Sebastian Payne0.0 The sensational inside story of Boris Johnson’s last days in power.
Sebastian Payne, Whitehall Editor for the Financial Times , tells the essential behind-the-scenes story, charting the series of scandals that felled from the blocked suspension of Owen Paterson to Partygate, and, finally, the Chris Pincher allegations, which were the final death blow.
This is the full narrative of the betrayals, rivalries, and resignations that led to the dramatic Conservative coup. With unparalleled access to those who were in the room when key decisions were made, Payne tells of the miscalculations and mistakes that led to Boris’s downfall, only two years after he first entered No.10 Downing Street.
This is a gripping and timely look at how power is gained, wielded, and lost in Britain today.
Michael Aschroft0.0 The Intelligence Corps is one of the smallest and most secretive elements of the British Army. It has existed in various guises since the early twentieth century, but it was only formally constituted in July 1940. In this book, Michael Ashcroft tells the astonishing stories of some of its most courageous and ingenious figures, who have operated all over the world from the First World War to the present day.
Whether carrying out surveillance work on the street, monitoring and analysing communications, working on overseas stakeouts, receiving classified information from a well-placed contact or interrogating the enemy in the heat of war, a hugely diverse range of people have served in the Corps, often supplementing their individual professional skills with original thinking and leadership in the name of the Crown. This book pays tribute to them and shows why, in the words of the 1st Duke of Marlborough, 'No war can be conducted successfully without early and good intelligence.'
Floella Benjamin0.0 Floella Benjamin was the little girl from the Caribbean who became a British household name, and along the way received some of the highest accolades around, including a BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award, a Damehood, and became a Peer in the House of Lords.
Born in Trinidad, she came to England in 1960 with her family as part of the Windrush generation. She was shocked to find a cold and unwelcoming Britain, her first and by no means her last experience of racism. Benjamin quickly realised that if she was going to survive, she had to learn how to live in two cultures. Forced to leave school at sixteen, she resolved to become Britain’s first black woman bank manager, but a successful audition for a national musical put her on the path to a decades-spanning career in entertainment.
From Playschool to pantomime, television documentaries and singing with orchestras all over the world, Floella’s entertainment work was only one string to her bow. Over the last thirty years, she has dedicated herself to charitable causes, lobbying prime ministers on behalf of children, building her Touching Success foundation, and advocating for more representation across the media.
Benjamin also set up her own television company, was the Chancellor of the University of Exeter for a decade, and ran ten London Marathons for Barnardos. A natural storyteller, What Are You Doing Here? is her incredibly moving and honest account of her remarkable life and her refusal to be defined by others.
Mark Carney0.0 A bold, urgent argument on the misplacement of value in financial markets and how we can and need to maximize value for the many, not few.
As an economist and former banker, Mark Carney has spent his life in various financial roles, in both the public and private sector. VALUE(S) is a meditation on his experiences that examines the short-comings and challenges of the market in the past decade which he argues has led to rampant, public distrust and the need for radical change.
Focusing on four major crises-the Global Financial Crisis, the Global Health Crisis, Climate Change and the 4th Industrial Revolution-- Carney proposes responses to each. His solutions are tangible action plans for leaders, companies and countries to transform the value of the market back into the value of humanity.
Chris Lewis, Penny Mordaunt0.0 Is the Britain of 2021 a nation hopelessly divided? Stuck in outmoded political convention and economically outclassed on the world stage? Penny Morduant and Chris Lewis don’t think so. And neither should anyone else. In this ground-breaking polemic, they argue that Britain is a country with still plenty to offer to ourselves and the world- a unique culture and history with endless economic opportunity and an unstoppable drive for innovation. It is an indispensable guide to the post-Brexit future for business, government and everything in between by two individuals with an unmatched experience of both.
Featuring a foreword by Elton John, Greater is a manifesto for hope and optimism, a guide for the future in times that are not nearly as troubled and crisis ridden as many would have us believe. Delving insightfully into our culture, our business practices and political conventions, they demonstrate that Brexit is far from a disaster. It is an unmissable opportunity for positive reform and preserving the values that can and will bring us together into a brighter future for all.
Andrew Mitchell0.0 “A cracking good read – full of mischief and shrewd observation." - Gyles Brandreth
Veering from the hilarious to the tragic, Andrew Mitchell’s tales from the parliamentary jungle make for one of the most entertaining political memoirs in years.
From his prep school years, straight out of Evelyn Waugh, through the Army to Cambridge, the City of London and the Palace of Westminster, Mitchell has passed through a series of British institutions at a time of furious social and political change – in the process becoming rather more cynical about the British Establishment. Here, he reflects on the perils and pleasures of loyalty, whether to a party, to individuals or to one’s own principles.
He brilliantly lifts the lid on the dark arts of the government Whips’ Office (‘Whipping, like stripping, is best done in private’) and reveals how he accidentally started Boris Johnson’s political career and later naively backed him to be Prime Minister – an act which rebounded on him spectacularly.
Mitchell also writes candidly about the Plebgate fiasco, which led to four police officers being sacked for gross misconduct and in one case imprisoned, while Mitchell himself faced a bill of millions of pounds in legal fees after losing his libel case.
Engagingly honest about his ups and downs in politics, Beyond a Fringe is crammed with hilarious political anecdotes and irresistible insider gossip from the heart of Westminster.
Иэн Дейл0.0 'Many of my predecessors were giants, some had feet of clay, all possessed human foibles.' - From the foreword by Boris Johnson
It has almost been 300 years since Sir Robert Walpole arguably became the first holder of the office of Prime Minister in 1721 - an office which today is under scrutiny like never before. The Prime Ministers, edited by leading political commentator Iain Dale, brings to life all 55 of Britain's 'First Among Equals' with an essay for each office holder, written by key figures in British politics. From the obscure 18th-century figures like the Earl of Shelburne to 20th-century titans like Churchill and Thatcher, this book provides a much-needed reminder about their motivations, failures and achievements.
Chris Bryant0.0 We like to think we know the story of how Britain went to war with Germany in 1939, but there is one chapter that has never been told. In the early 1930s, a group of young, queer British MPs visited Berlin on a series of trips that would change the course of the Second World War. As Hitler rose to power, they watched the Nazis arrest their gay and Jewish friends, send them to concentration camps and murder them.
These men were some of the first to warn Britain about Hitler, repeatedly speaking out against their government's policy of appeasing him. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain hated them. Branding them 'the glamour boys', he had them followed, harassed, spied upon and derided in the press. They suffered abuse, innuendo and threats of de-selection. At a time when even the suggestion of homosexuality could land you in prison, the bravery these men were forced to show in their personal lives gave them extraordinary courage in public. Adept at hiding their true nature, some became talented spies, while others witnessed the brutality of Hitler's camps first hand. Four of them died in action. And without them, this country would never have faced down the Nazis.
Based on years of archival research, this is a story of unsung bravery at a defining moment in Britain's history.
Dan Jarvis0.0 'Dan Jarvis's story is a belter. It's about love, loss, courage and determination told with his customary modesty which fails to disguise the amazing man behind the story' Alan Johnson
Dan Jarvis is an MP and a Mayor, but this is not a book about politics. This is a book about service and family - specifically his time serving in the elite Parachute Regiment, and the tragic death of his wife Caroline.
Dan used to be a soldier, and although soldiering provides the backdrop to some of the book, what it is really about is love, life and death - and all the stuff that goes in between. It is about making decisions when under extreme pressure, about keeping calm, keeping going and keeping a smile on your face - well, most of the time, anyway. Specifically, it is about the two biggest challenges Dan faced and the way he tried to cope with them - taking on the Taliban in Afghanistan, and losing his wife to cancer at a tragically young age.
For a long time Dan did not feel ready or able to talk about it, but ten years on, he now wants to tell the story. From the mortal danger and nerve-tangling fear of night-fighting in Helmand province to the aching heartache of bereavement, this is a unique and compelling memoir by a man of courage and character. Though it has been a hard book for Dan to write, it is a gripping and inspiring one to read.
James OBrien4.0 Every day, James O’Brien listens to people blaming hard-working immigrants for stealing their jobs while scrounging benefits, and pointing their fingers at the EU and feminists for destroying Britain. But what makes James’s daily LBC show such essential listening – and has made James a standout social media star – is the incisive way he punctures their assumptions and dismantles their arguments live on air, every single morning.
In the bestselling How To Be Right, James provides a hilarious and invigorating guide to talking to people with unchallenged opinions. With chapters on every lightning-rod issue, James shows how people have been fooled into thinking the way they do, and in each case outlines the key questions to ask to reveal fallacies, inconsistencies and double standards.
If you ever get cornered by ardent Brexiteers, Daily Mail disciples or corporate cronies, this book is your conversation survival guide.
Rachel Reeves0.0 In 1919 Nancy Astor was elected as the Member of Parliament for Plymouth Sutton, becoming the first woman MP to take her seat in the House of Commons. Her achievement was all the more remarkable given that women (and even then only some women) had only been entitled to vote for just over a year. In the past 100 years, a total of 491 women have been elected to Parliament. Yet it was not until 2016 that the total number of women ever elected surpassed the number of male MPs in a single parliament. The achievements of these political pioneers have been remarkable – Britain has now had two female Prime Ministers and women MPs have made significant strides in fighting for gender equality from the earliest suffrage campaigns to Barbara Castle's fight for equal pay to Harriet Harman's recent legislation on the gender pay gap. Yet the stories of so many women MPs have too often been overlooked in political histories. In this book, Rachel Reeves brings forgotten MPs out of the shadows and looks at the many battles fought by the Women of Westminster, from 1919 to 2019.
Ian Murray0.0 Imagine if your club, the love of your life, was about to play its last ever game. The club you’ve cheered on as a child, which your family has supported for generations, whose colours you have dressed in every Saturday. How would you feel? This is his story of Heart of Midlothian, Edinburgh’s oldest football club, and the 8,000 heroic fans (or Jambos, as they’re affectionately known), who donated their own money to help rescue ‘the boys in maroon’. Former Chair of the Foundation of Hearts Ian Murray here chronicles the unprecedented story of the turmoil and uncertainty that the club battled in the fight against liquidation. This book honours Hearts fans and their sheer determination to rescue their beloved club from the brink of extinction and raise it back up to the top of Scottish football. This is our story, this is our song...
Изабель Хардман0.0 As one of the country's leading political journalists, Isabel Hardman has spent many years in that bizarre rabbit-warren we call the Houses of Parliament. She's conducted thousands of interviews with MPs ranging from fresh-faced recruits to Prime Ministers. With some notable exceptions, she has found them to be decent, hard-working people, doing a hugely difficult and demanding job. And yet, politicians are consistently voted the least trusted professional group by the UK public - below estate agents, lawyers and journalists. And every year, MPs collectively introduce new legislation that doesn't do what it sets out to achieve - often with terrible financial and human costs.
In this entertaining examination of our political class, award-winning journalist Isabel Hardman tries to square this circle. She lifts the lid on the strange world of Westminster and asks why we end up with representatives that we are so unhappy with. Arguing that each stage of the parliamentary career favours the 'wrong' politicians, she considers the troubling legacy of a political system that dissuades large parts of society from taking part. Filled with forensic analysis and revealing reportage, this landmark book is a must read for anyone who wants to see a future with better government.
Джесси Норман0.0 Adam Smith is now widely regarded as 'the father of modern economics' and the most influential economist who ever lived. But what he really thought, and what the implications of his ideas are, remain fiercely contested. Was he an eloquent advocate of capitalism and the freedom of the individual? Or a prime mover of 'market fundamentalism' and an apologist for inequality and human selfishness? Or something else entirely? Jesse Norman's brilliantly conceived \book gives us not just Smith's economics, but his vastly wider intellectual project. Against the turbulent backdrop of Enlightenment Scotland, it lays out a succinct and highly engaging account of Smith's life and times, reviews his work as a whole and traces his influence over the past two centuries.
But this book is not only a biography. It dispels the myths and debunks the caricatures that have grown up around Adam Smith. It explores Smith's ideas in detail, from ethics to law to economics and government, and the impact of those ideas on thinkers as diverse as Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek. Far from being simply an economist, Adam Smith emerges as one of the founders of modern social psychology and behavioural theory. Far from being a doctrinaire 'libertarian' or 'neoliberal' thinker, he offers a strikingly modern evolutionary theory of political economy, which recognises the often complementary roles of markets and the state.
At a time when economics and politics are ever more polarized between left and right, this book, by offering a Smithian analysis of contemporary markets, predatory capitalism and the 2008 financial crash, returns us to first principles and shows how the lost centre of modern public debate can be recreated. Through Smith's work, it addresses crucial issues of inequality, human dignity and exploitation; and it provides a compelling explanation of why he remains central to any attempt to defend, reform or renew the market system.
Tessa Jowell, Frances D’Souza, Claire Foster-Gilbert0.0 The Power of Politicians takes readers inside the workings of Parliament via an autobiographical account of Tessa Jowell’s own experience of entering politics as an MP. Jowell offers fascinating insights into the workings of Parliament and sheds light on the successful pathways for developing policy into final legislation. The details of the inner workings of politics are interwoven with a powerful personal narrative, as Jowell offers a firsthand account of the role of women in contemporary political life.
With former Lord Speaker Frances D’Souza serving as Jowell’s interlocutor, this book provides a passionate and inspiring interpretation on moral duty. Ultimately, The Power of Politicians offers not just a case study of the life and everyday work of a politician, but also attends to deeper questions about what is demanded from the political class. The overall result is a nothing less than a master class in how to be a good politician.
Brendan Cox0.0 'Today is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. More difficult, more painful, less joyful, less full of love. I and Jo's friends and family are going to work every moment of our lives to love and nurture our kids and to fight against the hate that killed Jo. Jo believed in a better world and fought for it every day of her life with an energy and a zest for life that would exhaust most people.'
In the aftermath of Jo Cox's tragic death in 2016, her husband, Brendan Cox, urged us to remember Jo's life and what she stood for and not the manner of her death.
In this moving and impassioned portrait of Jo - as daughter, mother, wife, sister, MP and activist - we see how much she gave and how much more she had to give, and her legacy of values and beliefs which will live on.
Nick Clegg0.0 Keep calm – but do not carry on. There is nothing remotely inevitable about Brexit – except that it will be deeply damaging if it happens. Extricating Britain from Europe will be the greatest challenge this country has faced since the Second World War. And as negotiations with the EU expose the promises of the Brexit campaign to have been hollow, even some Brexit-voters now wish to exercise their democratic right to change their mind, seeing that the most pragmatic option is to … stop. It would certainly be the best thing for Britain. But how can it be done? Haven’t the people spoken?
No. In this indispensable handbook, Nick Clegg categorically debunks the various myths that have been used to force Brexit on Britain, not by ‘the people’ but by a small, extremely rich, self-serving elite, and explains precisely how this historic mistake can be reversed – and what you can do to make sure that it is.
Harriet Harman0.0 When Harriet Harman started her career, men-only job adverts and a 'women's rate' of pay were the norm, female MPs were a tiny minority - a woman couldn't even sign for a mortgage. But, she argues, we should never just be grateful that things are better now. There's still more to do.
In A Woman's Work Harriet, Britain's longest-serving female MP, looks at her own life to see how far we've come, and where we should go next. This is an inspiring and refreshingly honest account of the part she has played (and the setbacks along the way) in the movement that transformed politics and women's lives - from helping striking female factory workers to standing for election while pregnant, from her memories of her own mother to her success in reforming the law on maternity rights, childcare, domestic violence and getting more women into parliament. But it is also a call for women today to get together and continue the fight for equality. If we don't, no one else will.
Джон Бью0.0 Clement Attlee was a slightly-built, bald, pipe-smoking and unassuming man who presided over the radical administration of 1945-51 and is sometimes referred to as Britain's greatest peace-time Prime Minster.
His cocooned suburban childhood and standing at university as 'the man who couldn't quite' were unlikely preparations for such a figure. Yet Attlee was often underestimated: he won over those who compared him unfavourably to his rival, Churchill, and undercut their doubt with dry wit and proof of his steady and ethical leadership.
His political awakening volunteering in the East End of London was instrumental in redrawing his map of Britain's class and economic system. Growing up in the comfortable coda of the Victorian era, he foresaw an epoch of change - one that he was pivotal to bring about in the post-war years. After serving at Gallipoli during the First Word War he rose through the ranks of the Labour Party and during the Second World War became Britain's first Deputy Prime Minister. In 1945, in the glow of Churchill's great war victory, Attlee won the election by a landslide. Alongside Bevin, Nye and Truman, his governance saw the end of the Empire in India, the foundation of the NHS and Britain's places in NATO and the nuclear arms race.
John Bew's brilliant biography will pierce the reticence of Attlee and explore the intellectual foundations and core beliefs of one of the most important, and least understood, figures in the history of the United Kingdom. It will reveal a public servant and patriotic socialist, who never lost sight of the national interest and whose view of humanity and belief in solidarity was grafted onto the Union Jack.
Margaret Hodge0.0 A jaw-dropping - and intimate - account by the woman who spent five years as the nation's watchdog of how much of the money needed for public services is misspent, while too many corporate giants get away without paying their fair share.
As Chair of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee from 2010- 2015 Margaret Hodge has been both the scourge of waste and inefficiency by successive governments. At the same time she has helped to disclose the chicanery of companies out to avoid tax. Fearing a summons before the inquisitor-in-chief, mandarins and chief executives quaked. Called To Account takes readers on a fascinating journey inside the NHS, the BBC and defence as well as Amazon, Starbucks and G4S. And comes to radical conclusions about how things must be improved.
Hodge scrutinises:
The weakness of tax authorities in tracking down corporate tax and forcing companies to pay up Massive failures in public procurement - from committing billions to buy 2 new aircraft carriers when there was no money in the budget; to the absurdity that police forces could cut the costs of their uniforms by over 30% - if only they could agree on how many pockets they need; to a study of 61 hospital trusts which showed they bought 21 different types of A4 paper, 652 different styles of surgical gloves and 1751 different cannulas. The disastrous introduction of Universal Credit, at a cost of £700 million. How a £500 million project to centralise 999 calls had to be abandoned. How officials move seamlessly into well-paid jobs in the private sector while company directors are appointed into positions in government.
After the referendum, UK government needs to be fitter than ever before. And needs to secure maximum revenues. This conversational, witty and engaging book shines a light on some of the most fascinating and alarming issues facing us today and shows us the way forward - with salient and pragmatic solutions for the future.
Алан Джонсон0.0 From the condemned slums of Southam Street in West London to the corridors of power in Westminster, Alan Johnson’s multi-award-winning autobiography charts an extraordinary journey, almost unimaginable in today’s Britain. This third volume tells of Alan’s early political skirmishes as a trades union leader, where his negotiating skills and charismatic style soon came to the notice of Tony Blair and other senior members of the Labour Party.
As a result, Alan was chosen to stand in the constituency of Hull West and Hessle, and entered Parliament as an MP after the landslide election victory for Labour in May 1997. But this is no self-aggrandizing memoir of Westminster politicking and skulduggery. Supporting the struggle of his constituents, the Hull trawlermen and their families, for justice comes more naturally to Alan than do the byzantine complexities of Parliamentary procedure. But of course he does succeed there, and rises through various ministerial positions to the office of Home Secretary in 2009.
In The Long and Winding Road, Alan’s characteristic honesty and authenticity shine through every word. His book takes you into a world which is at once familiar and strange: this is politics as you’ve never seen it before…
Мелвин Брэгг0.0 In this gripping novel, Melvyn Bragg brings an extraordinary episode in English history to fresh, urgent life.
At the end of May 1381, the fourteen-year-old King of England had reason to be fearful: the plague had returned, the royal coffers were empty and a draconian poll tax was being widely evaded. Yet Richard, bolstered by his powerful, admired mother, felt secure in his God-given right to reign.
Within two weeks, the unthinkable happened: a vast force of common people invaded London, led by a former soldier, Walter Tyler, and the radical preacher John Ball, demanding freedom, equality and the complete uprooting of the Church and state. They believed they were rescuing the King from his corrupt ministers, and that England had to be saved. And for three intense, violent days, it looked as if they would sweep all before them.
Now is the Time depicts the events of the Peasants' Revolt on both a grand and intimate scale, vividly portraying its central figures and telling an archetypal tale of an epic struggle between the powerful and the apparently powerless.
