We have updated our Privacy Policy Please take a moment to review it. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the terms of our updated Privacy Policy.

Sailing Close to the Wind

Paperback / ISBN-13: 9781784291235

Price: £12.99

Disclosure: If you buy products using the retailer buttons above, we may earn a commission from the retailers you visit.

Dennis Skinner, the famed Beast of Bolsover, is adored by legions of supporters and respected as well as feared by admiring enemies. Fiery and forthright, with a prodigious recall, Skinner is one of the best-known politicians in Britain. He remains as passionate and committed to the causes he champions as on the first day he entered the House of Commons back in 1970.

In an age of growing cynicism about politicians, the witty and astute Skinner is renowned as a brightly burning beacon of principle. He has watched Prime Ministers come and go – Heath, Wilson, Callaghan, Thatcher, Major, Blair, Brown – and yet remains uncorrupted by patronage and compromise. Cameron discovered Skinner’s popularity when a public backlash forced the current PM to apologise in Parliament for calling Skinner a dinosaur who should be in a museum.

Skinner at eighty has a unique take on post-war Britain. A combatant in the great social, industrial and political upheavals of the last half century, he’s resisted telling his extraordinary story. Until now.

What's Inside

Read More Read Less

Reviews

Skinner's life . . . cried out to be recorded. In an era when politics has become increasingly bland and middle-class, there is marked shortage of working-class heroes
Observer
Witty, tender and packed with anecdotes
Big Issue in the North