Unmasking Our Leaders

Book excerpt: A Daily Mail Political Book of the Year "Michael Cockerell is the master" – Laura Kuenssberg "A triumph" – Alan Johnson "My political book of the year" – Iain Dale "The master chronicler of our political age" – Nick Robinson "Endlessly compelling" – Emily Maitlis "Excellent" – New European "Riveting" – Tony Rennell, Daily Mail Book of the Year "The David Attenborough of the political animal kingdom" – Rory Bremner "Richly entertaining" – Steve Richards "Brimming with priceless indiscretions" – Mail on Sunday "The Holbein of the televisual political portrait" – Professor Peter Hennessy *** Our political leaders spend their careers spinning their images and polishing their achievements; Michael Cockerell has spent his professional life stripping off the gloss. Over fifty years, he has gained unrivalled access to the secret chambers of Westminster and Whitehall. Here, he reveals in illuminating and often hilarious stories what our top politicians are really like behind the mask. Drawing on his unique experience of having filmed all the past ten Prime Ministers, Cockerell tells how he manages to lull some of the wariest people in the land into candour, and shows how questions of sex are never far from the surface in Westminster. Amongst much else, he recounts: how Margaret Thatcher flirted with him on screen but attacked him by name in the Commons; how Tony Blair said he would willingly 'pay the blood price' in Iraq; how David Cameron learned from Enoch Powell always to make a big speech on a full bladder – and how Boris Johnson admitted to doubts about his ability to be Prime Minister. Funny, riveting and above all revealing, Unmasking Our Leaders is an absorbing insight into half a century of British politics.