The New Machiavelli: How to Wield Power in the Modern World

Description

From a former close adviser to Tony Blair, a devastating, frank and insightful analysis of how power is wielded in the modern world The New Machiavelli is a gripping account of life inside 'the bunker' of Number 10. In his twenty-first century reworking of Niccolo Machiavelli's influential masterpiece, The Prince, Jonathan Powell - Tony Blair's Chief of Staff from 1994 - 2007 - recounts the inside story of that period, drawing on his own unpublished diaries. Taking the lessons of Machiavelli derived from his experience as an official in fifteenth-century Florence, Powell shows how these lessons can still apply today. Illustrating each of Machiavelli's maxims with a description of events that occurred during Tony Blair's time as Prime Minister, The New Machiavelli is designed to be The Prince for modern times.

After studying history at Oxford and the University of Pennsylvania, Jonathan Powell worked for the BBC and Granada TV before joining the Foreign Office in 1979. In 1994 Mr Blair, then Leader of the Opposition, poached him to join his`kitchen cabinet' as his Chief of Staff. When Labour achieved its landslide victory in 1997 Powell was at the heart of the Downing Street machine. He was the only senior member of staff to remain at Blair's side throughout his time at the top of British politics. He has always maintained a low profile and has never before told his story.

Intriguing and engaging book... sets up fascinating parallels that prove there is really nothing new in politics * Financial Times * A gloriously indiscreet political memoir... From a unique vantage point he gives brilliantly observed and witty accounts of the vanity of modern European princes... The merit of Powell's memoir is precisely that it lacks the intrusive ego of the big politician -- Dominic Lawson * Sunday Times * It's a quirky, thoughtful take on the impact of The Prince on modern politics -- Anne McElvoy * New Statesman, Books of the Year * Anyone who wants an insider's account of what makes politicians tick should read this book -- Peter Mandelson * Guardian, Books of the Year * It tells us a great deal about the era that has just passed -- Chris Mullin * Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year *