That Was Hugo Blythe MP (Paperback or Softback)

That Was Hugo Blythe MP is the day-to-day diary of government researcher Alaric Casteele, a roving interchange between events in his domestic life and his meticulous eavesdropping into the political intrigues levelled against his boss Hugo Blythe. Blythe is a government minister pivotal in the New Labour project, whose fortunes begin to climax as a general election approaches. Casteele soon discovers the department he's been appointed to, and the ministers heading it, have enslaved themselves to the prevailing culture of celebrity, with its strictures of media visibility and attention to self-image. He further discovers that there are plots against his boss Hugo, and in gathering evidence to confirm his suspicions embarks on an illegal means of surveillance, at great personal risk. Outside of work Casteele has good friendly relations with Emma, his neighbour, and is soon drawn into a troubled affair with Emma's sister Anna, who as a single mother is about to return to the workplace. It is through Emma and Anna that Casteele is brought to a gradual understanding of the rapidly changing position of men and women in domestic and working life, and of the lure of fame and celebrity and the misjudgements pursuit of those ends so often results in.