Michael Cockerell at Wells Festival of Literature

Our political leaders spend their careers spinning their images and polishing their achievements. Michael Cockerell has spent his political life stripping off that carefully applied gloss. For the past 50 years, from Macmillan through to Johnson, this celebrated documentary maker has gained unrivalled access to the secret chambers of Westminster and Whitehall. Now he reveals in illuminating and often hilarious detail what our top politicians are really like behind the mask.

These are stories from a ringside seat that show politics in the raw and expose the clash between principles and power, loyalty and intrigue. What starts with cheers, we discover, almost invariably ends in tears.