Children of the Master

Andrew Marr is such a curious novelist. He really knows his stuff - as a political journalist, his insight into the scheming and manouevres of the British political system are fascinating. However, his plots are contrived and too 'clever' by half. Here, we have two politicians, a Scottish industrialist and a Home Counties lesbian, who are adopted by 'The Master', a cartoon version of Tony Blair. We know it is Tony Blair (he says 'folks' too much, has a bossy wife, and is obsessed with how he looks), but Marr, because he is just so desperately clever, tells us at one point that he absolutely isn't. Anyway, 'The Master' pulls strings and twiddles knobs to allow these two political non-entities to become the leading candidates for the Labour leadership. Marr, who loves an absurd set piece finale, then sends his protagonists to a conference in Italy for a Winner Takes All showdown, where unlikely things happen.There are enough good things here to outweigh the really stupid things (not always the case with Marr). I just wish he would stick to what he knows and stop showing off.

The Kindle version I have read says that the publication date for this novel was September 10th, 2015, before the Referendum of 23 June 2016, which eventually took Britain out of the EU. As the book refers to events after the Referendum, it is in part an astonishing piece of imaginative prophesy. Some politicians are given their real names; others are invented. Marr even has Sir Boris Johnson as the leader of the conservative opposition, although Johnson did not become leader of the Conservative Party until 2019. The chronology is all over the place. There is so much unfettered invention of individuals, circumstances and dates in the book that it could not claim to be serious counter-factual history.“The Master” is based on Tony Blair (though in places Marr indicates that they are not the same person). He has been out of office since 2007. The current leader is Ed Miliband, and the Labour Party has shrivelled. The Master has been too discredited to achieve a personal come-back; but he is looking for a Labour leader who could restore the Party’s fortunes, with policies close to his own.One of these was David Petrie, who ran a building business and who had been persuaded to stand as an MP. He had become one of the few Scottish MPs who has survived the SNP landslide in 2015.Another was the charismatic Caroline Phillips. She has a Lesbian partnership with Angela Boswell. Caroline had gone into finance, but really wanted to go into politics, and Angela had been ordained into the Church of England. Angela became an alcoholic and went into a rehab clinic for a while (and would return from it not wholly cured). A fellow patient at the Clinic was Sadie, the Master’s wife. Caroline got to know her and her husband. The Master helped her to get into politics. She was adopted as a candidate, her avowed Lesbianism notwithstanding, for the next General Election in 2018 when the Tory Party had disintegrated into factions. Caroline won her seat handsomely, and was congratulated by the new Prime Minister, the leftist Alwyn Grimaldi, head of a Labour government with a tiny majority.The Master knew Grimaldi could not last long, and was plotting to replace him with one of his two protégés who had been groomed to make a mark in the Commons. But which one? For most of the novel Caroline and David are political opponents.The Master favoured David, and had him coached, and he became a junior minister in the Ministry of Housing. The Master had also arranged for his own mistress, Ella James, to be David’s mistress also, so that he could keep an eye on him.There is then a grotesque chapter in which David and Ella were sent off to a conference in Venice. Ella was foolish enough to reveal to David what a dim view she really took of him; and David drowns her in a remote lagoon. He then emailed London to say that Ella “had done a runner”. On his return he made a proposal to deal with the housing shortage with which he made his mark at the Ministry: taking Venice as his example, the Ministry should drain the Somerset Levels and build a beautiful new city there.Sadie, the Master’s wife, was backing Caroline, who was now also in the government as Home Secretary.And then Grimaldi fell quite ill, having had his food doctored (though not fatally) by his trusted housekeeper. (No clue why she should do this.) He resigned.Now which of the two should the Master back as Grimaldi’s successor? His idea was to send both of them to an international conference in Rome, at which American politicians were also to be present. Let the Americans convey to him their impressions of the two candidates.Now that Britain had left the EU, the Americans were keen to exploit a situation in which Britain was dependent on the United States.It would be too much of a spoiler if I gave away the rest of the novel.Whilst it shows much of the seamier side of politics and of journalism, I think this novel contains unbelievable episodes, like that death in Venice; the plotting is rather messy and occasionally slapdash, leaving quite a lot of things that are left unexplained (like the food poisoning) or not followed up; and it leaves one confused about whether the Master is or is not based on Blair.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book although parts of it made disturbing reading. If the machinations in the book are any where close to the truth of the political fraternity we should all be very wary of whom we vote into power.I have always enjoyed listening to Andrew Marr but this is the first of his books that I have read.

The big question is how choose its this to the truth. Andrew Marr knows British politics as well if not better than most, so this story resonates with the readers belief in all that is happening in politics. What a bunch of bad people.....read on...I was riveted

This was a thoroughly good read. It was a fascinating hypothesis and it made me wonder how near the truth it actually is. By deliberately saying which well-known former politician the master was not, I got the impression the author might be avoiding an expensive libel action! I look forward to Andrew Marr's next novel.

Although a work of fiction you are constantly reminded that Marr has considerable experience of the workings of Parliament and political parties. I look forward to his next novel.

I gave it three stars because I like Andrew Marr, otherwise it would only get one star. Compared to his first stab at fiction this book was rubbish.

A gift which I’m sure will be enjoyed