New machiavelli : how to wield power in the modern world / Jonathan Powell.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Tony Blair's Chief of Staff from 1994 to 2007, Jonathan Powell recounts the inside story of that period - drawing on his own unpublished diaries. He tackles the critics of Blair's 'sofa government' and gives a frank account of the intimate details of the internal political rows, the failure to join the euro or hold a referendum on the European constitution, the struggle with the hauliers strike and the foot-and-mouth outbreak that postponed the 2001 election, the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, as well as the peace negotiations in Northern ireland, the relations with Clinton, Bush and Chirac, the banning of fox hunting, the triumphs and failures of spin and the scandals and inquiries - ranging from Bernie Ecclestone to police investigation into 'cash for peerages'.