An outstanding political diary. ( )

Very interesting read about the decline of New Labour and Gordon Brown between 2005 and 2010. Absorbing, entertaining and poignant. ( )

12 Jan 2011

His political diaries 2005-2010, ending with the general election and his personal resignation. A lot of interesting precursors to what happened in the election and afterwards, and some excellent comments about Clegg! Has a valedictory feel as old friends pass away and his career dwindles, but still some of the best diaries around. ( )

Brilliant book. Really enjoyed it. Got under the skin of Blair and Brown. Good to get a left of centre perspective. ( )

Chris Mullin would, I am sure, be amongst the first to admit that his influence upon the Labour government was not as great as that of many others but, his very position outside the flow, gives him a unique position to report upon the people and actions of their tenure.

Chris, I feel that after two volumes of his diary I know him personally, was known as a left winger for many years but now, has mellowed into an intelligent, thoughtful historian. Blair, Mandelson and Campbell can give us the actions of the government and what they hoped to achieve by them, CM tells us what sort of people they were and the view of the foot soldier.

I have spent a long time trying to understand why Blair, an honest politician, should have been drawn into the Iraq fiasco. Mullin answers the enigma in a few lines: Blair thought that, having sorted out Ireland, he could make his mark in history by sorting out the Middle East. That makes sense.

There should be at least one, possibly two more books of Mullin diary and I have still got all his other writings to enjoy. I will be chasing them down. ( )