Bittersweet biography

Today is the hardback publication day for Out Of The Blue, the Liz Truss biography by Harry Cole and James Heale.

I wrote about it on October 16 and again on October 30 and bought the ebook when it came out on November 1.

First, let’s acknowledge what an achievement it was to write the original draft in what I think was around two months.

To then rewrite parts of the manuscript, adding a new section that covered both her short period in office and her resignation as PM and get the book out ahead of the original publication date (December 8) borders on heroic.

You might conclude from this that the book will feel like a rushed job and will suffer in consequence.

Far from it. I’ve heard it described as a ‘romp’ but that’s a good thing in my book. It’s hugely readable and there is still a wealth of information from a wide variety of sources.

It’s also far from a hagiography. The authors may have started as sympathetic to Britain’s shortest serving prime minister but as other reviewers have noted the seeds of her demise were picked up by her biographers long before she and her Chancellor crashed and burned.

That said, and even with the benefit of hindsight, this is no hatchet job either. In the circumstances it’s arguably a bittersweet biography whose authors would have loved her libertarian brand of politics to succeed but regretfully recognise the errors and personal flaws that led to her shockingly brief term in office.

On a more prosaic level I’d love to know how a co-authored book such as this was researched and written. How, for example, was the work shared out?

In 1998, before I joined Forest, our late chairman Lord Harris co-authored a book about smoking with Forest researcher Judith Hatton.

Judith, I believe, did most of the research but the writing was shared between them with Ralph writing some chapters and Judith writing others.

And it was very obvious, Ralph’s more flowery style contrasting with Judith’s more intense, academic approach.

You would struggle to find a similar disparity in Out Of The Blue so I am curious how it was done.

Either way, and whatever your thoughts on Liz Truss and her brief premiership, it’s worth a read.

Libertarians in particular should weep. Power and politics does strange things to prime ministers, even those with firm beliefs, but Truss was arguably our best hope against a further strengthening of the nanny state.

What a pity she imploded so quickly.