A01=Norman Fowler
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Author_Norman Fowler
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Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=BG
Category=DNBM
Category=JP
COP=United Kingdom
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
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eq_biography-true-stories
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eq_society-politics
Language_English
PA=Available
Price_€20 to €50
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Product details
- ISBN 9781785908156
- Publication Date: 14 Nov 2023
- Publisher: Biteback Publishing
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
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The Best of Enemies is the political diaries of one of the most significant politicians of the late twentieth century. Covering the Thatcher/Major period - during which time Norman Fowler held prominent positions in the Cabinet and as party chairman - Fowler's diaries observe both Prime Ministers, and their Cabinet colleagues, at close quarters.
Fowler brings his training as a journalist to bear on these diaries, which are full of insights and anecdotes and resonate powerfully with the situation the Conservative Party faces today, with industrial strife, waning authority and a Labour Party looking like a government in waiting.
The entries raise other issues that are still unresolved. They range from the effect that the private sexual conduct of a minister should have on a career to whether an entirely 'hands-off' approach to industrial strategy is in the national interest.
Norman Fowler's diaries provide a ringside seat to the struggles of their time. These are not the diaries of an ex-minister seeking to justify their own record; rather, they are the story of how two Prime Ministers rose and fell and caused their party to split apart, told by someone who was there at the time.
Norman Fowler began his career as a journalist on The Times and covered the 1967 war in the Middle East. He was elected to the House of Commons for the first time in 1970 and remained an MP for the next thirty-one years.
He was a member of Margaret Thatcher's first Cabinet and from 1979-1981 was a reforming Transport Secretary. Fowler was also Health and Social Services Secretary for a record-breaking six years, during which time he fought a high-profile campaign to prevent Aids. From 1987-1990 he served as Employment Secretary and worked to reduce unemployment and improve training for jobseekers. In 1990, he resigned from the Cabinet to devote more time to his young family.
After the fall of Thatcher, Fowler was recalled to front-line politics and appointed as Conservative Party Chairman by the new Prime Minister, John Major. It was a tumultuous period with Britain leaving the ERM and the Conservative parliamentary party divided over Europe. Later in his career, Norman Fowler was appointed to the House of Lords where he became a much-praised Lord Speaker.
His two previous books, A Political Suicide and Aids: Don't Die of Prejudice, were both shortlisted for awards.
