Geoffrey Shakespeare was a Liberal MP during the inter war period. He served as a secretary to Lloyd George during the negotiations over Irish Independence. He was a minister for housing involved with slum clearances. He was a minister in the Admiralty just before and during WWII. Then he was moved to the overseas dominions office. While there he was involved in the evacuation of children to Commonwealth countries before the scheme was scrapped after a second boat was sank by the Germans. After the war, he was part of a Parliamentary delegation to the African colonies.

All through his account, his insight is sharp and the stories he tells entertaining. The stories that stick out are Winston Churchill and Michael Collins sharing jokes and a gaggle of African college girls mistaking him for the playwrite William Shakespeare and mobbing him like a movie star! His insight into colonial politics in Africa is particularly interesting. He was against the colour bar which he saw as unfair. However, he wasn't completely without prejudice, the prejudice that was taught to all good public schoolboys. However, his natural Liberal and Baptist background tried to be fair in colonial dealings. Unfortunately, he probably believed too much the sense that native workers on certain industries were well cared for. Yes they may have been physically cared for, provided education, healthcare and housing, but only so long as they towed the line and followed the rules. And, I can get a sense of the problems with Rhodesia. However, apartheid in South Africa did not seem a logical conclusion. However, it was only what Geoffrey was shown. And he wasn't to know that General Smuts' change of view on apartheid would mean that he never held office again.

If you are interested in interwar British History, this book is for you. If you want an inside look at the Irish negotiations, this is for you. If you want a fair comparison of Lloyd George and Churchill from one who knew and liked both men, this is for you. If you are interested in the politics of interwar slum clearances and their immediate consequences, this is for you. Well written, full of lovely anecdotes but a good explanation of how the politics worked as well. I am so glad I sought out this book. I feel enriched having read it.