Patrick Maguire – författare

The intensely moving memoir of Patrick Maguire, one of the ‘Maguire Seven’, wrongly imprisoned as a teenager for making bombs for the IRA.On the night of October 5 1974, an IRA unit left bombs in two Guildford pubs: five people were killed. On the night of December 3 1974, on the strength of fabricated testimony extracted under duress from Paul Hill and Gerard Conlon (whom the police mistakenly believed had planted the Guildford bombs), Anne and Paddy Maguire, two of their four children, Vincent and Patrick, plus other family members and friends, a total of seven in all, were arrested at their home in West London. On 22 October 1975, the Guildford Four were wrongfully convicted of bombing the two pubs in Guildford. On 4 March 1976, the Maguire Seven, as they had become known, were found guilty of possession of the nitro-glycerine used in those bombings.On 19 October 1989, the verdicts on the Guildford Four were quashed. On 26 June 1991, the convictions against the Maguire Seven of handling explosives were quashed and just over a year later, Sir John May, after producing a report on the Maguire Seven case, described it as the worst miscarriage of justice he had ever seen.Behind these dates lie human stories – ‘My Father's Watch’ tells that of Patrick, who was the youngest of the accused, at fourteen years old. He was sentenced to four years and when he came out he had no home and no family, as both of his parents were still in jail. This book takes us through Patrick's entire life, from his working-class childhood in West London to the difficult life he has led since prison, the roots of which go back to the wrongful convictions and the destruction of the family that followed.Patrick Maguire and the novelist Carlo Gébler have written ‘My Father's Watch’ jointly. It is not a ghosted work – told in Patrick's own voice, it is a lucid and inspiring account of one individual's experience of an appalling injustice, as well as a reminder, as the war against terror ratchets up, of just how much harm a state can do to its own innocent citizens in the name of security.

'THE POLITICAL BOOK OF THE YEAR' Tim ShipmanA blistering narrative exposé of infighting, skulduggery and chaos in Corbyn's Labour party, now revised and updated.* A Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Times and i Newspaper Book of the Year *Left Out tells, for the first time, the astonishing full story of Labour's recent transformation and historic defeat.Drawing on unrivalled access, this blistering exposé moves from the peak of Jeremy Corbyn's popularity and the shock hung parliament of 2017 to Labour's humbling in 2019 and the election of Keir Starmer. It reveals a party at war with itself, and puts the reader in the room as tensions boil over, sworn enemies forge unlikely alliances and lifelong friendships are tested to breaking point.This is the ultimate account of the greatest experiment seen in British politics for a generation.'Gripping... Every bit as good as people say' Guardian'Reads like a thriller...told with panache and pace' Financial Times'The definitive post-mortem of the Corbyn project' Sunday Times

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER – NOW INCLUDING THE DRAMATIC FIRST YEAR IN POWER‘Without question the political book of the year’ Tim Shipman‘Remarkable’ Rory Stewart‘There are revelations on virtually every page of this addictive and compelling book’ Steve Richards, Literary ReviewFrom electoral wipe-out to landslide victory and on into its first tumultuous year in government, Get In is the definitive behind-the-scenes account of Labour’s brutal return to power – and a blistering exposé of the people who now run the country.Drawing on unrivalled access, extensive leaks and a trove of secret WhatsApp messages, Get In tells the story of how a handful of people gamed their way to the ultimate prize in British politics – with barely a clue what to do when they got there.‘A superb work . . . which defines the Starmer premiership’ Peter Oborne‘Gripping . . . fast-paced’ Sunday Times‘A rattling tale terrifically well told’ Andrew Rawnsley'Extraordinarily detailed and sometimes bloodstained' Tom Baldwin, Guardian‘Unsparing . . . brilliant’ Spectator'As excruciating as it is insightful' Economist‘An astonishing feat of journalism’ Prospect‘A cracking read’ Financial Times‘So many golden nuggets’ Michael Gove‘Riveting . . . the revelations made me gasp’ Matt Chorley‘Stuffed full of scoops’ Laura Kuenssberg‘Devastating . . . full of lively stories’ Andrew Marr‘Impeccably written’ Lewis Goodall‘Gripping’ Helen LewisBook of the Year in the Times, Guardian, Financial Times, iNews and Telegraph

*THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**A FINANCIAL TIMES, GUARDIAN AND TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025*Get In is the explosive behind-the-scenes story of Labour’s brutal return to power and a revelatory account of Keir Starmer's ascent to Number 10.‘Without question the political book of the year’ Tim Shipman‘A cracking read’ Financial Times‘Gripping . . . fast-paced’ Sunday Times‘A rattling tale terrifically well told’ Andrew Rawnsley‘So many golden nuggets’ Michael GoveFrom electoral wipeout in 2019 to landslide victory in 2024 and on into Labour’s first hundred days in government, Get In is a blistering exposé of the most significant and ruthless political transformation in a generation.At its heart is Morgan McSweeney, a mastermind of political subterfuge and author of a strategy to eviscerate the party, bury the left and rebuild it as a vote-winning machine. In Starmer he saw the perfect vessel for his vision: a man with no political identity but burning with ambition and a single all-consuming principle: to win.Drawing on unrivalled access throughout the party and extensive leaks of internal party documents and WhatsApp messages, Get In shows how together they betrayed and marginalised Corbyn and his followers, then forged a path in which promises, and at times principles, were readily discarded in pursuit of power.‘Remarkable’ Rory Stewart‘Riveting . . . the revelations made me gasp’ Matt Chorley‘Stuffed full of scoops’ Laura Kuenssberg‘Devastating . . . full of lively stories’ Andrew Marr‘Impeccably written’ Lewis Goodall‘Gripping’ Helen Lewis