It would be a disservice to describe this book as anything other than an epic tome. Anthony Seldon, who has written the seminal biographies on Blair to date, here compiles the most holistic analysis of Blair's ten years at the top - ten years that completely changed the face of the nation... sort of. Published by Cambridge University Press, it can be purchased here.
As the title page implies, this book is much more suited to the beach holiday (save the previous book for the study). In this book, Larry Elliot and Dan Atkinson make a convincing case against the first ten years of the New Labour government's in a way that has since become near instinctive for many critiques of Blair, Brown et al. Read the first damning critique published in the immediate aftermath of Blair's departure and Brown's ascension here.
Alastair Campbell did more to damage British politics than almost anybody else in modern politics. There, I've said it. His time as Communication Director for Tony Blair fostered the culture of spin in a way that would have been broadly incomprehensible in the 1980s and it would be a tough sell to say this is a positive development. Yet, we have two things to thank him for. Firstly, for helping make the satire of The Thick of It so cutting. And secondly, for the contribution of his diaries. Like anybody with an ego who keeps a diary every night, these volumes are often too long but many gems can be found. All things considered, they're worth the struggle. Click the picture of the volume (one to four, left to right) to purchase your copies.
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