On 20 June 1998 Peter Temple-Morris, Conservative MP for Leominster, crossed the floor to join his rivals on the Labour party benches. What drove a seasoned Conservative politician - one of the so-called 'Cambridge Mafia', with 24 years' experience as a Conservative MP - to change his allegiance so radically? In this memoir of a long and varied political career, Temple-Morris answers this question, unveiling the slow, gradual process of disillusionment with the Conservative party, especially under Margaret Thatcher, and the growing appeal of the New Labour movement under Tony Blair. As well as providing an important overview of British domestic politics in the second half of the twentieth century, Temple-Morris also explains his crucial role in Irish politics, especially in the peace process talks which led to the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.

Lord (Peter) Temple-Morris is a Labour peer. He was elected as the Conservative MP for Leominster in 1974 and sat as a Conservative MP until 1998 when he crossed the floor to the Labour benches. He remained an MP until 2001.

INTRODUCTIONPREFACEPART ONE: THE BEGINNINGCHAPTER ONE: THE CAMBRIDGE MAFIACHAPTER TWO: INTO POLITICSPART ONE: THE PARTY WE JOINEDPART TWO: THE LIFE WE LEDCHAPTER THREE: THE BARPART TWO: A POLITICAL LIFECHAPTER FOUR: LADY THATCHERPART ONE: PERSONAL EXPERIENCESPART TWO: THE FALL OF THE IRON LADYCHAPTER FIVE: LABOUR CONNECTIONS, SOUTH WALES AND BEYONDCHAPTER SIX: PARTY COMPARISONSPART THREE: AN INTERNATIONAL LIFECHAPTER SEVEN: REVOLUTION IN IRANPART ONE: HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLENPART TWO: REVOLUTION IS AWFULCHAPTER EIGHT: RUSSIA AND THE SOVIET UNIONPART ONE: MIKHAIL SERGEYEVITCH GORBACHEVPART TWO: THE OLD AND THE NEWCHAPTER NINE: PARLIAMENTARY DIPLOMACY AND THE FOREIGN OFFICEPART FOUR: IRELANDCHAPTER TEN: THE PEACE PROCESS AND THE PARLIAMENTARY ROLECHAPTER ELEVEN: POLITICAL DIFFICULTIESCHAPTER TWELVE: TONY BLAIR AND THE BELFAST AGREEMENTPART FIVE: THE ANATOMY OF A DEFECTIONCHAPTER THIRTEEN: EVENTS AND DISILLUSIONCHAPTER FOURTEEN: THE BEST LAID PLANSCHAPTER FIFTEEN: THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE WHIPCHAPTER SIXTEEN: LIFE AS AN INDEPENDENTCHAPTER SEVENTEEN: 1998 AND THE FINAL PUSHPART SIX: REFLECTIONSCHAPTER EIGHTEEN: WHY DID I DEFECT? CHAPTER NINETEEN: THE AFTERMATH, SEVENTEEN YEARS LATERAPPENDIX ONE: CAMBRIDGE PROFILES