Breaking the code

the long version

"Gyles Brandreth's candid journal paints a portrait of 1990s government - warts and all." "Brandreth - MP for the City of Chester, Parliamentary Private Secretary in three departments of state, Government Whip and Lord Commissioner of the Treasury - enjoyed a ringside seat at the great political events of the decade." "Breaking the Code covers the years from the fall of Thatcher to the election of Tony Blair, encompassing a fascinating first-hand record of the roller-coaster Major years. And, uniquely, this book contains the first-ever insider's account of the hitherto secret world that is the Government Whips' Office." "With revealing, and frequently hilarious, descriptions of key figures of the time, from the leading players (Kenneth Clarke, Michael Heseltine, John Major himself) to the Ministers who fell from grace (David Mellor, Jonathan Aitken, Neil Hamilton), and with a cast that includes the Queen, Richard Nixon, Joanna Lumley and William Hague, Gyles Brandreth is wry, shrewd and wonderfully indiscreet."--Jacket.