Downing Street Diary Volume Two

Product Description

The first volume of Bernard Donoughue's Downing Street Diary was described by Charles Moore in the Daily Telegraph as 'the best account of Harold Wlson's last days'; 'the sheer scale & detail are fascinating' wrote Peter Riddell in the Times Literary Supplement. This second volume covers the three years 1976-79 when Donoughue was Senior Policy Advisor to James Callaghan. At first Callaghan quickly established dominance over his cabinet & restored calm after the plots & scandals of the later Wilson years. His incomes policy reduced inflation & in the teeth of opposition from the left wing he negotiated the notorious IMF loan at the expense of eliminating some of Labour's most cherished dreams. By 1978 Callaghan a politician of great patriotism & decency seemed to have succeeded in steering Britain into calmer waters. But then the storm broke. Trade union militants brushed aside their mediocre leaders & launched a ferocious attack on Callaghan's pay policy driving up inflation & demonstrating the government's impotence. In the diaries we see the prime minister & the government paralysed as the ' Winter of Discontent' began to bite & politics took to the streets. As Labour drifted to inevitable defeat in the 1979 election we see Callaghan fighting honourably. From the smoke of battle there emerges a striking new leader: Margaret Thatcher. The diaries describe vividly both the decline & final collapse of 'old' Labour & how Mrs Thatcher took the opportunity to launch her crusade to dismantle trade union power & much of the British public sector. Besides James Callaghan the chief figures in this volume of Lord Donoughue's diaries are Roy Jenkins Denis Healey Tony Crosland Michael Foot Shirley Williams David Owen & Tony Benn.