Charles Moore was born in 1956 and educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read History. He joined the staff of the Daily Telegraph in 1979, and as a political columnist in the 1980s covered several years of Mrs Thatcher's first and second governments. He was Editor of the Spectator 1984-90; Editor of the Sunday Telegraph 1992-95; and Editor of the Daily Telegraph 1995-2003, for which he is still a regular columnist. He is married, with a grown-up son and daughter, and lives in Sussex. The first volume of his biography of Margaret Thatcher, published in 2013, won the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography, the HW Fisher Best First Biography Prize and Political Book of the Year at the Paddy Power Political Book Awards.
Moore's great gift is his ability to make Thatcher's story fresh
again, and above all to remind us of how odd she was ... During the
decade and a half he worked on this authorised biography - of which
this is only the first volume - Moore had unprecedented access to
her private papers, on condition that nothing be published until
after her death. He interviewed just about everyone who knew
Thatcher, from her private secretaries to her political enemies,
and he did so meticulously, in reverse order of age ... The
thoroughness of the research, the hundreds of interviews, and above
all the access to her family and friends, enabled Moore to produce
a multifaceted picture of a compelling life ... Although this is
very much a narrative biography, it is also a book about ideas:
where they come from, how they affect people and how they get
shaped into policies ... In the end, this combination of biography
and intellectual history works perfectly ... To understand what
happened to Britain during her prime ministership and afterwards,
it really is important to understand who she was: Moore's Thatcher
will now become the definitive account
*Daily Telegraph*
Sixteen years ago, Mrs Thatcher picked Moore to write her
authorised biography, not to be published until after her death.
When his appointment was announced, her supporters cheered, and her
opponents groaned: Moore was, they both felt, strongly Thatcherite,
and would surely give her the easiest of rides. Both sides have
grossly underestimated him. With this first volume ... Moore has
produced a biography so masterly - so packed with fascinating
detail, with such a strong narrative drive, propelled by a central
character who is at the same time both very bizarre and very
conventional - that it comes as close as biography can come to
being a work of art ... One of the many strengths of his book is
that it never loses sight of just how unusual she was, in terms of
both her personal psychology and her place in public life ... This
book is a triumph of diligence. Moore interviewed 315 people, and
was clearly blessed with the knack of getting them to open up.
Ribald insults, gossip, political secrets, private grievances and
funny stories - many of them very, very funny - fly off every page.
But it is also a triumph of narrative art and human understanding,
at its centre a peculiar force of nature, never to be repeated.
'People are fascinated, appalled, delighted by her,' writes Moore.
'Many think she saved Britain, many that she destroyed it.' I would
be surprised if they don't all agree, though, that this is one of
the greatest political biographies ever written
*Mail on Sunday*
He mines his sources skilfully without becoming their captive. His
prose is more considered and his conclusions more nuanced than his
... journalism. He is not afraid to address the contradictions and
tease out the inconsistences of his subject. Nor to be critical,
sometimes deeply so. The result is to paint a much more
multidimensional portrait of Thatcher than the caricature heroine
adored by the right or the devil incarnate loathed by the left ...
The prose is intricate, elegant and laced with dry humour ... This
biography ... immensely adds to our knowledge and understanding of
the longest-reigning prime minister of the democratic age
*Andrew Rawnsley*
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