: Denis MacShane
: Labour Takes Power The Denis MacShane Diaries 1997-2001
: Biteback Publishing
: 9781785908446
: 1
: CHF 21.60
:
: Biographien, Autobiographien
: English
: 432
: Wasserzeichen
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
With the strong possibility of Labour forming our next government, it is fascinating to consider the last time the party stood on the verge of power, back in 1997. At that time, future Europe Minister Denis MacShane had a ringside seat that he would occupy for the next decade or so, living through Cool Britannia, the Good Friday Agreement, Peter Mandelson's multiple resignations, Princess Diana's death and Tony Blair's seeming invincibility. New Labour may be remembered as an unstoppable force, but MacShane's diaries reveal that while, outwardly, all seemed to be going well, the personal rivalries, slights and petty jealousies between the party's big beasts meant that it was never far from disaster. MacShane was a regular in Downing Street from the moment of Labour's election victory, and his candid, intimate diaries show figures such as Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Robin Cook, Peter Mandelson, Clare Short and Alastair Campbell in a light in which they've never been seen before, detailing the personalities as much as the politics of Labour's most successful stint in government.

Denis MacShane is a former Labour MP who served in Tony Blair's government as Europe Minister from 2002 to 2005. During his time in Parliament, he was a member of the Privy Council and chaired the Commons inquiry into antisemitism. He was first elected as MP for Rotherham in 1994 and served until his resignation in 2012. He has written several books on European politics and in 2015 published Brexit: How Britain Will Leave Europe, which predicted that Brexit would indeed occur. He lives in Westminster, London.

TUESDAY 13 JANUARY 1998


Every paper this morning is splashing on its front page a headline like ‘Blair grounds Cook’s mistress’. The story is that No. 10 has ordered Robin Cook not to take Gaynor Regan on a series of overseas trips he is making.

It is a wonderfully English outing about sex. Of course, Robin should be accompanied by his partner if he so wishes. He is in despair. After a routine going-through of the questions, he asks all the officials to leave and then turns to us:

I would like to apologise to everybody for what has happened. The weekend and the last few days have been the worst in my life. I thought the story had died down, but No. 10 has now given it oxygen. I have a very angry and unstable woman to worry about as well. Gaynor is furious with the press and the way they have depicted her.

I have never seen him so vulnerable and although it would be too much to say he appeared on the verge of a breakdown, he was in very great misery in front of us all. Everybody tried to cheer him up. I said