OFF MESSAGE - Tapa blanda

"* 'Matthew Parris has the highest strike-rate of any living sketchwriter' Observer

Matthew Parris has spent the last thirteen years laughing at parliament from his birds-eye seat in the press gallery, as political sketchwriter for The Times. Running through the humour, though, has been a vein of sharp observation. He spotted Tony Blair's talents when he was just a humble opposition spokesman; he saw his flaws, too, the minute he stood up to become party leader. And he watched in horrified amusement as the Conservative Party, for whom he was once an MP, roller-coasted from triumph to disaster. Focusing on 1997-2001 - the four years when it seemed that Labour could do no wrong and the Tories couldn't manage to do anything right - Parris considers not the policies but the performances. These include William Hague's often sparkling but doomed leadership, Blair's strutting, Charles Kennedy's awkward Lib-Lab straddle, Robin Cook's fretting, Ann Widdecombe's extraordinary pantomime dame and Peter Mandelson's watch, silent and pale from the wings. His extraordinary wit and lively imagination are finely blended with his insider's knowledge, creating hilarious descriptions of life at Westminster.