Robert Taylor has written a highly readable, interesting and concise account of the political life of John Major. I read the book within 24 hours. The book deals mainly with John Major's political life and in particular his Premiership. The author outlines the difficulties faced by Major on his arrival in 10 Downing Street and argues plausibly that surmounting these issues were considerable political achievements in themselves. The Gulf war, Britain's future relationship within Europe and the Poll tax were dealt with or neutralised ahead of the 1992 election that delivered a fourth consecutive conservative victory. The author singles out Major's negotiations at Maastricht for particular praise, he highlights how Major's return from Maastricht had been compared with Disraeli's triumph at the congress of Berlin in 1878, yet concedes that it may have come to be viewed by some on the euro-sceptic right as similar to Chamberlain's return from Munich in 1938. This, perhaps, shows the extent of the deep divisions within the Conservative party on the European question not unlike the issue of Tarriff reform in the early 1900's and its catastrophic impact on party unity under Balfour. The author agrues that the Major government made good progress on public service reform and these reforms/policies were carried through further under the Blair government. The Downing street declaration in 1993 and the Framework document were the building blocks for the eventual Northern Ireland peace deal brokered by Blair in 1998. The book concludes with an assesment of Major's period in office with both positive and critical comments, it seems a fair summary. This book seeks to elevate Major's political reputation and i think it achieves that.