Andrew Rawnsley - Servants of the people : the inside story of New Labour

PENGUIN BOOKS
SERVANTS OF THE PEOPLE

Reviewers and commentators from all media and across the political spectrum have acclaimed Servants of the People as a landmark in writing about government and contemporary history.

The book rings true. It has the smack of authenticity. People have, it would seem, spoken with unusual frankness to the candid friend. The picture is enthralling, the story riveting Allan Massie, The Times Literary Supplement

For sheer pleasure, nothing could quite beat Servants of the People William Sutcliffe, Independent on Sunday

The Rawnsley account, a chronicle rich in revelation [is] the most riveting in many a year. Its story of the decision to exclude entry into the euro is particularly significant Hugo Young, Guardian

Striking revelation an extraordinary story Rawnsley is obviously very well informed William Rees-Mogg, The Times

Until now a book has not been written which is worthy of the Blair era. Andrew Rawnsleys book changes that. He has written a profoundly important work which gets to the very heart of this governments difficulties Iain Martin, Scotsman

The most talked-about political work for years David Hughes, Daily Mail

Authoritative and devastating feuds, vendettas, hatreds, loves and treachery that would have given William Shakespeare the material for a dozen plays. Andrew Rawnsley has produced an account of the Chancellors relations with the Prime Minister which literally made my jaw drop on several occasions. I urge anybody with the faintest interest in politics to read Rawnsleys gripping account Peter Oborne, Daily Express

The glimpse inside Downing Streets power struggles between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown will ring bells for everyone in Westminster. Author Andrew Rawnsley provides an authentic and scrupulously researched account of what Tony Blair bizarrely describes as a marriage between him and his Chancellor Trevor Kavanagh, Sun

Confirms what Labour has long tried to deny that the Government is remarkably riven by personality clashes and faction-fighting based on extensive interviews with senior Ministers and advisors who witnessed the controversies which have raged Michael Prescott, Sunday Times

One of the abiding images of new Labour in power, as described in Andrew Rawnsleys compelling book, is of Gordon Brown being driven away from the Blackpool party conference and heckling Tony Blairs conference speech as it came over the car radio Stuart Weir, New Statesman

One of the most incendiary and revelatory books ever written about a government in power explores in compelling detail the triumphs and tribulations of Tony Blairs period in office. One of its successes is that it brings to vivid life the Governments leading personalities and the conflicts that have raged between them behind closed doors. This book is worth having just for the sections on Northern Ireland alone as you will see sides of political figures that have not been revealed before Joanna Braniff, Irish News

Rawnsleys ability to unearth revelation at the highest level of government may leave you suspecting that there are bugs in the vases at Number 10 Owen Parker, Time Out

Andrew Rawnsley interviewed scores of senior Labour figures, from the Prime Minister down. We are treated to the details of what Blair said when alone with his wife on the night that Diana, Princess of Wales, died Brian Groom, Financial Times

Its all here. Even his two closest aides, Alastair Campbell and Anji Hunter, have clearly decided to give a minute-by-minute account of the chaos behind the scenes at Number 10 when Peter Mandelson was forced to resign Robert Harris, Guardian

The funniest book I have read this year. His account beggars belief, but the sheer weight of detail is utterly convincing Chris Woodhead, Sunday Telegraph

As would be expected of Rawnsley, one of the best political columnists, Servants of the People is a well-written history of the Blair government laced with dry wit excellent analyses sober, balanced judgements John Rentoul, Independent

Rawnsley brings out the paradox at the heart of the Blair Government. Its very obsession with presentation winning the daily, even hourly, battle of spin has obscured its achievements of substance Peter Riddell, The Times

Andrew Rawnsleys stunning book has exploded a nuclear weapon in the heart of Downing Street Stephen Pollard, Daily Express

What Servants of the People illustrates about New Labour will deserve to be remembered long after the trivia about who knew what about Bernie Ecclestones donation to Labours fighting fund is long forgotten Roy Hattersley, Observer

What he presents us with is a classic picture of a Shakespearian monarch surrounded by a feudal court. Favourites, flatterers, jesters, even potential rivals for the throne all take their part in the action. Always vivid narrative Rawnsley has done his eloquent best to offer a candid and dispassionate account of the individual power struggles that have marked the life of this government Anthony Howard, Sunday Times

Modern politics and its inmates stripped down to their smalls, not least by their ignominious delight in dishing the dirt on each other. The goodies are so plentiful and evenly distributed that much has escaped the chomping jaws of even one of the most fulsome and logistically superior newspaper serialisation exercises in living political memory George Lucas, Independent on Sunday

Fascinating enthralling reads like a thriller Time will prove this to be the decades finest political expos Paul Dale, List

The rule designed to keep Cabinet secrets from the nation for thirty years has been amended, it seems, to three years. It is extraordinary that the sort of incidents usually reserved for political memoirs long after the event have leaked out so early in the life of an administration Rachel Sylvester, Daily Telegraph

A thoroughly plausible account Bagehot, Economist

As vivid and plausible an account of the machinations of contemporary politics as there has been David Vincent, Amazon

Andrew Rawnsley is associate editor and chief political commentator for the Observer. He has made a string of critically acclaimed television programmes and presents BBC Radio 4s Westminster Hour. He was named Columnist of the Year 2000 in the prestigious What the Papers Say Awards. He lives in London.

The Inside Story of New Labour

ANDREW RAWNSLEY

PENGUIN BOOKS

PENGUIN BOOKS

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First published by Hamish Hamilton 2000
Revised edition published in Penguin Books 2001
12

Copyright Andrew Rawnsley, 2000, 2001
All rights reserved

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser