Andy McSmith is a lobby journalist who worked for many years for national newspapers including the Daily Mirror, Observer, Daily Telegraph and Independent and was political editor of the Independent on Sunday. He is also the author of three volumes of political biographies; a novel set in Parliament; a history of Britain in the 1980s; and a history of the great Russian artists who lived and worked during Stalin’s time.

His new book, Strange People I Have Known, is filled with vivid portraits of those at the heart of British politics over the past forty years: a memoir of a life well lived and an insider’s account of the inner workings of government.

In this episode, we discuss what it’s like to have been a lobby journalist, Andy’s encounters with titans such as Robert Maxwell and Margaret Thatcher, and which three giants he would like to have lunch with.

Get your copy of Strange People I Have Known here:

www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/strange-people-i-have-known

Music

Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3788-funkorama

Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Jesse Norman on the political rivalry that shaped an era

Biteback Chats BooksBy Biteback PublishingMay 30, 2023