Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5026 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-17
• Binding: Hardcover
• 390 pages

Iain Martin, Sunday Telegraph
'An extremely important book'

Simon Jenkins, Sunday Times
'Accusations of constitutional impropriety are supported with chapter and verse . . . Apocalyptic . . . Convincing'

Daily Mail
'Provocative and important . . . A devastating portrait of Britain's new ruling class'

Customer Reviews

Easy-to-read rant by disillusioned journalist
I'm fascinated by politics and social groups, so I had no trouble finishing this book in about three sittings. For about ten years I took a close interest in the Conservative Party and I actually joined the Labour Party from 1995-1997. So this broad and encompassing perspective on our political class gave me loads to think about.

I found that when I was an adolescent, everything in the media and politics seemed real and true, then, when I experience these worlds as an adult, I found an awful lot of it was corrupt and untrue. But now I'm reaching 40 I see that reality and truth do exist, but getting to it is very personal, you frequently get it wrong, and it's very difficult to put it into neat packages.

This is a rather long preamble to say that Oborne has a rather romantic view of what politics, England and our institutions should be about. Rather like a hero in a Balzac novel, he's seen it up close, and it actually all seems to be run by dishonest, money-grubbing cabals.

But I have personal experiences which suggest to me that Oborne generalises too much. He says Ed Vaizey is part of the privileged political class, pampered by luxury offices and copious expenses. But I sat in Vaizey's office once. I looked at the enormous number of emails he was getting, the pile of invitations to tedious events, and the horrible pokiness of his room, which he had to share with a researcher, and I felt glad that I hadn't signed up for such a life.

Similarly, I was really impressed by New Labour when I joined them. They were well-organised, polite and effective. They hosted events in modern venues, they seemed to understand the problems that faced the country. When I went back to the Conservatives, they were stuck in the 1980s, arrogant, condescending and pompous. I've got to know many Conservative politicians, and a lot of them I think are bad-mannered, complacent and snobbish. People trying to sustain a backward and moribund organisation. However, I find Labour characters like Karen Buck and Oona King, pleasant, competent and easy to talk to.

Oborne laments the lack of deference shown by New Labour towards the monarchy. I tried really hard to stick up for the monarchy in 2002. I organised a Golden Jubilee Party in Westbourne Terrace in London, and learnt a lesson. Many of the well-to-do middle-class English people decided to go on a long break in Europe for the weekend. My party was attended by the lonely, the old, foreigners and the mad. I enjoyed it, but I realised the emotional attachment to the monarchy changed in the 1990s, and however ghastly Tony Blair might be, he understood that.

The things Oborne gets angry about are not all led by the new Political Class, they reflect the changing nature of society. Nobody is really bothered any more by arguments between the PM's office and Black Rod, or whether the Treasury or Downing Street is sensitive to Royal protocol, except angry men on the Spectator who haven't fulfilled their adolescent dreams.

Oborne's argument that the British Establishment of the 50s and 60s with its stiff-upper lip and notions of public service was some sort of Golden Age is just silly. It was a time when women had to stay in unhappy marriages and had to accept lower wages, the police were racist, schools turned a blind eye to sexual abuse and corporal punishment, there was incredible hypocrisy over homosexuality, politicians like Reggie Maudling were extremely corrupt and everyone tugged their forelock to their elders and betters.

At one point Oborne draws pschoanalysis into his general rant about everything that has gone wrong with society. He says R.D Laing "lifted the responsibility for psychological problems off the shoulders of the individual and attributed it instead to the malign effect of the family and society." Well, I don't think Oborne has read enough about these things. I recommend The Psychology of Military Incompetence by Norman Dixon. It explains, using the insights of psychoanalysis, how institutions fail, but sometimes succeed, too. The Political Class can be as cavalier as it likes, but their actions will eventually have consequences, which will impact upon the lives of millions of people. And if they are bad, that Class will eventually perish.

If Oborne were to read Games People Play by Eric Berne, he might get a sense that his book is about playing the game, 'Nowadays'. The purpose of the game is to suggest that things aren't what they used to be. It's a time-wasting pastime played by parents, the old and young fogies.

This book is like a good long article in a Sunday newspaper, fun to read, thought-provoking and shocking in parts. But dropped in the bin and forgotten about by Wednesday.

A brilliant analysis
This is one of the best political books I've ever read. I was sceptical at first because I'm no fan of the Daily Mail, but Oborne won me over within a few pages. He writes with clarity and makes the subject both enjoyable and blood boiling at the same time.
I'm hospital consultant and can see parallels with how the political class are disempowering the medical profession in the same way as the other professions that he mentions in the book. The mechanisms and reasons are the same i.e empower a few apparatchiks (e.g Lord Darzi, the CMO) and disempower the rest (deprofessionalisation and loss of self regulation) with the overarching goal of enriching the private sector helath organisations in order to be handed plum jobs later on (e.g Patrica Hewitt now works as an advisor for Boots and Simon Stephens (former health advisor to Blair) is now CEO of United Healthcare Europe). Maybe, Peter Oborne can add a chapter on the "Attack on the medical profession" in the next edition!

We are taking control for your own good
Peter Oborne is a blasted nuisance. Our triumph indeed. We cannot triumph until the likes of Mr Oborne learn to love us. True, we are winning. We now control the machinery of government and have weakened all opposition - except the monarchy, but just you wait until Charles takes charge - but we have not yet triumphed. Not by a long chalk.

Why are we taking control? Why seek unopposed power? Not for our own benefit, you may be sure of that. We are sacrificing ourselves for your well being, for your future. Be honest, how many of you could run the country half as well as us? Of course you couldn't. You are too busy with your own selfish lives to see the bigger picture. Well, luckily for you, there are those at Westminster willing to take up the burden of government, willing to sacrifice our own privacy, our own livelihoods and our own careers to look after those less able.
And what thanks do we get? None. You even begrudge us a few creature comforts. Why can't we be driven to our homes, any of them, in a nice car, after a day slaving on your behalf? And security? Of course we need a decent pension. We could earn far more in the private sector, you know. Just look at Lord Archer. Our career is precarious, we may lose the next election and so we must earn enough to retire on beforehand. Luckily, we do not seek gratitude. Just the knowledge that we are running the country well, better than anyone else can, is enough.
Of course, to look after you properly, Mr Oborne and his ilk cannot be allowed to hamper us. We must have control; we must have power, in order to wield it on your behalf.

As Mr Oborne says, we have weakened our opposition, the checks and balances that prevent us getting our way. In particular, the church, judiciary, trade unions, education, local government and the newspapers. This is great progress. However, while the Obornes of this world carp at us from the sidelines, we have yet to conquer the greatest obstacle of all. Hearts and minds.
When you learn to love us like Winston loved Big Brother, when books like the Triumph of the Political Class can no longer find a market, we shall know we have won.