Product Description

Chris Mullin has been a Labour MP for twenty years. In that time he has not been afraid to criticise his party. But despite his refusal to toe the party line – on issues like 90 days detention and Africa, for example – he has held several prominent posts. To the apoplexy of the whips, he was for a time the only person appointed to government who voted against the Iraq War. He also chaired the Home Affairs Select Committee and was a member of the Parliamentary Committee, giving him direct access to the court of Tony Blair. Mullin is irreverent, wry and candid. His keen sense of the ridiculous allows him to give a far clearer insight into the workings of Government than other, more overtly successful and self-important politicians. He offers humorous and incisive takes on all aspects of political life: from the build-up to Iraq, to the scandalous sums of tax-payers’ money spent on ministerial cars he didn’t want to use. His diary is a joy to read: brilliantly-observed, it will entertain and amuse far beyond the political classes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #521 in Books
• Published on: 2009-03-02
• Released on: 2009-03-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 448 pages

Review
`The funniest, most revealing political diaries since Alan Clarke's 15 years ago... Gentle, self-deprecating humour, but no less sharp for that' - Daily Mail Summer Read
--Daily Mail Summer Read

About the Author
Chris Mullin has been the Labour MP for Sunderland South since 1987. He chaired the Home Affairs Select Committee and served in three departments. He is the author of the bestselling novel A Very British Coup, which was turned into an award-winning television series. He is married with two daughters. ‘As the New Labour era draws to a close there will be no shortage of memoirs from those who have occupied the Olympian heights. This is a view from the foothills.’ Chris Mullin

Customer Reviews

Excellent!
I have to admit that my heart sank a little when this book arrived from Amazon, it's got a rather dull front cover and at 600 pages is something of a brick. Nevertheless, I had read a couple of good reviews in the papers so I thought I would give it a go...and three hours later I was still reading it. It's a truly engrossing account of ministerial life on the lowest rung of the ladder, Mullins upon being promoted to junior minister for transport and environment sets himself just three goals for the duration of his tenure: an end to night flights, greater regulation of leylandi hedges and cancelling his ministerial car. Two years later on leaving his post he reflects that he has failed on the first two counts, and merely reduced the ministerial bill (from £700 to £400 per week) for the third. In the intervening months he catalogues with almost daily despair his lack of any policy influence and how he is slowly ground down by the civil service machine.

There is a real gearchange in the diary after he returns to the back benches after tendering his resignation. It is clear that he finds a new enthusiasm once he escapes from the stifling Whitehall centralised control structures designed to ensure that everyone remains "on message", where every interview and TV appearance has to be approved and prepped to mirror exactly the party line. Now just a humble MP he finds himself with much greater influence through his select committee work.

The second part of the diary therefore progresses much more like a conventional political memoir. We get to hear at first hand government reaction to 911, the political infighting between Gordon and Tony, the divisions over first Afghanistan and then Iraq, the inside reactions to the scandals, the media hysteria, the sackings, the election triumphs. I found it an absolutely fascinating read. The greatest compliment you can pay a autobiography is that it makes you feel like you yourself are living that life. And this book achieved that feat. Want to be a government minister? Want to be an MP? Then read this book and live it through someone else's eyes.

A must read!

The petty realities of political life
This is an interesting read, though more to dip into than for a lengthy visit. And that's the thing: it amazes me that ministers find time to think deeply about policies when their lives are so crammed with brief events of intense pressure. Mullin comes over as a dedicated Labour worker trying to express profoundly held values in a hectic, grinding arena. There are interesting insights into "The Man" (Blair), and major policy issues (e.g. Iraq), but his life is always packed with depressing, trivial, sometimes spiteful incidents. All credit to Mullin for keeping at it for as long as he did, but it makes me wonder if such a chaotic system can ever deal effectively with the huge challenges of global warming, banking failures, Islam vs The West, etc. etc.

Hilarious and Scary...
I've not finished this yet (it's a very thick book), but I'm finding it very funny and informative. But scary to think that these clowns run the country.
I think it's a bit disloyal of him to have revealed some of the information he does, particularly the private conversations - and I'm surprised he hasn't got into trouble. But it just shows how lucky we are to have freedom of speech I suppose.