Breaking the Code: Westminster Diaries

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In the general election of 1997, the Conservative Party was heading for electoral oblivion, the Prime Minister was competent but unable to connect with voters, the Labour leader was dragging his party back to the centre ground and MPs on all sides were embroiled in scandal. Sound familiar

One of the many Conservative MPs who at that time found themselves staring down the barrel of almost-certain defeat, Gyles Brandreth understands what it's like to be part of a government in its death throes. His account of his time in Parliament from 1992 to 1997 also controversially revealed the secret world of the Whips' Office and its struggles to control a party riven by infighting.

Now, as history looks set to repeat itself, comes the definitive edition of this widely acclaimed classic. With candid descriptions of the key figures of the era, from the leading players to the ministers who fell from grace and a bright young hopeful by the name of David Cameron Breaking the Code paints an extraordinary portrait of Whitehall and Westminster in our time warts and all.

Author Bio

A former Oxford scholar and President of the Oxford Union, Gyles Brandreth worked in theatre, television and publishing before becoming the Member of Parliament for the City of Chester and a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury in John Majors government in the 1990s. Now the Chancellor of the University of Chester, the founder of the Poetry Together project, an ambassador for the Royal Commonwealth Society and a trustee of The Queens Reading Room, his many books include a series of Victorian murder mysteries (featuring Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle as his detectives), a bestselling memoir, Odd Boy Out, and the No. 1 bestseller Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait. Probably best known for his appearances on This Morning, The One Show, QI and Celebrity Gogglebox and as a regular on Radio 4s Just a Minute, his podcasts include Rosebud, featuring the first memories of famous people, Something Rhymes with Purple with Susie Dent, and the Commonwealth Poetry Podcast, which he co-hosts with his politician daughter, Aphra Brandreth. He has appeared on stage in Hamlet, Twelfth Night and The Importance of Being Earnest, as well as in his award-winning one-man show throughout the country and, with Dame Judi Dench, at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, the London Palladium and the Royal Albert Hall. He is married to writer and publisher Michle Brown and has three children, seven grandchildren and a cat called Nala.