John Lanchester writes:

In 1994, while John Smith was still leader of the Labour Party, Levy met Tony Blair at a North London dinner party. The Smithites were a little cautious about Levy, but Blair liked him and became a personal friend, via the famous bonding sessions on the tennis court. He raised a lot of money for the party, and became Blair’s personal envoy to the Middle East, to not much practical effect, it seems, but the photographs are entertaining: Mum and Dad, then Alvin Stardust and Chris Rea, and then Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, Yasir Arafat, President Assad, King Abdullah . . . No question, the man gives good schmooze.

(LRB 17 July 2008)

Simon and Schuster | hardback 310 pp. |ISBN: 9781847373151