Kingmaker

Sir Graham Brady’s memoir of his long tenure as Chairman of the 1922 Committee is a comfortable, entertaining read of a story we all feel we know. He revels in his role as almost-permanent custodian of Tory MPs letters of discontent with the revolving door of Party Leaders. More interesting are his insights into five Prime Ministers with whom he interacted, but elicits little or no sympathy for their plight. The machinations of party seems to trump national interest far too often, and one is drawn to a conclusion that this might be more a feature of our system than any particular iniquity of the Conservative Party. Apart from an irritating habit of repeating (often) any suggestion from colleagues that he should stand for PM himself, this is a political B movie that commands a respectable place in the recent chronicles of an extraordinary time of national mismanagement