In Search of Michael Howard

Michael Howard has never been far from controversy in his twenty-two years in Parliament. Under Margaret Thatcher he introduced the poll tax, water privatisation and the notorious Clause 28. Later he was one of the most unpopular Home Secretaries of modern times, decried by his deputy Ann Widdecombe for having 'something of the night' about him. By 1997 Howard looked dead politically. Then a dramatic comeback propelled him to the Tory leadership. Michael Crick explores Michael Howard's complicated background -- the son of Jewish immigrants who settled in South Wales. As a member of the Cambridge Tory Mafia he once flirted with Labour, only to become a fervent Thatcherite and Eurosceptic -- but what does he really believe? Based on more than 400 interviews and extensive research, Michael Crick presents a rivetingly revealing look at the man who aspires to overturn Labour's massive majority at the next election.