Off Message: The Complete Antidote to Political Humbug

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Tony Blair's least favourite colleague casts a mordant eye on whips and rebels, wars and liberties, spin and patronage, and expenses and legacies - and at the same time delivers a passionate message about parliament's enduring value. This subversive and richly comical account of British political life during New Labour's term in office presents an intimate picture of what it was like to be its most prominent dissident member. Bob Marshall-Andrews looks at the sombre events of the last thirteen years including wars in Kosovo and Iraq, sustained assaults on ancient English liberties, and the worst scandal of recent political history. He reveals the stories that lie behind them and the Westminster dramas of intrigue, triumph and disaster. He describes the delights and trials of his work as constituency MP and examines his own and others' motives for entering politics: should the ambition, he asks, be to achieve power or to control it. Bob Marshall-Andrews breathes new life into the old values of libertarian socialism. "Off Message" is as provocative and entertaining as its author's campaigns and interventions.