I Never Promised You A Rose Garden

(Hardback)

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Aged fifteen and armed with a credit card stolen from his father, Jonny Oates ran away from home and boarded a plane to Addis Ababa. His plan To save the Ethiopian people from the devastating 1985 famine. Discovering that the level of demand for unskilled fifteen-year-old English boys was not huge, he learned the hard lesson that sometimes you can't just change the world by pure force of will.

I Never Promised You a Rose Gardentraces Oates's adventure as it led him to Zimbabwe where, aged eighteen, he was made deputy head of a rural secondary school which had yet to be built. It follows him in South Africa during the final year of Mandela's presidency, where he worked with Zulu leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, as South Africa sought to shape a future from its bitterly divided past. The story culminates in the roller-coaster-ride of Britain's first post-war coalition government where, as Nick Clegg's Chief of Staff, he had a unique view of events that shaped the future of the country and learned important lessons about the difference between power and duty.

It is a story shaped by the struggles of an adolescent boy wrestling with his demons amidst the political and personal conflicts of the 1980s and testimony to his startling discovery that wherever you go, you find yourself.

Reviews

"Unusually for a political figure, Jonny Oates has written about love: how it tormented him and how it healed him. Few in political life are as candid about the underpinning of what drives them. A gripping tale of escape and rescue, this is the story of the making of a liberal soul." - Gary Gibbon, political editor, Channel 4 News "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden charts the unusual emotional and political journey of Jonny Oates. By turns tender, moving and funny, it is an unflinchingly candid story of teenage rebellion, of love and - above all - of heartfelt compassion. If anyone doubts that there is still a place in politics for exceptional, decent people, this is a book for you." - Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister 2010-15 "Oates takes you on an extraordinary journey from teenage rebellion, through the fight for African rights, to the top ranks of the British government. It's all the more extraordinary because the story is true - his is a life lesson that serendipity and courage can change things for good." - Laura Kuenssberg, BBC political editor

Author Bio

Jonny Oates was born in 1969 and educated at Marlborough College. He was the director of communications for the Liberal Democrats for the 2010 general election and chief of staff to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg through the coalition government of 2010-15. Inspired by Michael Buerk's world-famous broadcast from the Ethiopian famine, he ran away from home to Addis Ababa in 1985, hoping to help victims of the Ethiopian famine - an endeavour that, unsurprisingly, proved unsuccessful. He subsequently worked as a teacher in a rural school in Zimbabwe and as a political adviser in South Africa's first post-apartheid parliament. He has been a member of the House of Lords since October 2015, where he focuses on climate change, international development and mental health.