John Major : The Autobiography

‘The best memoir by a senior politician for years.’ Simon Jenkins, Sunday Times John Major’s autobiography is one of the most personal and revealing ever written by a former British Prime Minister. The account of his childhood, rise and fall is candid, scrupulous and unsparing. Major’s early life was extraordinary; his rise through Parliament meteoric. Soon a favourite of Margaret Thatcher, he became Foreign Secretary and then Chancellor of the Exchequer. When Thatcher fell, he fought and won a shrewd campaign to succeed her, and went on to win a remarkable general election victory in 1992. He brought down inflation and ushered in a solid economic recovery, yet within months of the 1992 election, his government was in troubled waters. John Major is candid about his fight to keep sterling in the ERM and his reactions to ‘Black Wednesday’. He is frank about the civil war within his party over Britain’s relationship with the EU. He is honest about what he won and what he lost, about friends and foes within his party as well as outside. In his leadership of his party and his country, and in facing up to the new order after the Labour general election victory in May 1997, John Major acted with a dignity rare in politics. His acclaimed autobiography is one of the most personal and revealing ever written by a former British Prime Minister. The account of his childhood, rise and fall is candid, scrupulous and unsparing John Major's rise through Parliament was meteoric. That is, until within months of the 1992 election, when his government was in troubled waters. In this text, John Major is honest about what he won and lost, and about friends and foes within his own party as well as outside I KNEW VERY LITTLE ABOUT my antecedents until I began writing this book. http://www.archive.org/details/johnmajor00john