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lunar (Japan) (2010/01/22):
Great history writing - British politics in the twentieth century come to life in this book. Clark's politician's eyes and awareness give him an added dimension as a political historian. You do finish the book regretting that the periods of the Labour administrations with the Conservatives in opposition are rather glossed over (of course deliberately in a book called 'The Tories'). But a more complete picture would have made the book an indispensable modern history of the United Kingdom. After reading this book you will be even more cynical about politicians and party politics: "Practically every Tory leader, with the possible exception of Stanley Baldwin - and even he said that leading the Conservatives was like driving pigs to market - came, in their different ways privately, but quite strongly, to dislike the party which had put them at its head." And incidentally this sentence with its succession of clauses is typical of Clark's slightly old-fashioned writing style. Margaret Thatcher comes across as much more likeable than I remember - not that that was difficult - and John Major too: how can you not have a new respect for a guy who decided "on the first morning of his election defeat on 2 May 1997, to resign instantly, absent himself from Westminster, and go to watch cricket."
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