The End of an Era

Duringnearly two decades in the adrenaline-filled, egotistical and stressful world ofParliament, Mark Field had a remarkable capacity for getting into high-profilescrapes - most famously in his close friendship with future Prime Minister LizTruss, his role in David Cameron's Piggate scandal and his skirmish with protestersat Mansion House. Fromhis first foray into student politics at Oxford, where he got to know David Miliband,Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove and Keir Starmer, to his years as a Foreign OfficeMinister alongside Boris Johnson and Rory Stewart, Mark casts an unsparing eyeover forty years of British political life. Crammed with vivid pen portraits ofsome of the most influential political figures of our age, this wry andincisive memoir also reflects candidly on the changes that have taken place inthe UK during Mark's lifetime. Recognisingthat his has been a golden generation that has benefited from a range ofopportunities now denied to younger Britons, Mark emphasises how ourunrealistic sense of exceptionalism risks holding us back from the urgent reformnow needed in so many of our institutions. Above all, he argues that post-Brexit,it is the Conservative Party's failure to ensure we take responsibility for ourown fate that has led to its rapid decline and fall.