John Major: The Autobiography

John Major: The Autobiography
John Major

‘The best memoir by a senior politician for years.’ Simon Jenkins, Sunday TimesJohn 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.

JOHN MAJOR

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY

COPYRIGHT (#ulink_65c8386f-221c-539b-b9b2-5e4f29ef49bb)

William Collins

A division of HarperCollinsPublisbers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/)

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublisbers 1999

Copyright © John Major 1999, 2000

John Major asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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Source ISBN: 9780002570046

Ebook Edition © FEBRUARY 2013 ISBN 9780007400461

Version: 2016-08-24

DEDICATION (#ulink_7b447504-14ea-55e6-a9ae-5c719e9bfa58)

To Norma, Elizabeth and James

CONTENTS

COVER (#ua999f763-227c-5943-88ee-af5a3afc5e69)

TITLE PAGE (#u2e97895c-91b6-54c9-905f-b1f8d72c97e2)

COPYRIGHT (#u2c72dbda-581c-5359-8dfb-29c176ac103c)

DEDICATION (#ueb07b433-7207-59fd-99f4-237b506b8765)

FOREWORD (#u865b610e-828c-5c79-8b6f-b49fd8ea3316)

1 The Search for Tom Major (#u98e85b01-2fbb-52cc-b9c2-ec6085ea3924)

2 From Brixton to Westminster (#u2a6cdac8-42da-5242-a1af-67e68ff882a0)

3 Into the Commons (#u4ad19119-4695-51e2-98b6-f0c8afb172d1)

4 Climbing the Ladder (#ue6b7277f-4e05-5d20-a298-cfaabf1bfafb)

5 Into Cabinet (#u4e11f3d9-7f51-534a-a360-aca4df20dabe)

6 ‘What’s the Capital of Colombia?’ (#u7779924c-3a00-5875-b326-f215772ab68b)

7 An Ambition Fulfilled (#u2914868a-ea04-570b-ae33-90f3638f314b)

8 An Empress Falls (#uef3407bd-08d0-5e4a-9076-17ea59de5e0b)

9 Prime Minister (#litres_trial_promo)

10 The Gulf War (#litres_trial_promo)

11 Raising the Standard (#litres_trial_promo)

12 Maastricht (#litres_trial_promo)

13 Winning a Mandate (#litres_trial_promo)

14 Black Wednesday (#litres_trial_promo)

15 The ‘Bastards’ (#litres_trial_promo)

16 Back to Basics (#litres_trial_promo)

17 Protecting our Heritage (#litres_trial_promo)

18 The Union at Risk (#litres_trial_promo)

19 Into the Mists: Bright Hopes, Black Deeds (#litres_trial_promo)

20 The Wider World (#litres_trial_promo)

21 At the Summit (#litres_trial_promo)

22 Hell’s Kitchen (#litres_trial_promo)

23 Unparliamentary Behaviour (#litres_trial_promo)

24 Faultline Europe (#litres_trial_promo)

25 Put up or Shut up (#litres_trial_promo)

26 Mad Cows and Europeans (#litres_trial_promo)