Margaret Thatcher, Volume One: The Grocer's Daughter by John Campbell
Vintage £11.99

This reissue of the first volume of Campbell's acclaimed three-part biography finishes with Margaret at the door of No 10 after her 1979 election victory. His analysis of the preceding years demonstrates that her ascent to the top of British politics caught her own party by surprise. At Oxford, she failed to shine with the same sparkle as some of her more luminous contemporaries, including Tony Benn and Ludovic Kennedy. Her immense capacity for hard work earned her a place in Heath's cabinet but few colleagues expected her to become party leader. Campbell's biography is stuffed with policy detail but we find little about her barren inner life. Politics took priority over her family and she had few strong friendships, even in politics, her intellectual mentor, Keith Joseph, being a striking exception.