MARGARET HAYWARD, DIARY OF THE KIRK YEARS

I've just finished re-reading this wonderful book. Norman Kirk was our most impressive prime minister in the whole of the twentieth century. Deeply intelligent. Warmly imaginative. He had his blind spots, of course, but I don't know of any other leader who had such a generous vision for a better society - together with the political acumen to make a strikingly good stab at bringing it about. Margaret Hayman needs to be given a big thank-you from posterity for the way her book lets us understand Norman Kirk so much in the round, and so empathetically. She was lucky to work with so remarkable a leader. He was lucky to work with so gifted a biographer.

The book's full of his dry sense of fun.

One example: Queen Elizabeth, meeting him on one occasion, said: 'We don't like Labour Governments - they're not reliable.'
​
Norman Kirk's response: 'Well, there's one here, and I'm not only Labour, but Socialist as well.'