Standing for Something: Life in the Awkward Squad

Mark Seddon joined the Labour Party aged 15. He was editor of TRIBUNE for thirteen years, and an elected member of the LP ruling National Executive for eight years, becoming the focal point for grass roots resistance to Tony Blair, and the war in Iraq. Far from another memoir by a Labour insider, detailing adnauseam, the tiffs and tantrums of Messrs Blair, Brown and Mandelson, STANDING FOR SOMETHING is a deeply personal account of how the author's youthful attachment to principle survived well into adulthood and how an abiding naivete about the real nature of power and the corruption of power blinded him to the baser motives of many of those who had grabbed it. Often humorous and passionate, this is an account of a political journey and the fight for principles against the new generation of professional politicians and cheerleading hacks, many of whom delight in the parochialism and trivia that has helped stifle democratic discourse in this country and who attempt to crush those who don't tow the party line. STANDING FOR SOMETHING is not your standard piece of hackery, re-hashing intrigues and irrelevances of the Blair/Brown years. Rather it is a considered, poignant and deeply personal account of Britain under New Labour from the point of view of a glorious outsider.

Mark Seddon edited Tribune for thirteen years. He has written for The Guardian, The Times, Independent, Daily Mail, Spectator, New Statesman, Private Eye, and many others. Martin Rowson is a cartoonist whose work appears regularly in The Guardian and Independent.