The Blair Years: Extracts from The Alastair Campbell Diaries - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0091796296 ISBN 13: 9780091796297

Publisher: Hutchinson, 2007

Synopsis

The "Blair Years" is the most compelling and revealing account of contemporary politics you will ever read. Taken from Alastair Campbell's daily diaries, it charts the rise of New Labour and the tumultuous years of Tony Blair's leadership, providing the first important record of a remarkable decade in our national life. Here are the defining events of our time, from Labour's new dawn to the war on terror, from the death of Diana to negotiations for peace in Northern Ireland, from Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, through to the Hutton Inquiry of 2003, the year Campbell resigned his position at No 10. But above all here is Tony Blair up close and personal, taking the decisions that affected the lives of millions, under relentless and often hostile pressure. Often described as the second most powerful figure in Britain, Alastair Campbell is no stranger to controversy. Feared and admired in equal measure, hated by some, he was pivotal to the founding of New Labour and the sensational election victory of 1997. As Blair's press secretary, strategist and trusted confidant, Campbell spent more waking hours alongside the Prime Minister than anyone. His diaires - at times brutally frank, often funny, always compelling - take the reader right to the heart of government. "The Blair Years" is a story of politics in the raw, of progress and setback, of reputations made and destroyed, under the relentless scrutiny of a 24-hour media. Unflinchingly told, it covers the crises and scandals, the rows and resignations, the ups and downs of Britain's hothouse politics. But amid the big events are insights and observations that make this a remarkably human portrayal of some of the most powerful people in the world. There has never been so riveting a book about life at the very top, nor a more human book about politics, told by a man who saw it all.

About this title

Review:

'A brilliant, absorbing account...These diaries...will be gasped at, and
relied upon, for decades to come. Buy them: they will suck you in' -- Matthew Parris, The Times

'This is a gripping, compelling and genuinely revelatory read' -- Rod Liddle, Sunday Times

'Who the hell does he think he is?'
-- Roger Lewis, Sunday Express

Book Description:

The Blair Years is the most compelling and revealing account of contemporary politics you will ever read. Taken from Alastair Campbell's daily diaries, it charts the rise of New Labour and the tumultuous years of Tony Blair's leadership, providing the first important record of a remarkable decade in our national life.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hutchinson
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0091796296
• ISBN 13: 9780091796297
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 794
• Editor: Alastair Campbell, Richard Stott