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“He was surrounded on every side by those who wanted to be. Some wanted to be famous, some to be praised, some to be on television every night, some to be outstandingly loyal, some to be famously disloyal, some to be driven by chauffeurs in ministerial cars and some to be Prime Minister. They were breathing down his neck and pressing against his sides; but Joseph Pilgrim’s life had been so full of what he wanted to do that he had never applied himself to wanting to be anything. He certainly had not expected to be a Member of Parliament, until that singular status rose up one evening and took over his life.“
Joseph Pilgrim is the hero of Andy McSmith’s compelling fictional debut. Pilgrim has already made several wrong career moves before he is swept into the House of Commons by Labour’s landslide in 1997, much to his own surprise. Ingenuous, though nobody’s fool, he tries to avoid
Joining a system of patronage and sycophancy, but cannot stop himself from stumbling repeatedly upward towards success. It’s not long before the Prime Minister is making inquiries about the mysterious newcomer and the front benches beckon. But when the story of a sexual peccadillo from long ago falls into the hands of Grub Street’s grubbiest, Pilgrim’s past returns to haunt him.
“Smollet could hardly have contrived in better.” … Paul Routledge, The Spectator
“… a brilliantly clever and wickedly indiscreet novel about New Labour.” … “The Browser,” The Observer
“A comic gem, a kind of Primary Colors that shrewdly lays bare the day-to-day maneuverings of Parliament's power elite.” … Mark Rozzo, Los Angeles Times Book Review
Andy McSmith draws on long experience as a Labour Party press officer and political journalist to create a convincing and exciting tale of politics and scandal. His story is enlivened by cameo appearances of characters that bear an eerily close resemblance to real political figures.
“On of the most biased, ill-informed, malicious and unpleasant journalists in Westminsiter.” … Peter Mandelson
Andy McSmith is Political Correspondent for the Daily Telegraph. His previous books include John Smith: Playing the Long Game, Kenneth Clarke: A Political Biography and Faces of Labour.
Publication
Cloth: Sept. 2001
Paper: November 2002
320 pages
Cloth
1 85984 643 2
£13 / US$23 / CAN$36
Paper
1 85984 491 X
£7 / US$11 / CAN$15
