New Labour's exes are a hard-publishing lot. So far we have had diaries from two of its central figures, David Blunkett and Alastair Campbell, and from a spin-doctor hanger-on (Lance Price); a memoir by its most senior diplomat, the former ambassador to Washington Sir Christopher Meyer; and now memoirs by the former prime minister's wife, his deputy and his bagman. The granddaddy of them all, Blair's own memoirs, are still to come. It is an unprecedented cascade of memoirs by prominent figures in a government which is, let's not forget, still in power. The phenomenon seemed odd when it began - Lance Price was called in front of a Parliamentary committee in December 2005 to account for his temerity in publishing his insider's account. By now we're used to it, and it's getting to the point where it would be more surprising for a New Labour insider not to publish a book explaining how he/she was both a. more at the centre of things than anybody had hitherto suspected while also b. not to blame for any of the stuff that went wrong.

LRB 17 July 2008 | PDF Download