I have a new book out next week and have found a new way of getting extra copies out there (good for me, good for the publisher) in a way that helps a good media/political cause (good for the world no less!)
It won’t be a surprise that I am still lamenting the result of the EU referendum and lamenting even more the shambolic handling of the aftermath by the three Brexiteers Theresa May has (sort of) put in charge.
Among the little rays of light to emerge from the disaster though was a new pop-up newspaper, The New European, which was launched without much marketing or any advertising in the wake of the June 23 vote but is already in profit. It is also a good intelligent paper with a lot of interesting stuff in it.
The owners have been proceeding on a week by week basis. But I think we can safely say they are going to be here for at least the next thirteen weeks.
And the reason I know that is that people who sign up to get the weekly paper on subscription for the next thirteen weeks – for 20 quid – will also get a free copy of the book. That is cheaper than the cover price, and postage is included! So get the paper tomorrow, see the first instalment of their three week serialisation of the book and if you like the paper and like the book you can subscribe and get a lot more of both. The first few hundred will be signed by me though as the Guardian’s Mike White often says, I sign so many books that maybe the unsigned ones are more valuable.
Here is the link you need to see the details of the subscription offer.
The book, my twelfth since leaving Downing Street, is called ‘Outside, Inside’ and consists of my diaries from my departure in the autumn of 2003 to the 2005 general election which I sincerely hope will not go down in history as the last ever won by Labour.
Fittingly given the paper that is serialising it the main story they have gone for to lead the paper tomorrow is a Europe one – the revelation that at one point in 2004, things got so bad in what we called the TBGBs that Tony Blair began to sound out EU leaders about the idea of becoming the president of the European Commission, which would have meant resigning and making way for Gordon Brown three years earlier than he did.
There is, alas, plenty of TBGBery on display but we did nonetheless manage to win that 2005 election and the second part next week will go through the tortuous process that led to the campaign being put together.
Meanwhile, from back then to now … and here is the piece I wrote for The New European a few weeks ago on the need for the 48percent to keep fighting for their vision of Britain in Europe against the muddle and mayhem currently on offer.
Seems the Tory government is attempting Brexit by soundbites. If sense prevails, it should be put in the trash can, somehow, in any way.
I’m reading the new diaries now. Loving them as I loved the others. One thing struck me; you commented on how you couldn’t say to your dad he had been a fantastic father in case it suggested to him the end was coming. I so empathise with that; the last time I saw my dad in hospital my last words were ‘see you soon’; even though I knew he was likely to die in the next few hours. I couldn’t do an emotional goodbye, for the same reasons. On the other hand; I missed my wife’s death by an hour. I held her hand and told her I loved her etc; but the great thing was, it didn’t matter that she wasn’t there to hear it; I wasn’t saying anything that I hadn’t said every time I’d seen her for years (she was very ill for a very long time). It brought home to me that you shouldn’t save these things for the end; you should say them regularly. With that in mind, although we don’t agree about everything, thank you for what you are doing for mental health, for your diaries, and for what you did for the Labour Party.
Good news for very early fellow subscribers who’ve not yet received anything; I got my first paper this weekend, a good read xxx