By Roy McCloughry
Hodder & Stoughton. 186 pages £7.99
ISBN 0 340 65626 3
'Where do political leaders find the principles behind their politics? How do personal faith and morality come in? And when is conscience more important than party loyalty?'
In a series of interviews with 12 leading political figures, Roy McCloughry skilfully explores these questions. The answers that he gets range from the dismally unsurprising to the deeply illuminating.
I was disappointed by Messrs. Ashdown, Blair and Major; the interviews exposed them as politicians motivated by nothing more than electoral advantage. In other words, they are after power. McCloughry cleverly leaves their shallow and sometimes trite answers (To Major: Do you pray and in what circumstances? Major: Yes, in all circumstances.) hanging out to dry so that everyone can see through them.
The real stars of the book for me were David Alton, Simon Hughes and (to my surprise) Claire Short. All of them displayed a deep commitment to principle and an obvious empathy with their constituents, something sadly lacking in most others. The only other exception to that rule was Paul Boetang, who gets my vote for 'best runner-up'. And it might have been different if I had not left his interview to last and enjoyed the others so much.
This is a great read for anyone wanting an insight into the political mind; a good antidote to carte-blanche cynicism.
