Life in the jungle: My autobiography

by Michael Heseltine

Michael Heseltine has enjoyed one of the most colourful and creative careers of modern British politics. This autobiography tells the story not only of his political life, but also of his business career.

Genres: Politics, Biography, Nonfiction

560 pages, Hardcover

First published September 5, 2000

Reviews

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly dry and cumbersome, yet insightful telling of Michael Heseltine's impressive life and political achievements. Very interesting for those interested in politics and gives a good understanding into Heseltine's personal and political positions. It feels like an honest account but includes the usual justifications one would expect from a political memoir.

[Mr N P Leversuch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have the benefit of reading in 2026 this book that was published in 2000. I therefore can compare what he wrote all that time ago with the actual outcomes that have occurred and without the emotional reaction to events as they occurred.

The book was an interesting read, outlining the events and achievements in his life, with an obvious bias towards his political life.

I give him credit for building on what appears to have been a happy middle-class childhood and leveraging those advantages into becoming a successful self-made businessman. He must be one of the dwindling group of politicians who know the pressures, stress and financial risks associated with building and running a business – we need more politicians with that sort of life experience.

I read the book with a cynical approach, expecting the author to use the book as a vehicle to excuse his mistakes and blame other people for their inability to be as far sighted and selfless as himself. Indeed, there are elements of that in the book, but in general I think that time has shown that his major decisions and political philosophy were correct.

Examples would be his attempts to reinvigorate Liverpool after the riots, or introduce a more disciplined business approach to running political departments, such as quantifiable performance metrics to monitor departmental performance, rather than verbose qualitative statements.

One is bound to wonder, what would have been the outcome if he had become PM after Margaret Thatcher. Would the tory split between the Europhile and Europhobes still have occurred with all the chaos that it launched into British politics?

[Jim Bowen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book looks at the life of Michael Heseltine from his birth up to the point that he decided not to run as leader of the party, after the 1997 election defeat. The title is a play on the fact that his nickname at the time was Tarzan.

I'll be honest and say that the book is a little dated now, especially in the time of Brexit (Heseltine is on the extreme Pro-Europe wing of his party), but this said, I still found it an enjoyable, read, even if it's not profound.

[Curmudgeon · Rating 2 out of 5]

While Michael Heseltine is without doubt a compelling figure within the realm of late 20th-century British Conservative politics, he is definitely not a compelling writer. This might be forgivable--he mentions never having enjoyed reading throughout his life, due to his mild dyslexia, which would certainly hamper one's skills as an author as well--but it still makes the reader's task a rather miserable one. The book does provide detailed chronologies of certain events like the Westland affair, which will doubtless prove useful to political nerds and other policy wonks interested in the relationship between the government's defence and business interests, and the nature of collective cabinet responsibility. What the book doesn't provide is a readability for the layman, though. For an autobiography, it also offers surprisingly little insight into the mindset of the author at certain key points in his political career and his personal life. Virtually the entire book reads like a rather detached chronological recitation of events, or a dry regurgitation of policy.

It is certainly a potentially useful document for the political historian...it just isn't a very interesting one, which is a shame, seeing as it comes from such a colourful character.

[Gramarye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heseltine forgoes the usual anecdotal and gossipy style of a politician's autobiography in favour of an exceedingly detailed account of his professional and political life, with particular focus on his actions in various departments and his part in the Westland affair that led to his surprise resignation in 1986. The book may come across as overbearingly self-possessed on more than a few occasions, but then again few people would accuse its author of having a false sense of humility.

[Tom]

Own a copy signed by the great man himself. #shouldhavebeenprimeminister