O'Farrell, John "Things can only get better"

O'Farrell, John "Things can only get better: Eighteen Miserable Years in the Life of a Labour Supporter, 1979-1997" - 1998

Interesting story, the ups and downs of a politician. John O'Farrell has a pretty humorous and sarcastic side when he describes his fights for a better country and his agony of having to serve during the reign of a conservative prime minister. Great read. I loved it.

From the back cover:

"Like bubonic plague and stone cladding, no-one took Margaret Thatcher seriously until it was too late. Her first act as leader was to appear before the cameras and do a V for Victory sign the wrong way round. She was smiling and telling the British people to f*** off at the same time. It was something we would have to get used to.'

Things Can Only Get Better is the personal account of a Labour supporter who survived eighteen miserable years of Conservative government. It is the heartbreaking and hilarious confessions of someone who has been actively involved in helping the Labour party lose elections at every level: school candidate: door-to-door canvasser: working for a Labour MP in the House of Commons; standing as a council candidate; and eventually writing jokes for a shadow cabinet minister.

Along the way he slowly came to realise that Michael Foot would never be Prime Minister, that vegetable quiche was not as tasty as chicken tikki masala and that the nuclear arms race was never going to be stopped by face painting alone."

I also read "An Utterly Impartial History of Britain or 2,000 Years of Upper Calls Idiots in Charge" which was certainly just as great, if not better.