Pistols at Dawn - John Campbell

When Benjamin Disraeli became Prime Minister in 1868 for the first time, he proudly told a friend that he had climbed to the top of the greasy pole. Political history is strewn with cases of rivals who have aspired to that same summit, or at least to the leadership of their party. Some have started out as close friends, others as cabinet colleagues whose differences have led their parties to serious electoral defeat if not come close to splitting them altogether. In this book John Campbell, who has written several major political biographies, looks at eight feuds in all, devoting a full ... more