Denis MacShane, author of Labour Takes Power [Caleb Hill]

DENIS MacShane, who was Minister for Europe under Tony Blair before his political career crashed and burned in an expenses scandal, was a journalist before he was a politician.

His new book about the arrival of a Labour government in 1997, Labour Takes Power, is what happens when you let a good journalist inside the corridors of power.

It’s funny, gossipy, readable, full of interesting and entertaining insights and invaluable first-hand information, and not entirely reliable.

Its publication has been timed with a journalistic eye on the news. This year, as happened in 1997, we expect a general election to produce a large Labour majority, and MacShane hopes Keir Starmer will avoid what he considers are Blair’s two greatest mistakes.

First, the constant grinding battle between Blair’s court and Gordon Brown’s court sapped the effectiveness of government. And second, Blair and Brown were far too cautious. They tinkered where they should have been bold, they would not bring left-wingers into government, however able, and they appointed on loyalty and servility instead of ability.

Denis clearly feels strongly that if appointments had been made on ability, he would have got a real job in Blair’s first term, instead of kicking his heels as a mere parliamentary private secretary.

He is right. I have known Denis for 40 years. He is erudite, urbane, charming, witty, and talented. He speaks several languages and knows everyone in Europe who matters – he brought a bulging European contact book to the table.

He has far more ability than many of the grey timeservers who rose far higher, far faster. These diaries reveal that this was a source of great frustration to him, and that he never quite understood why.

Yet any intelligent reader could tell him why. In fact he records with apparent bafflement how the chief whip Ann Taylor explained it to him gently one day. He should show more gravitas, stop making witty remarks, she said.

A few days later, political journalist Steve Richards told him to stop making jokes if he wanted promotion. He didn’t think he could.

But he tried to be good. Sometimes I cringed as I read how he watched Blair’s moods like a hawk and never missed a chance to point out how loyal he was. But he remained Denis.

All the things that would have been valued in his old trade of journalism were held against him in his new trade of politics. And they are here, on show for all the world to see.

You can see here that he consorted more with journalists than with politicians. He wrote articles for newspapers, and broadcasted well and often, overshadowing more senior politicians; and he seems puzzled to find that his political colleagues resented these things.

Denis underestimates his ability as a writer – probably because he has always written too much, too fast, and has read too much of the sludge that politicians have to read.

He has that eye for detail that the best writers have. Francois Hollande is “much shorter than his pictures, and has a rounded little stomach and rolls on his heels as he walks”. The young Jacob Rees-Mogg, when he was only the son of his famous father, was “a tall youth in granny spectacles with a large double breasted jacket dating from the 1950s” who “sneered about Europe.” Peter Mandelson in his swimming costume has “a rather spindly body with little bits of black hair and…. rather over-developed arm muscles from his gym workouts”.

My personal favourite is Ann Widdecombe, “roaring and panting in an utterly manic way… She is a most wondrous creature. Little, birdlike, in size, but with the most gigantic bosoms and very funny teeth that seem to pop out of her mouth at moments of high excitement, like a vampire descending its fangs.”

The most attractive thing about this book is that a lot of it is very scurrilous. Was Gwynneth Dunwoody really banned from the members’ dining room because she never paid her bills? He seems to be able to quote verbatim exactly what people said to him, which shows remarkable memory skills, since I assume he didn’t court suspicion by making notes as they spoke.

Most Labour politicians and left-wing journalists get a mention, and I’d have been miffed if I’d been left out. The passage on me is inaccurate and a bit malicious, but there’s a kernel of truth in it – an ideal diary entry, in fact.

Yes, Denis really should have stayed in journalism.

• Labour Takes Power. By Denis MacShane, Biteback Publishing, £19.99