A Daily Mail Political Book of the Year Our political leaders spend their careers spinning their images and polishing their achievements; Michael Cockerell has spent his professional life stripping off the gloss. Over fifty years, he has gained unrivalled access to the secret chambers of Westminster and Whitehall. Here, he reveals in illuminating and often hilarious stories what our top politicians are really like behind the mask. Drawing on his unique experience of having filmed all the past ten Prime Ministers, Cockerell tells how he manages to lull some of the wariest people in the land into candour, and shows how questions of sex are never far from the surface in Westminster. Amongst much else, he recounts: how Margaret Thatcher flirted with him on screen but attacked him by name in the Commons; how Tony Blair said he would willingly 'pay the blood price' in Iraq; how David Cameron learned from Enoch Powell always to make a big speech on a full bladder - and how Boris Johnson admitted to doubts about his ability to be Prime Minister. Funny, riveting and above all revealing, Unmasking Our Leaders is an absorbing insight into half a century of British politics.

About the Author
Michael Cockerell has been a BBC TV political reporter and documentary-maker for fifty years, winning a string of awards for his witty and eye-opening profiles of our top politicians. 'You are no one in British politics until you've been Cockerelled,' said one newspaper. He is an honorary fellow of Corpus Christi, Oxford, and was for ten years visiting professor of politics at Nottingham University. He is a regular radio broadcaster and writes for The Times, Daily Mail, The Guardian and The Spectator. Unmasking Our Leaders is his third book.


Book Information
ISBN 9781785907661
Author Michael Cockerell
Format Paperback
Page Count 400
Imprint Biteback Publishing
Publisher Biteback Publishing