The Long and Winding Road

Description

The third volume of Alan Johnson's bestselling and award-winning memoirs takes us to the corridors of Westminster and lifts the lid on the life of a hard-working constituency MP... Winner of the Parliamentary Book Award, best memoir by a Parliamentarian, 2016 From the condemned slums of Southam Street in West London to the corridors of power in Westminster, Alan Johnson's multi-award-winning autobiography charts an extraordinary journey, almost unimaginable in today's Britain. This third volume tells of Alan's early political skirmishes as a trades union leader, where his negotiating skills and charismatic style soon came to the notice of Tony Blair and other senior members of the Labour Party. As a result, Alan was chosen to stand in the constituency of Hull West and Hessle, and entered Parliament as an MP after the landslide election victory for Labour in May 1997. But this is no self-aggrandizing memoir of Westminster politicking and skulduggery. Supporting the struggle of his constituents, the Hull trawlermen and their families, for justice comes more naturally to Alan than do the byzantine complexities of Parliamentary procedure. But of course he does succeed there, and rises through various ministerial positions to the office of Home Secretary in 2009. In The Long and Winding Road, Alan's characteristic honesty and authenticity shine through every word. His book takes you into a world which is at once familiar and strange- this is politics as you've never seen it before...

Alan Johnson was born in May 1950. He is a British Labour Party politician who served as Home Secretary from June 2009 to May 2010. Before that he filled a wide variety of cabinet positions in both the Blair and Brown governments, including Health Secretary and Education Secretary. Until 20 January 2011 he was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. Johnson was the Member of Parliament for Hull West and Hessle until his retirement from politics in 2017. His first book, This Boy, won the RSL Ondaatje Prize and the Orwell Prize in 2013. His second, Please Mister Postman, won the National Book Award for Autobiography of the Year in 2014. His third, The Long and Winding Road, was published in 2016 and won the Parliamentary Book Award for Best Memoir.

Johnson writes with his usual warmth, wit and modesty. * The Sunday Times * Immensely engaging. * The Times * Searingly honest... moving. * Mail on Sunday * Remarkable. * The Observer * It's not often that one must reach for the phrase 'heart-warming' about the life of a politician, but Johnson is exceptional. It's rare to find such decency and likeability in public life. * Mail on Sunday * Very nicely told... Johnson is sharp on period detail. -- William Leith * Evening Standard *