's badger watching and 'moment of madness' and much much more. If you want to annoy Tony Blair, buying this book will achieve it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #194024 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 188 pages

From the Publisher
of power but to do a job and to uphold the highest
standards in public life." Tony Blair, May 1997

"I think that most people who have dealt with me think
that I am a pretty straight sort of guy – and I am." Tony Blair, November 1997, On the Record

"Their politics without conscience brought fascination
to begin with, then admiration; next it will bring
disillusion; finally it will being contempt." William Hague, October 1997

From the Author
From Iain Dale:

The last week of April 2006 saw the political equivalent of a ‘Perfect Storm’. Patricia Hewitt was booed by nurses, Charles Clarke was in trouble over foreign prisoners who had not been deported, John Prescott had been exposed for
bonking his cocktail sausage eating diary secretary and in the most bizarre twist of all,cannabis was found in the home of Defence Secretary, Dr John Reid. This followed a
month of dire publicity for New Labour over cash for Peerages. Could it get worse for Tony Blair? Yes. Guido Fawkes and I announced the publication of this book.
My fellow blogger Guido Fawkes emailed me on the evening of 30th April to suggest writing this book. The idea immediately appealed but we needed to catch
the wave of the rising tide of scandals that were threatening to engulf Tony Blair. So we decided to ask our friends in the world of political blogdom to help us write the book. The response was terrific and the book was printed and in the bookshops within three weeks of Guido first coming up with the idea. Phew! It’s the first time
a book has been written entirely by bloggers.
I’d like to thank Beau Bo D’or (bbdo.co.uk/blog) for designing the front cover and Hoby for the cartoons.
There is a website to accompany the book at newlaboursleaze.It couldn’t
be anything else with around 70 contributors. We hope you enjoy it.

From Guido Fawkes:
As another wave of New Labour sleaze washed up over the rotting body politic
like yesterday’s sewage, Tony Blair again made another attempt to make out that it was not as bad as the bad old Tory days. But it is worse I thought. At least the Tories didn’t get up to hanky-panky on government premises, in government time at our expense with the taxpayer getting screwed as well as the semi-naked civil servant. Someone should really document it all so that the next time Tony claimed he was a "straight kinda guy" they would have the evidence to prove him wrong. Intoxicated with that idea I emailed Iain Dale, knowing he had been keeping a close eye on developments and knows a thing or two about books. The next morning he replied with a publishing timetable. It was his idea to garner the British political blogosphere into co-authoring it quickly to catch the zeitgeist. This book introduces a wealth of diverse new writers to the book reading public, as for most of our blogging co-authors this is the first time they have been in print on paper as opposed to pixels on screen. We have calculated that New Labour over nine years has produced a scandal a
month on average, with little time off for good behaviour, nevertheless within these pages we document everything; shady bungs from businessmen, lying lobbyists, ministers on the make, expenses fiddled and Loans for Lordships made. So next time Tony Blair stands up to say New Labour is "whiter than white", you can throw this little red book at him.

About the Author
Funny, irreverent & witty, Iain Dale has established himself as one of Britain’s leading right-of-centre political commentators.Iain worked as Chief of Staff to David Davis during the Conservative leadership contest, having stood for the Conservatives in the 2005 General Election in North Norfolk. He was the first ‘out’ gay candidate to be selected by the Conservatives. He is the Director of the Conservative History Group. He is a regular on Sky News, News 24 and Radio 5 Live and was a regular co-presenter of 5 Live’s award winning Sunday morning show, SUNDAY SERVICE. He also co-wrote and presented a General Election special documentary for 5 Live called COUNTING CHICKENS.

He is the author/editor of more than a dozen books including Margaret Thatcher: A Tribute, the Bill Clinton Joke Book, the Tony Blair Joke Book and the Wit & Wisdom of Tony Banks. His latest venture is the Little Red Book of New Labour Sleaze.

Iain is the owner of the online political bookstore Politicos.co.uk. He is a West Ham United season ticket holder and a Eurovision Song Contest aficionado. More on Iain at iaindale.com

Customer Reviews

a chronological guide to 10 years of one scandal after another
A handy little pocket sized quick reference guide to the facts of all those dozens and dozens of New Labour scandals that have regularly slipped through the headlines over the last 10 years.

Very useful indeed if you can't quite now remember what they were all about, or want to refresh your memory of some of your old favorites.

Our libel laws keep the accounts within the limits of factual accuracy and 'fair comment.' And I did not read any part that did not seem to accurately reflect what I'd been hearing and reading in the media at the time the scandal was making the headlines.

Little Red Book of New Labour Sleaze
Infuriating. Although light-hearted, this book proves just how useless and corrupt the whole New Labour project is. Anyone who (still) whinges about the sleaze of the Major years and/or actually thinks Blair is a good PM should read this book. The depths of incompetence reached by New Labour ministers is frankly scary (Steve 'Pants' Byers comes to mind)! You could almost feel sorry for them. Of course it's biased to the right, but it sure as hell ensures I'll never be voting Labour! Thoroughly recommended and good for the coffee table.

Very Worthwhile
Ok, first things first- I did actually write one teensy little contribution to this book, but I don't stand to make anything out of it and I have been reading it with general interest so I think I can write with some objectivity.

It's a very worthwhile book. Some contributions are funny; some very informative; some one wonders a little at, but that is a subjective thing I am sure.

Basically it's a book with a lot of recent history compressed into its pages. It's a book which puts politics in the palm of your hand. It hasn't a beginning, middle or end, and you most probably won't read from beginning to end, but you will pick it up again and again and by the end you will get to know it quite well. It's an excellent coffee table book, really no matter what your politics are.

For basically it's not about politics Left and Right but about the nature of power in Britain at this specific time in history. It should be valuable to journalists, stimulating to lay people, instructive to historians. It's an artefact, and a pretty good one at that.