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Pan Mac acquires Straw memoir

31.01.12 | Charlotte Williams

Pan Macmillan has acquired the autobiography of former home secretary Jack Straw.

Macmillan editorial director Georgina Morley bought world rights through Georgina Capel at Capel & Land, with the book to be published in September 2012, at the start of the political conference season.

Straw has been a Labour MP for 33 years, and spent 13 years in government, serving variously as home secretary, foreign secretary, leader of the House of Commons and Lord Chancellor. The book will cover his time in Cabinet, touching on the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, as well as his personal life history as one of five children of divorced parents.

Straw said: "I've had a life-long love affair with Parliament and my Blackburn constituency; politics is in my blood. I want to share my story, which I think is an optimistic one, and reflect on the lessons I've learned."

Morley said the autobiography would offer readers "a vivid and authoritative insight not only into the Blair/Brown era, but also into the last 40 years of British politics,"promising: "The early material reveals not only his integrity and keen understanding of the way politics really works, but also shows great wit and humour - qualities often lacking in such memoirs." Pan Macmillan m.d. Anthony Forbes-Watson said it has "the perfect ingredients for a memorable book".

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