Book description
A political adviser to the formidably intellectual Foreign
Secretary Tony Crosland and to Prime Minister Jim Callaghan, and a
senior journalist at The Times and The Economist, David Lipsey has
been close to the heart of government for more than four decades.
Providing a unique perspective on a period of great economic and
political upheaval, In the Corridors of Power details such flashpoints
as the 1976Â-77 IMF crisis, which saw Britain under a divided
government hovering on the edge of national bankruptcy, and reveals
why Jim Callaghan ducked an election in 1978 Â- and led Labour to
disastrous defeat in 1979. But Lipsey is no one-dimensional policy
nerd. Here we see a man who moves easily from the rarefied atmosphere
at the core of government to the more down-to-earth pleasures of the
greyhound track and the racecourse betting ring, while his enthusiasm
for harness racing is such that he has regularly competed in the
sport. It is often said that the very best political books come from
those who observe from behind the scenes, rather than from the
politicians in the front line. Here is a classic of the genre.
David Lipsey - now Lord Lipsey of Tooting Bec - was special adviser
to Tony Crosland from 1972 to 1977 and to James Callaghan from 1977 to
1979. As a journalist he was deputy editor of the Sunday Correspondent
and of The Times, and political editor of The Economist; he is also
author of The Secret Treasury (2000). Lipsey has been a member of three
major government commissions: the Royal Commission on the Funding of
Long- Term Care for the Elderly, the Jenkins Commission on the Electoral
System and the Davies Panel on the BBC licence fee. He chairs the
all-party parliamentary group on statistics and on classical music and
is a racing fanatic - greyhounds, harness racing and jumps.
