"Its closely observed portrayal of what goes on in the corridors of power has given me hours of pure joy" -- Rt Hon. Margaret Thatcher MP "We have had diaries from other Cabinet Ministers, but none I think which have been quite so illuminating... It is a fascinating diary... It is shorter than Barbara Castle's... and although it is rather more accurate than Dick Crossman's, it is distinctly funnier" -- Lord Allen of Abbeydale (formerly Permanent Secretary at the Home Office) The Times "It has an entertainment and educational value which is unique. It is uproariously funny and passes the acid test of becoming more amusing at every subsequent reading... I will go so far as to claim that in the characters of Jim Hacker and Sir Humphrey Appleby, Messrs Lynn and Jay have created something as immortal as P.G. Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster and Jeeves" -- Brian Walden The Standard

"Its closely observed portrayal of what goes on in the corridors of power has given me hours of pure joy" -- Rt Hon. Margaret Thatcher MP "We have had diaries from other Cabinet Ministers, but none I think which have been quite so illuminating... It is a fascinating diary... It is shorter than Barbara Castle's... and although it is rather more accurate than Dick Crossman's, it is distinctly funnier" -- Lord Allen of Abbeydale (formerly Permanent Secretary at the Home Office) The Times "It has an entertainment and educational value which is unique. It is uproariously funny and passes the acid test of becoming more amusing at every subsequent reading... I will go so far as to claim that in the characters of Jim Hacker and Sir Humphrey Appleby, Messrs Lynn and Jay have created something as immortal as P.G. Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster and Jeeves" -- Brian Walden The Standard