The Tories seem to be having problems deciding on who should replace Boris Johnson as their candidate in Henley. Meanwhile I got an email this morning from Lord Rennard about why I should go and help the Lib Dem campaign there:
When Paddy publishes his memoirs, he will pay great tribute to a particular group of people. This group is the one that travelled across the country and worked so hard to bring about the famous by-election victories that established the Liberal Democrats.
A particular debt is owed to those who came to help in the early stages of the key campaigns. It took many hundreds of people throughout the campaigns to win successes for the party from Eastbourne (1990) to Winchester (1997).
I’m sure that is all true, but why is Paddy planning to publish his memoirs when he published his far more extensive diaries 7 years ago?
Memoirs now with new improved Bosnia? And reflections on The Project after Blair (gag)?
I don’t think either would particularly dwell on Lib Dem by-election performance.
Errrrm…. money?
In any case did he particularly praise the help of the activist base – Volume 2 seemed largely concerned with how he was keeping his true intentions secret from those very activists.
Perhaps they didn’t sell well ? I got bored to tears at about page 23 and then embarked on the novel (and so far, for me, unique) experience of sending back the book to Amazon for a refund (My letter gave the explanation: “I’m sorry but this book was a lot more boring than I expected it to be”).
With the passing of years, and hopefully freed from the bounds of sanctimonious self-justification within which his last endeavour seemed to be enmeshed, I hope his next oevre is a little more self-deprecatory and readable.
what about malcolm powers ,labours southeast regional thingy,i mean he has the constituency’s best interest at heart
The extracts from Paddy’s diaries (vol 1 & 2) covering his period as Leader are very different to his future memoirs covering his personal life story – and these memoirs will be a brilliant read. Chris
What are they going to be called? Scraping the Barrel? Flogging the Dead Horse? Back when he was promoting his diaries I seem to recall him denouncing politicians who, years after the event, go back and edit the past via their memoirs – hence his decision to keep a contemporary journal.