Battling For Peace: Richard Needham, Northern Ireland's longest-serving British Minister [SIGNED]

Richard Needham

ISBN 10: 0856406376 / ISBN 13: 9780856406379

Published by The Blackstaff Press, Belfast, 1998

About this Item

Dust jacket: Light rubbing, unclipped. Preserved in a removable jacket protector. Overall jacket condition is Very Good Plus. Book: Black cloth binding, small bump to bottom corner of front board otherwise in excellent condition throughout. Inscribed and signed and inscribed by the author to the title page: 'To Sydney, Who has supported me through thick and thin, Richard Needham, 20/11/98.'. Overall book condition is Very Good Plus. Size: 6.25 x 9.5 inches (16 x 24 cm). Seller Inventory # 1131E257

Bibliographic Details

Title: Battling For Peace: Richard Needham, ...

Publisher: The Blackstaff Press, Belfast

Publication Date: 1998

Binding: Hardback. Printed pages: 344

Condition: Very Good Plus

Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

Signed: Signed by Author

Edition: 1st Edition.

About this title

Synopsis:

Good clean copy - like new!

From the Publisher:

Northern Ireland's longest-serving British Minister
'There are those who found me intolerant and occassionally, as they saw it, disloal to the reputation of the civil service, but the role of a minister is to represent the people. He is there to serve the community, not to defend the public servants who are the conduits of his authority and his policy . . .'

When Richard Needham, Conservative MP for North Wilthsire, arrived at the Northern Ireland Office in Belfast in 1985 he was presented with the double portfolio of Minister of Health and Social Services and Minister of the Environment. The local situation was grim, with the economy on its knees after sixteen years of savage conflict.

By the time he left for London in 1992 to take up the post of Minister of Tade, he had become a legend in Northern Ireland for his energy, enthusiasm and exasperated intolerance of red tape and civil service caution. His blunt outspokenness had ruffled many feathers, not least when paramilitaries monitored and leaked a private phone conversation in the course of which he referred to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as 'the cow'.

But during Needham's unconventional leadership of Northern Ireland departments, most crucially the department of Econimic Development, the environment had improved dramatically, with ambitious projects in Belfast, Londonderry and elsewhere transforming the day-to-day experience of living in the North.

Punchy and revealing, this forthright memoir provides a unique insight into the mindsets and methods of the politicians and civil servants who have governed Northern Ireland for almost three decades.