The Importance of Being Awkward: The Autobiography of Tam Dalyell - Couverture rigide

Dalyell, Tam

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 1841589934 ISBN 13 : 9781841589930

Editeur : Birlinn Ltd, 2011

Synopsis

'A fine political memoir, at once pugnacious and wise' - Harry Reid, The Herald. 'I recently read Tam Dalyell's memoirs, The Importance of Being Awkward. What a magnificent pain-in-the-neck that man could be! Wrong? Often? Brilliantly vindicated years later? Ditto. Stubborn and conceited? Sometimes. Unpopular with successive governments? You bet. Re-elected 12 times despite all that? Yes.' Michael White, The Guardian. When veteran Labour MP Tam Dalyell retired as Father of the House in 2005, the Commons lost not only one of its most colourful and outspoken politicians, but also one of its most deeply principled members. In a parliamentary career that spanned 43 years and the administrations of eight Prime Ministers (from Macmillan to Blair), Dalyell was never a stranger to controversy. His vehemently independent and firmly-held views might have denied him a career on the front bench, but have ensured that his name has seldom been out of the headlines. An outspoken critic of both Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, he famously harried the former over the sinking of the Belgrano during the Falklands conflict, and argued fiercely against the Gulf War of 1990 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003. He also spoke out against military action in Kosovo, and has been a leading figure in the attempt to uncover the truth about the Lockerbie bombing. In this memoir, based on personal papers as well as official documents - many of them only recently declassified - he looks back over a lifetime of dedicated service as MP for West Lothian and Linlithgow and talks of his family connections to the area: the Dalyells have lived at the historic House of the Binns, near Linlithgow, for almost 400 years. Insightful, witty and urbane, this is a fascinating book which offers a unique perspective on many of the key moments in Britain's political life over the last fifty years.

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

Tam Dalyell was born in Edinburgh in 1932. He joined the Labour Party in 1956 after the Suez Crisis and served as an MP from 1962 to 2005, first for West Lothian and then for Linlithgow. He retired as Father of the House and Scotland's longest serving politician in 2005. He died in 2017.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Birlinn Ltd
• Date d'édition: 2011
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1841589934
• ISBN 13: 9781841589930
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 288
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible