In the Corridors of Power

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 1976-77 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 - 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.

Auteur

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.