This Sunday, TPR will be reviewing the first book to be released about the new leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband. Given the Labour Party's reluctance to depose failing leaders (as Mr Miliband has been perceived until the last few weeks' scandal unraveled), this is an important book - the first attempt to fully understand the man who will likely lead the Labour Party into the next General Election. So, in light of this, here is a brief teaser for this Sunday's Review - brief biographies of its two authors.**
James Macintyre
Truth be told, TPR's heart sank when he saw Macintyre was one of the joint authors of this book. Whilst he has had a fairly illustrious career (working at The Independent and New Statesman) much of his work has been of grave disappointment. Beyond his style, which I do not find favourable, he could easily be portrayed as part of the media arm of the Labour Party and consequently biased to a journalistically embarrassing point. After all, who can forget his predictions of a Labour majority in the 2010 General Election (here) or when he had the New Statesman sued by accusing the Conservatives of institutional and Dan Hannan of personal racism (here). Oh, and his speculation of a Diane Abbott win in the Labour leadership election (here).
None of this was cause for encouragement, and TPR entered this book from a cautious angle. Indeed, it has certainly been a risk for Biteback to publish this work from an unpublished figure. Let's simply hope for all sakes that this rumoured-to-be controversial biography (not as true as the rumours suggest) doesn't find itself in the pitfalls of his previous work.
Mehdi Hasan
Until Macintyre recently left the New Statesman to be Politics Editor for Prospect magazine, Mehdi Hasan was one of his "speccie" colleagues. Also a clear supported and passionate critic of the Labour and Conservative Parties respectively, one would inevitably approach this book wondering if these Labourites have it in them to criticise the man who will likely lead Labour into 2015.
A graduate of Christ Church, Oxford, at which he studied PPE (demonstrating the Oxford PPE-ers don't only dominate the House, but Fleet Street too), Hasan begins his approach to this book from a somewhat worrying status himself (indeed, on occasions his Labourism has seemed to undermine the clarity and strength of his arguments (for example criticising David Cameron's speech on the basis of its supporters and not his substance - here). Yet he is himself a prominent figure with plenty of experience - and he is without question one of the more articulate figures in Britain's current leftist commentariat.
TPR has high hopes for this book. As an avid follower of politics whose interest is unlikely to wane before 2015, this is the beginning of a nation-wide engagement to understand potential Prime Minister Mili-E. On Sunday, we'll be considering the book itself. However, a cautious note is worth raising on its authors. If we are to thoroughly understand Ed, we need some more books from a more diverse range of opinion, and quick (yet feel free to take more than the six months this book took to write).
**As many of you will recall, last week TPR has a dispute with author Peter Hitchens over just such a brief biography. As previously (when Mr Hitchens, despite his dramatic protests, could not find a single factual inaccuracy) I have researched this biography. If anything is incorrect, I would only be too delighted to correct it. However, nobody ought come to a review site and not expect opinion, so I make no apologies for the personal opinions that I express about either of these two authors. They are a consequence of my analysis of their work. As ever, any protestors can drop me an email.
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