The Oona King Diaries

How does it feel to lose your job in front of 10 million people? To become an MP in your twenties? To ask a Government Whip for time to see your husband? To sleep on the floor while waiting to vote in the middle of the night? To represent the Secretary of State for Health at a family-planning clinic on the day you fail your 5th IVF cycle? To be loved and hated by people who don't even know you? To be the second black woman elected to Parliament? To be a Jewish woman representing a largely Muslim constituency? To be the only MP who likes house music? The 1997 Labour victory changed British politics for ever, ushering in a new generation of women into parliament. The most high profile of 'Blair's babes', Oona King, won a prized London constituency and became an MP at 29. Yet, despite wanting to be an MP since she was five, after only three years at Westminster, Oona considered resignation. Regular 90-hour weeks, an end to her private life and frequent death-threats made Oona question why she had worked all her life to become an MP. It also made her question the dysfunctional relationship between people and politicians. When Iraq became the biggest issue in British politics, Oona was set on a collision course with her constituents, eventually losing her seat to George Galloway in the most symbolic defeat of the Blair Government on election night 2005. A decade is a long time in politics, and in these candid diaries Oona shows how she has changed since that night in 1997. She blows the lid off Westminster, illuminating the corridors of power with humour and insight, and finally reveals how she chose to abandon her ambition to become Prime Minister in favour of another ambition: to have a life.

ISBN 0747590931   DEWEY edition DC22 ISBN13 9780747590934 (What's this?)   Pages 384 Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC   Published in London Imprint Bloomsbury Publishing PLC   Height (mm) 234 Format Paperback   Width (mm) 153 Publication date 17 Sep 2007   Academic level General DEWEY 941.085092

Pt. 1		The human boxing ring and the helpful sea monster
Pt. 2		The diary
		1997 : the triple sulco and the road to socialism		57
		1998 : the Garden of Eden and the hired guns		90
		1999 : the grim reaper and the gold wand		119
		2000 : the dog's breakfast and the twelve week scan		140
		2001 : the petrol attendant and the days of milk		150
		2002 : the general anaesthetic and the queen's speech		182
		2003 : the worst-case scenario and the Palestinian Ghetto		199
		2004 : the worldwide conspiracy and the sunny uplands		226
		2005 : the remedial stream and the emergency parachute		299
		Afterword : the penalty shoot-out and the last emperor		361

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