Charles Moore’s forthcoming [amazon_link id=”0140279563″ target=”_blank” ]The Life of Margaret Thatcher[/amazon_link] will no doubt be fascinating. I’m not an avid reader political biographies and memoirs, although there are a few absolutely outstanding ones – such as Alan Clarke’s [amazon_link id=”1857991427″ target=”_blank” ]Diaries[/amazon_link], Chris Mullins’ first volume about life as a junior minister, [amazon_link id=”1846682304″ target=”_blank” ]A View From the Foothills[/amazon_link]. But so many dull ones too, such as the [amazon_link id=”0224016830″ target=”_blank” ]Crossman Diaries[/amazon_link] I had to read at university.

When it comes to reading about the Iron Lady, the earlier biography I did read and admire was Hugo Young’s [amazon_link id=”0330328417″ target=”_blank” ]One of Us[/amazon_link] – published in 1989 so before the end of her political career. It’s a brilliant book that makes credible the (often implausible) claim that journalism can be the first draft of history. Looking through it again this morning, my first thought was that the great achievement of Thatcherism was actually getting something – anything – to happen: sclerosis and ungovernability are two sides of the same coin.

[amazon_image id=”0330328417″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]One of Us: Life of Margaret Thatcher[/amazon_image]

But the outstanding book about the Thatcher government is Nigel Lawson’s [amazon_link id=”0552137278″ target=”_blank” ]The View From Number 11[/amazon_link], which sets out the economic thinking of Thatcherism (its essence), discusses how Westminster and Whitehall worked at the time & the tactics of bringing about change, and is completely gripping about the disastrous tensions that set in between Prime Minister and Chancellor.

[amazon_image id=”0593022181″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]The View from No.11: Memoirs of a Tory Radical[/amazon_image]