Dear Queen by Janet Anderson
BETWEN November 1997 and July 1998 then-government whip Janet Anderson was given the task of writing nightly reports to Her Majesty The Queen on that day's business in Parliament. That role as Vice Chamberlain is steeped in history, going back to Henry VI, but she was told that Her Majesty did not like dry-as-dust missives, and would welcome something a bit gossipy. Janet took to the job with gusto. This was a period when the honeymoon with the voters enjoyed by Tony Blair's New Labour Government was coming to an end and Britain was heading towards war. Janet covered such heavyweight issues, but spiced up her reports with all the gossip, rumours and drink-fuelled humour sweeping the Palace of Westminster. In a chatty, increasingly informal - but always proper - way she referred in her missives to Pre-Menstrual Tension, Champagne parties, Christmas shopping, and which woman MPs were rumoured to be pregnant. She was also delightfully and unashamedly forthright about colleagues on both sides of the House. She told the Queen that: John Bercow, now Commons Speaker, was odious and a nasty piece of work who raised bogus points of order. Twice-Oscar-winner Glenda Jackson constantly missed debates as transport minister. The Ulster Unionists were a sour bunch. Former war correspondent and anti-sleaze MP Martin Bell was a pathetic joke figure. One-time Health Secretary Virginia Bottomley objected to the use of the word gay instead of homosexual. And former Tory leader Michael Howard was just loathsome. She threw in other references to Teletubbies in Parliament, the risk of the ceiling falling on the heads of MPs and schoolboy behaviour in the House. It is hard to imagine such forthright correspondence going directly to the Queen. The daily reports have never before been published. Nor have those of any of Janet's predecessors and successors. She, unlike them, retained copies. They make hilarious reading and amount to a colourful daily diary of a turbulent period in British political history.
Born and raised in western New York where she attended a two-room schoolhouse, Janet S.Anderson later attended Cornell University and went on to teach high school English. She hasalso worked in libraries and for the New York State Department of Education. Havinglived in Canada, Germany, and Sweden, she has settled in Latham, New York with her husband. She has two grown daughters, Kate and Alix. Janet S. Anderson is also the author of two picturebooks, The Key Into Winter and Sunflower Sal.copyright ?2000 by Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers. All rights reserved.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780993218385 |
| ISBN 10 | 0993218385 |
| Title | Dear Queen |
| Author | Janet Anderson |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Red Axe Books |
| Year published | 2016-04-06 |
| Number of pages | 290 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |