A Walk-On Part: Diaries 1994-1999

Description

The third and final volume of Chris Mullin's acclaimed diaries begins on the night John Smith died in May 1994, and continues until the moment of Mullin's assumption into government in July 1999. Together with the bestselling A View from the Foothills and Decline Fall, the complete trilogy covers the rise and fall of New Labour from start to finish. Witty, elegant and wickedly indiscreet, the Mullin diaries are widely reckoned to be the best account of the New Labour era.Every once in a while, wrote David Cameron, political diaries emerge that are so irreverent and insightful that they are destined to be handed out as leaving presents across Whitehall for years to come.

Chris Mullin was elected labour MP for Sunderland South in 1987. He chaired the Home Affairs Select Committee and was a minister in three departments. He is the author of the A View From the Foothills and Decline and Fall and the novel A Very British Coup.

A treat to be savoured. Best of all they are written by a creature that the public does not believe exists: an honest politician at Westminster -- Oona King * The Times * Hugely engaging ... this trilogy has ensured that [Mullin] will join Chips Channon, Duff Cooper and Alan Clark in the pantheon of truly great diarists -- Matthew D'Ancona * Evening Standard * A fascinating read, crammed with gossip, jokes, insights and anecdotes ... his loathing for artifice and pretence, along with his fundamental decency, make Mullin a captivating tour guide. -- Lloyd Evans * Spectator * An open-minded chronicler whose eye for the absurd does not spare his leaders, colleagues or himself ... [the diaries] give much pleasure. -- Brian Groom * Financial Times * Rich in human detail ... it is uncany how many echoes there are of present-day politics ... [Mullin should] have gone into some less shabby profession, but if he had, the Commons would have been a poorer place. -- David Robson * Telegraph * Contains hundreds of droll asides and observations -- Roger Lewis * Telegraph *