The Paymaster: Geoffrey Robinson, Maxwell And New Labour

Tom Bower

Editions

Review

The subjects of Tom Bower’s previous biographies are Robert Maxwell, Tiny Rowland, Mohamed (al) Fayed and Richard Branson; this list might well offer a clue as to the content of this biography of millionaire former Paymaster-General Geoffrey Robinson.  A further clue was obligingly provided by one Stephen Byers (Trade Secretary and Blair apparatchik, whose role on the Front Bench might well have escaped your attention) when he threatened to issue a writ for libel against the author and the newspaper which had serialised this book.  Could it be that the Government would rather we all forgot about the ex-minister and his closeness to Tony, Gordon, et al?  As a result of Byers' threat, several of the chains promised not to stock the book.  But both threat and promise have so far failed to materialise…

Having enjoyed Servants Of The People: The Inside Story Of New Labour pbk £7.99, I was curious to see what further light Bower could throw on the doings of Blair & Co.  What emerges is a story of greed, cheating, lying, contempt for the public and for parliamentary procedures, envy, incompetence and, most of all, hypocrisy.

There is a lot of technical detail about offshore trusts and payments from one company to another, but the overall impression is unmistakable, and Bower pauses every now and then to give a clear summary of the transactions.  The material is competently handled, and the author neatly points out the inconsistencies between the reaction by New Labour to corruption in the last Conservative administration (some of which he has written about himself), and the reaction to breaches of the ministerial code of conduct in the current administration.  See what you think. - review by Dan Fenton