Douglas Hurd – författare

The acclaimed Penguin Monarchs series: short, fresh, expert accounts of England's rulers - now in paperbackElizabeth II is the longest-serving monarch who ever sat on the English or British throne. Yet her personality and influence remain elusive. This book, by a senior politician who has spent significant periods of time in her company, and is also a distinguished historian, portrays her more credibly than any other yet published.Douglas Hurd was a politician, biographer and novelist who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, as Minister for Europe (1979-83), Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1984-85), Home Secretary (1985-89) and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1989-95). His previous books include his Memoirs, Robert Peel: A Biography and, with Edward Young, Choose Your Weapons: The British Foreign Secretary - 200 Years of Argument, Success and Failure.

Douglas Hurd retired as Foreign Secretary in 1995 after a distinguished career in Government spanning 16 years. As Secretary of State for Ireland, Home Secretary and then six years in the Foreign Office in Margaret Thatcher and John Major's administrations, he was at the very heart of modern political decision-making. Earlier he had run Edward Heath's private office from 1968 to 1970 and acted as his Political Secretary when Heath was Prime Minister (1970-74). A Life Peer since 1997, he continues to write highly respected political novels and works in the City as Chairman of the Advisory Committee of Hawkpoint Partners.

Sir James Percival, a cool, world-weary veteran of Tory politics, finds himself with a small but workable majority after 7 years of Labour rule and might be forgiven for looking forward to a quiet life. But life, especially in politics, isn't like that. His 2nd wife Helena & disreputable son Antony don't get on & the move to No.10 leads to flare-ups that can't be kept private. The Cabinet are soon at odds over Ireland where a new wave of violence has crested out of a calm sea. Popular, brilliant Jeremy Cornwall, young rogue elephant of the Toryies, exploits the opportunity with a crusade to Bring the Boys Home. The Government's attempt to counter-attack is disastrously betrayed by someone inside No.10. Suddenly in a matter of weeks the government is fighting for its life & the PM has sinister information that his own may be at short call. How these events themselves with the personal relationships of the PM's immediate circle, how people in a tight corner discover qualities they were never suspected of, how the sheer pace of events takes charge, how politics is the most addictive of all drugs, Douglas Hurd shows with all the deceptively easy mastery of the real professional.

We live in a world of nation states, immortal and political entities that act as a focus for the loyalty of the citizen but cannot by themselves meet those citizens' needs. As the history of our own continent illustrates, a Europe of nation states has bred a Europe of endemic warfare. Such has been the problem facing international diplomacy for nearly two hundred years. Douglas Hurd traces the search for peace back to the Treaty of Vienna in 1815, focusing his attention on four key events - the Congress of Vienna, the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, the Yalta settlement of 1945 and the collapse of Communism. He demonstrates how the diplomatic realism that kept Europe at peace for a century was destroyed by both American idealism at the end of the First World War and the accompanying rise of Nazism, Fascism and Marxism. Only by appreciating the lessons of the past, can we meet the new challenges presented by the tumultuous events of 1989, when the threat of nuclear war was replaced by the open wound of Bosnia. Combining acute historical analysis with the unique insight of a former Foreign Secretary, THE SEARCH FOR PEACE is a major contribution to our understanding of international politics.

Life of one of the greatest British Prime Ministers - by an author who knows the scene from his years as a senior Minister in Margaret Thatcher's Cabinet.Robert Peel, as much as any man in the nineteenth century, transformed Great Britain into a modern nation. He invented our police force, which became a model for the world. He steered through the Bill which allowed Catholics to sit in Parliament. He reorganised the criminal justice system. Above all he tackled poverty by repealing the Corn Laws. Thanks to Peel the most powerful trading nation chose free trade and opened the door for our globalised world of today.Peel was not all politics. He built two great houses, filled them with famous pictures and was devoted to a beautiful wife. Many followers never forgave him for splitting his Party. But when in 1850 he was carried home after a fall from his horse crowds gathered outside, mainly of working people, to read the medical bulletins. When he died a few days later, factories closed, flags flew at half mast and thousands contributed small sums to memorials in his honour. He was the man who provided cheap bread and sacrificed his career for the welfare of ordinary people.

Benjamin Disraeli was the most gifted parliamentarian of the nineteenth century and a superb orator, writer and wit - but how much do we really know about the man behind the words?'As Douglas Hurd and Edward Young point out in their splendidly written, finely judged and thoroughly persuasive book, a vast chasm yawned between the real Disraeli and his posthumous reinvention' Dominic Sandbrook, SUNDAY TIMES'Not only, they tell us in this vigorously debunking romp through his political life, did he never use the phrases "One Nation" or "Tory Democracy", he was actively hostile to the concepts that they are now understood to represent' Sam Leith, THE SPECTATOR'The book is more a study in character . . . than a staid political narrative. As a result, Disraeli: Or the Two Lives is full of unexpected jolts and paradoxes . . . It proves an unflagging pleasure to read' Richard Davenport-Hines, GUARDIAN'So intoxicating that you will find yourself snorting it up in one go, as I did, with great pleasure' Boris Johnson, MAIL ON SUNDAY