Edwina Currie: Diaries 1987-1992

by Edwina Currie

After Margaret Thatcher, Edwina Currie was the second most prominent woman in British politics during the 1980s. Indeed, she was often spoken of as a potential Prime Minister. Her outspokenness and her lively, media-friendly personality won her a much higher profile than her status as a junior minister would otherwise have commanded. When she was forced to resign from the government after warning of the danger signs of salmonella infection in eggs, she was already a national figure. Revealing her four-year affair with former Prime Minister John Major, Edwina's diaries caused a media sensation. A decade on, and now with previously unpublished material, the diaries still provide a remarkable insight into politics at the top by a writer with an observant eye and a sharp sense of humour. Edwina Currie's honesty, her frankness and her courage make these unexpurgated diaries an irresistible read.

270 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 18, 2012

Reviews

[Louise Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

i no way support the same party as this person and have no idea why i decided to read this book all i can say is that it gave an insight in to the in and outs of an mps life and although this was written in the last millenium i think the egg scandal and the affair with a certain well known man!!!! will haunt her for ever but then makes for a more interesting life eggs are eggs !!!

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A combination of John Major (aka “B”)’s memoirs and Matt Forde’s Political Party podcast interview led me to read this first volume of Eggwina’s diaries.

What comes across is a woman who claims to be driven by politics but much of the book is about how she can best make money - lots of stuff about how she will try and write about issues for cash rather than much sense of the impact issues are having on constituents. She complains about the inadequacy of her Parliamentary salary at length, given the pressures of putting two girls through private school. She is delighted when she finds that the House of Commons library will do research for her novels for free and then post it out to her holiday home in France. Who does she imagine pays for that? The egg fiasco is portrayed as deep concern for consumers but if the producers are of more value to her than consumers (eg brewers or car manufacturers) she takes a different line. When the money in her own bank account is sufficient, it’s not enough for her because she is securing insufficient profile to satisfy her ego (her index of success is her rank in Radio 4 Woman of the Year). The rising power and expense accounts of the European Parliament are a recurring temptation.

The back references to the affair with the blue underpants wearing “B” are intriguing and interspersed with copious references to John Major and to her high placed source in the Treasury. The last one is not me - I was a low placed source at the time.

Fair play for publishing honest opinions rather than a safer version of affairs. More to be proud of than Sasha Swire. Similar to Chris Mullin in conveying convincingly the drudgery of life as a junior minister. Not as good as Alastair Campbell’s epic volumes