Life in the Jungle by Michael Heseltine

Despite suffering from "mild dyslexia", Hezza made millions as a publisher and has now produced an exceptionally interesting memoir (with the assistance of Tony Howard).

Despite suffering from "mild dyslexia", Hezza made millions as a publisher and has now produced an exceptionally interesting memoir (with the assistance of Tony Howard). Every paragraph emits a radioactive glow of ambition. Even on the penultimate page, colleagues are urging him to stand against Hague. But his chances were scuppered when he stood against Thatcher in 1992. As he remarked in 1986: "He who wields the knife never wears the crown." His view of Thatcher tends to be repetitious. The word "hectoring" appears on pages 117, 193 and 232, though it is le mot juste. Less justifiably, Heseltine continues to defend the Dome. He doesn't remark that the land could have been cleaned up for £100 million, not the notorious £850 million. In the end, this shrewd man is probably spot-on when he says that his cherished arboretum may "serve as my real memorial".