Innocent in the House: A Novel - Hardcover

McSmith, Andy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1859846432 ISBN 13: 9781859846438

Publisher: Verso Books, 2001

Synopsis

Joseph Pilgrim is the eponymous hero of Andy McSmtih's fictional debut. He had already made several wrong career moves before being swept into the House of Commons by Labour's landslide in 1997, much to his own surprise. As Pilgrim tries to avoid the patronage and sycophancy he innocently stumbles up the greasy pole of success, until a sexual peccadillo gets into the hands of Grub Street's grubbiest and his past returns to haunt him.

About this title

Review

Joseph Pilgrim is a backbench Labour MP with only the slimmest chances of making a name for himself in Andy McSmith's impressive Innocent in the House. Perpetually lusting after his disdainful young assistant Rachel, and befogged by amnesia during the Prime Minister's Questions, his good intentions twisted hither and thither by an army of whips and spin-doctors--Joseph has a tough time in the House. But it's about to get tougher. An offhand remark leads the press to lionise him as the vanguard of backbench revolt, and as Joseph is thrust unwillingly into the limelight, an old enemy resurfaces... with a deadly score to settle.

McSmith's background--as a political correspondent and former Labour Press Officer--lends him a distinct advantage when spinning this tale of skullduggery. Joe Pilgrim's jerky progress from unknown bureaucrat to tabloid whipping boy is studded with the sort of observations and details that few outside Westminster could mimic, and none inside would dare to attempt. Circling around our her--and carrying a delicious whiff of Evelyn Waugh-style parody--are various Old Labour dinosaurs, wolf-eyed press officers and psychotic constituents, all depicted with stinging accuracy and unflagging hilarity. Most convincing of all is Pilgrim himself--a Lucky Jim of the late 90s, struggling to maintain his integrity against a tide of sleaze and obfuscation. In showing us the Mother of all Parliaments as she would most certainly not like to be seen, Mr McSmith has come close to creating the mother of all satires. --Matthew Baylis

Review

"McSmith is a great writer and there's lots to hold your interest, not to mention the fun to be had spotting appearances by the real New Labour stars."--"Punch" "A smart tale of mishaps and successes."--"The Guardian" ..". not only offers a rattling good yarn but provides more insight into the inner workings of Westminster than many accounts of political progress."--"The Scotsman" "Smollet could hardly have contrived it better."--Paul Routledge, "The Spectator" "This is the first novel; he should have started long ago. His background as a Labour press officer, then working for the "Mirror," the "Observer" and now the "Daily Telegraph," makes him uniquely qualified to write about the shenanigans, cruelties and hypocrisies of the political world."--Edwina Currie, "The New Statesman" "Curl up and enjoy."--Gyles Brandreth, "The Good Boook Guide" ""Innocent in the House" is a sumptuous, barely fictional account of Commons life under New Labour--a filthy press, plenty of sex, and the politics ground to pieces in a highly readable vortex of coke snorting, spin doctoring and intrigue. I thoroughly enjoyed it."--Jon Snow, "Observer Books of the Year" "A comic gem, a kind of "Primary Colors" that shrewdly lays bare the day-to-day maneuverings of Parliament's power elite."--Mark Rozzo, "The Los Angeles Times Book Review" "Andy McSmith is the most scrupulous reporter in Westminster. His dedication to the highest journalistic standards is fanatical. It is therefore a great relief that this account of elected representatives cringing before the Prime Minister's camp confidante, spin doctors whose cocaine-raddled brains are empty of everything except egotism, murderous eurosceptics, a government without principle or guiding intelligence, and a morally bankrupt press which transforms everything it touches into dirt, is completely fictitious."--Nick Cohen "Using his insider's knowledge of Westminster and the Labour Party

Edition details

• Publisher: Verso Books
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1859846432
• ISBN 13: 9781859846438
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 312