For the Record (book)

Last updated

For the Record
For the Record.jpg
Front cover of the first edition
Author David Cameron
Audio read byDavid Cameron
LanguageEnglish
Genre Memoir
Published19 September 2019
PublisherWilliam Collins
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Pages752
ISBN 0-008-23928-2

For the Record is a memoir by former British Prime Minister David Cameron, published by William Collins, an imprint of HarperCollins UK, on 19 September 2019. It gives an insight into his life at 10 Downing Street, as well as inside explanations of the decisions taken by his government.

Contents

History

It was reported that Cameron signed an £800,000 contract with HarperCollins UK in 2016 for the rights to the publication of a 'frank' account of his time in Downing Street. [1] The autobiography was initially planned to be released in 2018, but was delayed so that Cameron would not be seen as a "backseat driver" in Theresa May's handling of Brexit. In April 2017, Cameron revealed that he had purchased a £25,000 designer garden shed to write in. [2] The book was published in September 2019 shortly before the Conservative Party Conference. [3]

Synopsis

Cameron said that his aim in writing the book was to "correct the record" where he thought it was wrong. [4] It covers his decision to call the 2016 referendum on the UK's European Union membership and its outcome, which led him to quit as Prime Minister and as MP for Witney two months later. It also describes the Scottish independence referendum and his reforms to economy, welfare and education. His controversial foreign policy is mentioned, as is the 2013 legalisation of same-sex marriage under his government.

The book addresses the effects of the severe epilepsy and cerebral palsy suffered by Cameron's son Ivan who died at the age of 6. For the Record is dedicated to Cameron's wife Samantha.

William Collins' overview said that Cameron gives "for the first time, his perspective on the EU referendum and his views on the future of Britain's place in the world in the light of Brexit". [5]

Publication

Cameron was interviewed by News at Ten presenter Tom Bradby in The Cameron Interview on 16 September. [6] ITV said the interview was watched by an average of 3 million viewers. Excerpts of For the Record were published in The Times in the week before the book's release and Cameron became the final interview for outgoing BBC Radio 4 Today presenter John Humphrys. [7]

For the Record was published in the UK on 19 September 2019, with The Bookseller writing that all author profits from the £25 [8] hardback would go to charity. It was published in the United States on 24 September, and in e-book and audio with Cameron reading the audiobook himself. HarperCollins Publishers retained the book's world rights. [9]

20,792 copies of For the Record were sold in its first week on sale, placing it second to Margaret Atwood's The Testaments in the book charts. [10]

Reception

Writing in the newspaper i, James Hanning, a biographer of Cameron, said "his book displays all the sensitivity and communication skills he showed in office... Cameron is said to have not enjoyed writing this book, but it doesn't feel that way. Despite its demands, he gives every sense of having enjoyed office. Until June 2016, that is." [11]

John Rentoul, the chief political commentator for The Independent , compared the book to Tony Blair's memoir, A Journey , and said "Cameron makes his case with style. The book is easy to read, with some nice self-deprecating touches." [12]

The Telegraph called the book "well-written and lucid" and said "To Cameron's great credit, the importance of family shines throughout this book... He details a patrician, gilded, almost Edwardian upbringing, growing up in a Berkshire rectory with a nanny, boarding school at the age of seven, Eton, Oxford. He married a beautiful and supportive wife, their happiness shaken by the birth of a disabled son Ivan, who died aged six. His account of that tragedy is heartbreaking." [13]

The Guardian 's Jonathan Freedland said that the book "reminds you why Cameron dominated British politics for so long. The prose is, like him, smooth and efficient. There are welcome splashes of colour." [14]

In The Telegraph, Allison Pearson called it "an exhaustive (and exhausting) case for the defence", in which "the author is like a driver who, in a moment of madness, caused an almighty pile-up and tries to convince a jury to go easy on him, offering plentiful evidence of previous good conduct." [15]

Writing in the Evening Standard , editor (and former Chancellor of the Exchequer under Cameron) George Osborne found it to be "one of the very best" political memoirs, saying "His book has been so hard for him to write. It's been a kind of purgatory for him, motivated by a sense of duty that Prime Ministers should explain why they did what they did, for the record. It's why it is so good." He clarified "I'm not neutral as Cameron is my friend." [16]

In The Times , Robert Harris called the book "a traditional exercise in self-justification" and said that its publication "could hardly be worse timed. It is as if Stanley Baldwin, another quintessential Tory leader, had published his memoirs at the height of the Blitz." [17]

Related Research Articles

Amanda Craig is a British novelist, critic and journalist. She was a recipient of the Catherine Pakenham Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Partridge</span> British comedy character

Alan Gordon Partridge is a comedy character portrayed by the English actor Steve Coogan. A parody of British television personalities, Partridge is a tactless and inept broadcaster with an inflated sense of celebrity. Since his debut in 1991, he has appeared in media including radio and television series, books, podcasts and film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Buxton</span> English actor and comedian (born 1969)

Adam Offord Buxton is an English actor, comedian, podcaster and writer. With the filmmaker Joe Cornish, he is part of the comedy duo Adam and Joe. They presented the Channel 4 television series The Adam and Joe Show (1996–2001) and the BBC Radio 6 Music series Adam and Joe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vince Cable</span> Former Leader of the Liberal Democrats

Sir John Vincent Cable is a British politician who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2017 to 2019. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Twickenham from 1997 to 2015 and from 2017 to 2019. He also served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills from 2010 to 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Grayling</span> British politician (born 1962)

Christopher Stephen Grayling is a British politician and author who served as Secretary of State for Justice from 2012 to 2015, Leader of the House of Commons from 2015 to 2016 and Secretary of State for Transport from 2016 until 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Epsom and Ewell from 2001 to 2024. Grayling previously worked in the television and film industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Hannan</span> British politician (born 1971)

Daniel John Hannan, Baron Hannan of Kingsclere is a British writer, journalist and politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 1999 to 2020. He is currently a sitting member of the House of Lords where he takes the Conservative whip, and has since 2020 served as an adviser to the Board of Trade. He is the founding president of the Initiative for Free Trade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Moore, Baron Moore of Etchingham</span> English journalist and newspaper editor

Charles Hilary Moore, Baron Moore of Etchingham is an English journalist and a former editor of The Daily Telegraph, The Spectator and The Sunday Telegraph; he still writes for all three. He is known for his authorised biography of Margaret Thatcher, published in three volumes. Under the government of Boris Johnson, Moore was given a peerage in July 2020, thus becoming a member of the House of Lords.

Judith Allison Pearson is a British columnist and author.

Colin Grant is a British writer of Jamaican origin, who is the author of several books, including a 2008 biography of Marcus Garvey entitled Negro with a Hat: The Rise and Fall of Marcus Garvey and His Dream of Mother Africa and a 2012 memoir, Bageye at the Wheel. Grant is also a historian, Associate Fellow in the Centre for Caribbean Studies and was a BBC radio producer.

Anthony Paul Bamford, Baron Bamford,, is a British billionaire businessman who is the chairman of J.C. Bamford Excavators Limited (JCB). He succeeded his father, Joseph Cyril Bamford, as chairman and managing director of the company in 1975, at the age of 30. He was knighted in 1990. Bamford has appeared in the Sunday Times Rich List, and in 2021 his net worth was estimated at US$9.48 billion. Bamford is a car collector whose collection includes two examples of the rare Ferrari 250 GTO, valued upwards of $70 million each.

Daniel Korski is a UK-based Danish political adviser and businessperson. He worked as deputy head of the Number 10 Policy Unit for David Cameron and served as a vice-president of the Jewish Leadership Council. He founded the business PUBLIC, which aims to support technology companies to secure public sector contracts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conservative Party Conference</span> Annual national conference of the British Conservative Party

The Conservative Party Conference (CPC) is a four-day national conference event held by the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. It takes place every year around October during the British party conference season, when the House of Commons is usually in recess. The event's location has alternated between Birmingham's International Convention Centre (ICC) and Manchester's Central Convention Complex since 2008. Previously, it had alternated between Blackpool and Bournemouth. In contrast to the Liberal Democrat Conference, where every party member attending its Conference, either in-person or online, has the right to vote on party policy, under a one member, one vote system, or the Labour Party Conference, where 50% of votes are allocated to affiliated organisations, and in which all voting is restricted to nominated representatives, the Conservative Party Conference does not hold votes on party policy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Temerko</span> Soviet-born British businessman

Alexander Viktorovich Temerko is a Ukrainian businessman in the energy sector, currently a director of the British company Aquind Limited. Previously, he was director and deputy chairman of the British company OGN Group. While in Russia, he held senior posts in the Russian Defence Ministry in the 1990s and, from 1999, was a senior executive and director at the Russian oil and gas company Yukos. He has resided in the United Kingdom since 2004. He became a British citizen in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UK Parliament petitions website</span> Website where the public can petition the British Parliament

The UK Parliament petitions website (e-petitions) allows members of the public to create and support petitions for consideration by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Although the UK Parliament's Petitions Committee considers all petitions which receive 100,000 signatures or more, there is no automatic parliamentary debate of those that pass this threshold. The Government will respond to all petitions with more than 10,000 signatures.

<i>Me</i> (book) Autobiography of Elton John

Me is the autobiography of the English singer, pianist and composer Elton John. It was released on 15 October 2019 by Macmillan Publishers. It was ghostwritten by journalist Alexis Petridis, who worked on the book with John for three and a half years.

The Brexit 50p coin is a commemorative fifty-pence British coin that was originally struck to mark the planned withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 31 October 2019. The minting of the Brexit coin was ordered by Sajid Javid. A total of 10 million Brexit coins, each stamped with the date 31 October 2019, were planned to be minted. In late October 2019, with increasing doubts that Brexit would actually happen on that date, the minting of the coins was "paused".

2010s political history refers to significant political and societal historical events in the United Kingdom in the 2010s, presented as a historical overview in narrative format.

Timothy Pleydell-Bouverie is a British historian and former political journalist at Channel 4 News.

References

  1. ↑ Mason, Rowena (25 October 2016). "David Cameron signs deal to write tell-all autobiography". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  2. ↑ "David Cameron buys £25,000 shed". BBC News. 30 April 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  3. ↑ Perraudin, Frances (16 May 2019). "David Cameron's book to be published in September". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  4. ↑ Ross, Tim (25 September 2019). "David Cameron For the Record Book Review: Legacy Beyond Brexit". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  5. ↑ McGuinness, Alan (17 May 2019). "For The Record: David Cameron's autobiography gets release date". Sky News. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  6. ↑ Power, Ed (16 September 2019). "The Cameron Interview, review: Half-hour box-ticking back-and-forth leaves viewers wanting more". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  7. ↑ Walker, James (17 September 2019). "ITV's David Cameron interview watched by average of 3m viewers". Press Gazette. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  8. ↑ "For the Record by David Cameron | Waterstones". www.waterstones.com. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  9. ↑ "David Cameron's memoir to be published in September | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  10. ↑ Flood, Alison (24 September 2019). "David Cameron's memoir fails to top Tony Blair's in first week sales". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  11. ↑ Hanning, James (18 September 2019). "David Cameron, For the Record, review: Memoir has plenty of revelations — and omissions". inews.
  12. ↑ Rentoul, John (19 September 2019). "David Cameron's memoir of failure carries eerie echoes of Tony Blair". The Independent.
  13. ↑ Johnston, Philip (18 September 2019). "For the Record by David Cameron, review: A lucid, heart-breaking memoir – but is Cameron fooling himself?". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  14. ↑ Freedland, Jonathan (19 September 2019). "For the Record: David Cameron's memoir is honest but still wrong". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  15. ↑ Pearson, Allison (22 September 2019). "For the Record by David Cameron, review: If only he hadn't chosen head over heart". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  16. ↑ "George Osborne: My friend David's memoir is a great political read". Evening Standard. 19 September 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  17. ↑ Harris, Robert (28 September 2019). "For the Record by David Cameron review — Robert Harris has no truck with the former PM's memoir". The Times. ISSN   1479-2559 . Retrieved 29 September 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.