Putting any personal political opinions aside I think anyone would find this interesting (even if a few sections might leave you shouting at your phone in anger when he criticises a person/party/workforce/union... that you like). A day later, a “Test to Release” program was introduced that allowed isolating travellers to buy tests privately to shorten their quarantine period to five days. Ms Dean’s concern that there might be a “comms risk” associated with the policy to release only wealthy business travellers from self-isolation proved to be correct. By the time the self-isolation requirement was removed on Feb 24 2022, 26.4 million people had been told to self-isolate in England. At points during the pandemic, more than 600,000 people a week who had been in close proximity to a Covid case were told to quarantine for 10 days.

Standing in my kitchen in Suffolk after a quiet New Year’s Eve, I scanned my newspaper for clues as to what might be lurking around the corner.’ He added that he wanted forgiveness from the public for breaking the rules, rather than seeking it over his handling of the pandemic. Drawing on a wealth of never-before-seen material, including official records, his notes at the time and communications with all the key players in Britain’s Covid-19 story, this candid account reveals the inner workings of government during a time of national crisis, reflecting on both the successes and the failures.

Since then, accelerated by the “professionalisation” of politics during the early 20th century, the pressure to hold politicians to account has grown significantly. As Egerton writes, since the post-war period it has been the norm for politicians to “publish an account of their leadership”. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s memoir, A Journey (2010), attempted a similar redemption arc. Niall Carson-Pool

Now, WhatsApp messages reveal for the first time the conversations that were going on about the policy behind the scenes.

Switching to a five-day testing regime would have transformed the way the country was able to operate during the pandemic. The Queen Mother is “a fundamentally treacherous character” and Winston Churchill “looks like an angry Buddha”. Amid the undeniably entertaining flourishes there is a much darker side, however - including flagrant antisemitism and support for appeasement in the run up to the second world war. An initial – heavily redacted – version of former Southend MP Channon’s journals was published in 1967 (Nancy Mitford called them “vile and spiteful and silly”). The latest incarnation, edited by the journalist and broadcaster Simon Heffer, is far racier and more gossipy than the original. We realised what was happening was of huge consequence that would last for the rest of our lives but … this was an affaire de coeur [affair of the heart] and therefore my political judgment was off.” Edwina Currie with John Major at the launch of the Conservative European manifesto in 1994. Photograph: PA

He suggested that the story distracted from a “hatchet job” that Sir Bernard Jenkin had done on “Dido and team” - referring to Baroness Harding - after the Tory MP wrote in The Telegraph about a “vacuum of leadership” at the heart of the testing programme. So what to make of this strange attempt on the part of a disgraced politician, forced to quit in the wake of a scandal, to exonerate themselves? The history of the redemptive memoir Nevertheless, the 2002 publication of Currie’s book caused a sensation, resulting in a public statement of contrition from Major, in which he said he was “most ashamed”. In total, the policy resulted in more than 20 million people - a third of the entire population - being told to self-isolate, regardless of whether they had symptoms.It’s all a fantasy, if I was responsible for countless deaths and blunders and aware that someone was going to take the fall at some point, I’d write a book making me sounds like a saint too! Swire has the same talent for indiscretion and waspishness that Channon did. Dominic Cummings looks like an “odd amoeba you find in jars in school science labs”; Gavin Williamson is dismissed as having all the sophistication and intellect of a seven-year-old. It is self serving but would you expect less of a politician? He’s not afraid to be critical of pretty much everyone especially Cummings with only Van-Tam and Witty coming out of it with their credibility undamaged.

It would also, he implied, take the heat out of the “briefed/leaked” news that ministers were looking to make “execs/high net worth individuals” exempt from travel quarantine.

When news leaked in November 2020 that the Government planned to exempt City dealmakers, hedge fund managers and company bosses flying to the UK from the 14-day quarantine rule, the public was furious. These are not a great of the genre, but are worth a note for the inclusion of a bombshell: former Tory MP Currie’s admission of a four-year affair with John Major (the former prime minister who was then a government whip). In the present era of 24-hour news and incessant tweeted Westminster intrigue it’s rare for memoirs to drop something as big – although rumours had swirled for a long time, and you might say that Currie’s 1994 novel A Parliamentary Affair was a rather big hint. There’s also a strong emotional and personal component. Campbell writes honestly about his struggles with addiction and depression, and the strain Westminster put on his family life. There’s even an early impression of Keir Starmer during a 2015 dinner: “Maybe a bit too lawyerly, not instinct-driven, but smart and sorted.”