What do you think?
Rate this book
No Love for Johnnie
When Wilfred Feinburgh died after a car accident at the age of thirty-eight he was already widely known as an M.P. of high promise and as a brilliant light essayist. But only a few friends knew of his 'No Love for Johnnie'. the novel which he sent to us in manuscript just before his death. In fact, while he lay unconscious and dying, enthusiastic reports of the book were being made by our readers.
Their excitement was understandable. This story of Johnnie Byrne, M.P., with its conflicting love-affairs and ambitions, is not notable only as a study of a weak and passionate human being. It can also claim to be the most important and controversial political novel of the post-war era.
Its pictures of the men and women in the local Party 'machine' and in Parliament itself, is unlike anything written about politics before. But it has the shock of truth.
Their excitement was understandable. This story of Johnnie Byrne, M.P., with its conflicting love-affairs and ambitions, is not notable only as a study of a weak and passionate human being. It can also claim to be the most important and controversial political novel of the post-war era.
Its pictures of the men and women in the local Party 'machine' and in Parliament itself, is unlike anything written about politics before. But it has the shock of truth.
223 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 1959
1 person is currently reading
24 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 10, 2019
I'm afraid this book proved to be a great disappointment for me. I thought it would be more about parliament since Johnnie was an ambitious MP. Instead, it was more about his unsuccessful attempts to find a woman who would satisfy his rather adolescent approaches towards love. There were a few interesting twists in the plot but I found myself skipping large chunks of the story. I managed to read it to the end but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I am too old to waste my time reading something like this.
June 25, 2023
Author Wilfred Fienburgh sadly died in a car accident before this novel was published. At the time he was a very promising Member of Parliament and many suggested that he might well have become a future Prime Minister. His Parliamentary life was put to good use, however, in this story of Johnnie Byrne, an ambitious MP, elected to Parliament after returning injured from World War II and wondering where his future lay.
He stood for Parliament, was elected and then worked diligently, so much so that at one time he was seen as a rising star and destined for ministerial appointments. Along the way he had numerous lady friends but could not seal any long-term relationship. It all combined to make him an aimlessly, drifting young man.
His party's hierarchy did indeed notice him and this made him begin to think of going on to greater heights and following a further election, there was talk of him getting a post in a newly reorganised cabinet. But when it did not happen he once again began to drift, see more of his lady friends, without once again finding anything serious, and neglect his House of Commons duties. He did attend debates when the mood took him and Fienburgh uses his knowledge of House procedures and the layout of the establishment to good effect as he does when standing in a by-election and having to justify his actions to his constituents.
Disillusioned once more he spends more time with a particular lady friend and then he gets the call from the Prime Minister who, perhaps surprisingly, told him that he had been impressed with his more recent activities and that there was a possibility of a junior ministerial post ... and then his life began to change ... or did it?
He stood for Parliament, was elected and then worked diligently, so much so that at one time he was seen as a rising star and destined for ministerial appointments. Along the way he had numerous lady friends but could not seal any long-term relationship. It all combined to make him an aimlessly, drifting young man.
His party's hierarchy did indeed notice him and this made him begin to think of going on to greater heights and following a further election, there was talk of him getting a post in a newly reorganised cabinet. But when it did not happen he once again began to drift, see more of his lady friends, without once again finding anything serious, and neglect his House of Commons duties. He did attend debates when the mood took him and Fienburgh uses his knowledge of House procedures and the layout of the establishment to good effect as he does when standing in a by-election and having to justify his actions to his constituents.
Disillusioned once more he spends more time with a particular lady friend and then he gets the call from the Prime Minister who, perhaps surprisingly, told him that he had been impressed with his more recent activities and that there was a possibility of a junior ministerial post ... and then his life began to change ... or did it?
July 16, 2024
Johnnie Byrne, a left-leaning (but also fundamentally unprincipled) Labour MP, finds himself shut out of ministerial office as a centrist/right-wing Labour government comes to power, and he enters a self-destructive spiral. I thought this'd be an interesting read after the latest election -- the book was written by a Labour MP in the late 1950s and is still really interesting as a bit of insider writing, and especially for showing how dispiriting and even pathetic life in politics can be. The gender politics are very, very, VERY much of the time, especially in how it shows our Johnnie's brief and extremely strange affair with a woman half his age. In general the depictions of women here are pretty bad, but it's kinda difficult to unpick how much of that is the 1959 of it all, or a function of the book closely tracking Johnnie's consciousness, and showing the running monologue of a self-absorbed and striving cynic.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews