Roy Hattersley unfairly gained a reputation for been a poor public speaker. That reputation been spread by the satirical puppet show Spitting Image. As this book frequently shows the former Sheffield City councillor and MP for Birmingham Sparkhill has a marked capacity to make astute observations.
Highlighting the success of the Atlee government
Hattersley observes with hindsight that the government of Clement Atlee did really well establishing the welfare state and the NHS despite the periilous state of the British economy at the end of the Second World War.
At the eye of the storm
Though the author did an impressive amount of research for this
book he was in many ways at the eye of the storm after becoming a MP in 1964. The future looked bright for Labour when Harold Wilson led the party to a landslide victory two years later. Yet for reasons well explained in this book the party was not able to retain power in 1970.A critique of Thatcher and New Labour
It should come as no great surprise that this book is highly critical of Margaret Thatcher and then John Major. Yet it was Major's surprise victory that led to Neil Kinnock resigning as leader. Hattersley's comments about New Labour losing the soul of the party proved to be well founded.
