The Importance of Being Awkward
eBook - ePub

The Importance of Being Awkward

The Autobiography of Tam Dalyell

  1. 320 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

The Importance of Being Awkward

The Autobiography of Tam Dalyell

About this book

When veteran Labour MP Tam Dalyell retired as Father of the House in 2005, the Commons lost not only one of its most colourful and outspoken politicians, but also one of its most deeply principled members. In a parliamentary career that spanned 43 years and the administrations of eight Prime Ministers (from Macmillan to Blair), Dalyell was never a stranger to controversy. His vehemently independent and firmly-held views might have denied him a career on the front bench, but have ensured that his name has seldom been out of the headlines. An outspoken critic of both Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, he famously harried the former over the sinking of the Belgrano during the Falklands conflict, and argued fiercely against the Gulf War of 1990 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003. He also spoke out against military action in Kosovo, and has been a leading figure in the attempt to uncover the truth about the Lockerbie bombing.In this memoir, based on personal papers as well as official documents - many of them only recently declassified - he looks back over a lifetime of dedicated service as MP for West Lothian and Linlithgow and talks of his family connections to the area: the Dalyells have lived at the historic House of the Binns, near Linlithgow, for almost 400 years. Insightful, witty and urbane, this is a fascinating book which offers a unique perspective on many of the key moments in Britain's political life over the last fifty years.

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Yes, you can access The Importance of Being Awkward by Tam Dalyell in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Politics & International Relations & Political Biographies. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title page
  3. Copyright page
  4. Dedication page
  5. Contents
  6. List of Illustrations
  7. Acknowledgements
  8. Introduction to the Paperback Edition
  9. Foreword
  10. 1 Antecedents
  11. 2 Childhood
  12. 3 Maturing
  13. 4 Work
  14. 5 Parliament: The 1960s
  15. 6 Lessons
  16. 7 The East
  17. 8 The 1970s
  18. 9 The 1980s
  19. 10 The 1990s and the New Millennium
  20. Afterword
  21. Index