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Off Message: The Complete Antidote to Political Humbug by Bob Marshall-Andrews (view source)
Revision as of 16:42, 2 June 2011
, 16:42, 2 June 2011no edit summary
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Bob Marshall-Andrews entered Parliament in 1997, rather too late to be a career politician (he was already an established QC) and with a profound distrust of authority. He had no aspirations towards office, which was perhaps as well for all concerned as he would become best known for being a dissident. I occasionally wondered enquired as to which party held his allegiance and eventually concluded that he went with his conscience. The last three Labour administrations have spawned more political memoirs than any other – and I did wonder if this would be just one more to add to the pile.
Initially I thought that my fears would be confirmed. The book is ordered by subject matter rather than chronologically, or even in diary format which has been popular of late and the first few chapters are witty and light-hearted. Given the author's appearances on ''Have I Got News For You?'' I wondered if I should have taken the subtitle of the book a little more seriously. About a third of the way through the book there's a change. It is just possible to recognise the writing as being by the same author, but gone is the whimsy, to be replaced by a man who feels ''very'' strongly about his subject matter.