Over at BBC BOOKtalk with Mark D'Arcy you can hear David Lipsey discussing his memoirs, In The Corridors of Power. Austin Mitchell MP reviewed the book in The House Magazine, saying'This book is a little gem. Just like its author. David ‘Pipsqueak’ Lipsey has been one of those backroom boys who shape our ends and polish our thinking… honest, wry, amusing and beautifully written autobiography, revealing what went on behind the scenes… It is the insights of a first-class Oxford brain… This makes compelling reading'
A political adviser to the formidably intellectual Foreign Secretary Tony Crosland and to Prime Minister Jim Callaghan, and a senior journalist at The Times and The Economist, David Lipsey has been close to the heart of government for more than four decades.
Providing a unique perspective on a period of great economic and political upheaval, In the Corridors of Power details such flashpoints as the 1976–77 IMF crisis, which saw Britain under a divided government hovering on the edge of national bankruptcy, and reveals why Jim Callaghan ducked an election in 1978 – and led Labour to disastrous defeat in 1979.
But Lipsey is no one-dimensional policy nerd. Here we see a man who moves easily from the rarefied atmosphere at the core of government to the more down-to-earth pleasures of the greyhound track and the racecourse betting ring, while his enthusiasm for harness racing is such that he has regularly competed in the sport.
It is often said that the very best political books come from those who observe from behind the scenes, rather than from the politicians in the front line. Here is a classic of the genre.