Product Description

This second volume of Woodrow Wyatt's secret journals covers 1989-1992 the fall of Thatcher and the rise of Major, culminating in the Tory victory at the 1992 general election.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #176310 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 752 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
When Woodrow Wyatt died in December 1997, he was remembered as a politician, journalist, Chairman of the Tote and confidant of Margaret Thatcher. What no one knew was that from 1985 he had been keeping a journal. Wyatt's close relationship to Margaret Thatcher provides the compelling focus of these journals. Most Sunday mornings between 1986 and her fall from power, before most of the nation was eating breakfast, Woodrow Wyatt was encouraging, advising, listening to and commiserating with Margaret Thatcher. Their conversations touched on almost every political event of the time and it is in his journals that we find the comments he could not make public. Entries give the inside story of the Westland affair, the successful Thatcher 1987 election campaign and the growing unease with her leadership. But Woodrow Wyatt's journals are much more than political commentary. His life at the Tote brought friendship with racehorse owners and with royalty, in particular Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. His determination to modernise the Tote and his pride in maximising its profits for the benefit of racing run through his journals. No journal writer till now has offered such a mix of the historic and the absurd, the public and the personal. He records weekends in stately homes, parties big and small, the food, the wine and the gossip. Woodrow Wyatt, canny, opinionated, loyal and warm-hearted, is a contemporary Pepys in the spontaneity of his observations and the breadth of his interests.

From the Publisher
Review of THE JOURNALS OF WOODROW WILSON
When Woodrow Wyatt died in December of last year, he was remembered as a politician, journalist, Chairman of the Tote and confidant of Margaret Thatcher. What no one knew was that he was keeping a journal.

Wyatt's close relationship with Margaret Thatcher provides the compelling focus of these journals. Most Sunday mornings between 1986 and her fall from power, before most of the nation was eating breakfast, Woodrow Wyatt was encouraging, advising, listening to and commiserating with Margaret Thatcher. Their conversations touched on every political event of the time and it is in his journals that we find the raw material and the comments he could not make in public. Entries give the inside story concerning , for example, the Westland affair, the Thatcher 1987 election campaign, and the groundswell of Tory unease with the Thatcher leadership.

But Wyatt's journals are much more than political commentary. His life at the Tote brought friendship with raceowners and with royalty, in particular Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mother. His determination to modernize the Tote and his pride in maximizing its profits for the benefit of racing run through his journals.

No journal writer till now has offered such a mix of the historic and the absurd, the public and the personal. Woodrow Wyatt, canny, opiniated, loyal and warm-hearted, is a contemporary Pepys in the spontaneity of his observations and the breadth of his interests.

Customer Reviews

Old Champagne
This volume, priced, even in hardback, at a mere penny on Amazon, is incredible value and I would recommend it. It is a great read despite the fact noted by other reviewers, that the little man was obsessed by food and wine. The fact is that Wyatt, Chairman of the Tote for decades (almost a sinecure really and he was lucky to have it and its munificent pay), WAS close to the action of the Thatcher years, although certainly no more than one influence on the then Prime Minister. The connection was personal-political really. She valued him because he had been a Labour M.P. in the 1950's (actually from 1945-? 1965-ish) and supported her personally rather than the Conservative Party as such.

Wyatt must have been quite a diplomat (though he was renowned for saying the undiplomatic to people), because he mixes with the political movers and shakers up to Cabinet level despite having no direct power (he did write for the Times and New of the World); he does the same with the very wealthy (Rothschilds, Guinesses, Keswicks, haute aristocratie etc) despite having little real money beyond his (fairly high and from a number of sources) income (arising from the Tote and journalism, mainly). He is pretty friendly with the Queen Mother, too. She often dines at his home near Lord's Cricket Ground (Paul Macartney once lived in the same road, though Wyatt was probably unaware of this fact. The "celebrity" mania of present-day UK passes him by (thankfully) and in some ways he is blissfully unaware of the social decline of the country which was, seemingly unbeknown to him, accelerated greatly by the years of "The Lady" (Thatcher).

One aspect that amused me is how he, in some ways, lived rather well and even better than the far wealthier, by simply spending virtually all he made. He had a couple of live-in servants, plus a cook and a chauffeur.

A further interesting aspect is just how many of those with whom he mixes are Jews. That does show, perhaps, the degree of infiltration and influence in the UK, though some of Wyatt's friends, those of the aristocracy of reasonably long pedigree, do disparage the fact. Wyatt himself does not mind the Jewish element, though he is aware of it and does take a fairly independent line on that and on Israel.

Overall, I should say that Wyatt is clever and knowledgeable as far as politics at the top are concerned, less knowledgeable really about the society of the UK as a whole. As to economics or international affairs, his real knowledge is abysmal, in my opinion. Certainly no great insights come from these pages.

I should recommend this book to anyone wanting an amusing read. I have read the three volumes (which appeared annually) at least twice and can well understand why he stipulated that they were only to be published AFTER his death!

A snapshot of how some other people live
If you're interested in wine, racing, the media and the Thatcher Years, then this book's for you. Actually, that should be the Wyatt Years as, in his humble opinion, most of Mrs. Thatcher's policies were down to him.

One word of warning, Woodrow Wyatt's view of anyone who isn't a white, anglo-saxon, protestant male is at best patronising, at worst offensive.

Indispensible, but for all the wrong reasons.
This is an extraordinary book. The publisher's blurb compares it to Pepys. Nonsense. My own first thoughts were that it resembled the diaries of Chips Channon: the daily record of an egocentric who thought he was closer to the real action than he really was, was completely lacking in introspection, and on all the key issues of his time was totally wrong. (Gentle reader, if you enjoy the history of the 1930's, treat yourself to Chips Channon - he's back in print). Then I realised that actually the best description is that he's like the Alan Bennett characters in Talking Heads - giving away so much about themselves simply by their lack of insight in their disconnected wanderings. He seems to have spent all his time dining out (about 25% of the book is descriptions of wines and women) and trying to fix things.

That's the man. Other good reasons for reading this book are: (i) it will completely dispel any claim that Rupert Murdoch might make about not interfering with his editors, (ii) it reveals Thatcher as soaking up flattery from wherever it comes, (iii) it contains wonderful scurrilous gossip, and (iv) it shows how the 'old boy' network works without anyone having to try. It's too long, but it ggives away so much which he doesn't mean to that it's unputdownable.