In the Thick of It: ‘One of the most explosive political diaries ever to be published’ DAILY MAIL
£9.20£23.80 (-61%)
‘Sensational … One of the most explosive political diaries ever to be published … As candid, caustic and colourful as the sensational Alan Clark Diaries of the 1990s’ DAILY MAIL
The Sunday Times bestseller
As Minister of State at the Foreign Office, Alan Duncan was once described as Boris Johnson’s ‘pooper-scooper’. For two years, he deputised for the then Foreign Secretary, now Prime Minister. Few are more attuned to Boris’s strengths and weaknesses as a minister and his suitability for high office than the man who helped clear up his mistakes.
Riotously candid, these diaries cover the most turbulent period in recent British political history – from the eve of the referendum in 2016 to the UK’s eventual exit from the EU. As two prime ministers fall, two general elections unfold and a no-confidence vote is survived, Duncan records a treasure-trove of insider gossip, giving biting and often hilarious accounts of petty rivalries, poor decision-making, big egos, and big crises.
Nothing escapes Alan’s acerbic gaze. Across these unfiltered daily entries, he builds a revealing and often profound picture of UK politics and personalities. A rich seam of high politics and low intrigue, this is an account from deep inside the engine room of power.
Alan Duncan’s book ‘In the Thick of It’ was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 12-04-2021.
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Additional information
| Publisher | William Collins (15 April 2021) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Hardcover | 512 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0008422265 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0008422264 |
| Dimensions | 15.9 x 4.3 x 24 cm |
by Oldburkie
I picked this book up, after Adam Fleming mentioned it on Newscast.
Wonderfully written, great insights from a thoroughly decent MP.
Almost prophetic, when we see the outcomes of Brexit, the fall of Boris and a Tory party hitting the self destruct button, despite having a huge majority.
Highly recommend this book.
by PeterU
I am halfway through the diaries of Sir Alan Duncan. What I find frustrating is the lack of insightful detail – or indeed any detail at all about the personal life of Sir Alan and the characters he works with. It reads as a gentle inflation of his appointment book with some scathing criticisms of some politicians and a few civil servants. As the abilities and character qualities of those people he disparages (he’s clearly telling it like it is) are clear to anyone with a few brain cells there’s nothing revelatory. There are no easily retrievable and explanatory footnotes. Perhaps Sir Alan would like to read the diaries of James Lees-Milne or ‘Chips’ Channon to see what depth of information is attractive to diary readers? Unfortunately, I find Sir Alan’s diaries are too shallow and vituperative.
by David Fitzgerald
It really brought home, from a conservative, just how dreadful the Conservative Party is, and how britains interests will be best served by getting rid of them asap.
by brian marlow
He criticise’s most and praises a few.He is a narcissist and obviously enjoys others telling him how good or effective he is in debate or speeches made.He knows a lot about middle east politics and the important personalities in power and influence.He was a junior minister for years but never made it to the cabinet.Why? Could it be that he has an inflated view of his own effectiveness not shared by others? Could be.Something held him back. I suspect his fellow politicians found him irritating and not as good as he believes he was.But the book is going to satisfy all those who like to put the boot into politicians and there are plenty of reasons to do so here. The entries are uneven in quality, some just superficial moans, whilst other are more penetrating but that’s a relative term.Vanity vanity all is vanity.Still he ate well at the tax payers expense
by Cheshire Tiger
This book had considerable interest for various reasons. For example, I kept a diary from 2016 until 2021, helping me to follow events from an out of town perspective. And although I’ve never been “in the thick of it”, for some years I was at least on the periphery, so I’ve met some of the people in these diaries.
I don’t vote Conservative, but it’s interesting that I share some of the author’s views, not least on Brexit. I wasn’t entirely comfortable with his bitchy comments on various of his colleagues. But remember, two can play at that game: one of my family was a contemporary of the author at his Oxford college, and were I to reproduce his comments, this review would not be published. But one thing that does come as is that Sir Alan was/is a remarkably competent, hard working and intelligent man.
Two minor points. I thought that MPs spent a lot of time dealing with issues raised by their constituents, for example through surgeries. But little of this comes across. Second, on three occasions, Sir Alan writes that he voted No in the 1975 Common Market referendum. But by my estimate, he would have been too young to vote then.
The diary ends just at the start of the covid pandemic. And just after Boris Johnson won a landslide electoral victory. It was then that a Conservative canvasser suggested that I voted for Boris, who would “put the country back on its feet”. I suspect that Sir Alan would give a wry smile about this. I rest my Case.
by Frank
I couldn’t put this book down. When I first started reading I had the view that Alan was very critical of others and felt himself superior. But his book made me really think about my view and I realised that most of us probably hold these views of our work colleagues and so to expose our inner thoughts was very brave, to almost lay yourself bare for others to be critical of you. I would have liked a bit more meat on the bone as to the detailed workings of his many many meetings (and business lunches), I wonder if these were on MP’s expense account. I began to warm to Alan as I progressed through the book, he seemed to be critical of others which I guess goes with the territory for politicians as they deal with very high level strategies without any detailed analysis but I began to see that in personal terms Alan was able to separate his political views from his human view of people and his warm personality. This I guess it what made him so popular for interviews, both his intellect, knowledge and a pragmatic approach to world issues. I too agree with his view that the UK (and the USA) is very biased in its views of the Palestinians and having worked in the Middle East for many years including Oman this was of particular interest for me. Alan could have dealt with the moderate and considered views of the Omani’s in a region that seems to contain a lot of extremist views and Alan should be commended for his knowledge and ability to deal with the personalities in the region which is generally not well understood by the west. All round a brilliant read and the book makes me want to meet the man himself but will probably have to make do with Youtube.
by stephen simkiss
Interesting in parts but boring in large parts!
by Toni Gray
Although I had trouble following all of the abbreviations and initials used, and was amazed at the no. of things he managed in a day, jumping from one subject to another and flying all over the place. I have been away from UK politics for 25 years now (I live in Tunisia) and it enabled me to ‘catch up’ on all I had missed, with Brexit, etc, etc.