An excoriating account of a dysfunctional governing system ... A brilliant insider portrait of a nation in decline, penned by an exasperated modern Boswell ... All of which makes for a superbly readable book.
Stewart has the sensibility of a writer: he is a man of grand dreams and acute perceptions ... To the accusation that the book is petty or vengeful Stewart is able to reply that he is cruellest to himself. He is filled with the urgency and self-loathing that so often accompany prodigious achievement.
It’s very good. Even so, I’m not sure I should recommend it. This is because it casts such a depressing light on Westminster that it may put the reader off voting ever again ... Stewart is unsparingly critical of himself, too, and well aware of his own eccentricities. The one disappointment is the ending. The book meekly tails off with Stewart leaving the Commons, and making a brief, half-hearted stab at becoming Mayor of London.
A riveting, often entertaining and alarming mash-up of Scoop, Yes, Minister and House of Cards ... Despite a few repetitions and slips... [this book] ought to be read by everyone who is concerned at the state of the body politic.
An unsparing and brilliant portrait of [Stewart's] decade as a lawmaker ... The book often reads like a discovery narrative, the hero’s dawning realization that the game was not worth the effort ... Stewart’s difficulties in elevating himself inside the Conservative Party illustrate the larger truth about politics everywhere: Tribalism abounds, along with customs only those lifers really understand.
