Sunday, April 25, 2010

Five great fictional prime ministers

Michael Dobbs served as Chief of Staff to British Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major and was Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party in the mid-1990s. His many books include House of Cards, the first in what would become a trilogy of political thrillers based on the character Francis Urquhart.

His latest novel is The Reluctant Hero.

Dobbs named a brief list of great fictional Prime Ministers for the Times (London).

One PM on the list:
Adam Lang in The Ghost by Robert Harris (2007)

Like Perkins, Lang is also a Labour PM but there the similarities peter out. Idealism for Lang is only speech-deep; he is a barely disguised Blair. The Ghost is a stomach-scouring denunciation of new Labour by one of its most enthusiastic early supporters.
Read about another Prime Minister on Dobbs' list.

Read about Michael Dobbs and his books.

The Page 69 Test: The Lords’ Day.

--Marshal Zeringue