This is a comprehensive account of the referendum about a North East Regional Assembly, at 390 pages with a further 100 pages of Appendices, but it is an account written by a leading actor in the No Campaign for that referedum and so it has to been acknowledged that it is a comprehensive account of half the story - this is however in no way a problem.
What is fascinating is that Norton takes you right into the guts of the campaign, and explores those tiny events that shaped it - it is a tale of a politics not of grand visions and great statemen but of ego, personality, bluff, and luck. For those who subscribe to the "cock-up" theory of war there is much in this book to assist your argument. It shows not only did the No Camp actively win the referendum but also the Yes Camp actively lost - there were a number of gift-horses during the campaign that the Yes Camp most definitely looked straight in the mouth.
This is not the politics of the idealist but the dirty street-fighting of pessimist. And therefore it is a great read for anyone who is interested in the actual process of engaging the public to vote. There is a recurring theme that the No Camp struggled at length with the fact that they were exclusively the "No" Camp breaking the first rule of campaigning that you have to be "for something" - you should have a positive message. The answer seems to be that the first rule is rubbish and it is much better to keep the message simple - if you want people to vote no then tell them why to vote no - don't muddy the waters explaining why they should be voting yes to some other idea that is not even on the ballot paper.
There is also an interest in the perspective of the author writing in 2008, with New Labour and therefore effectively the Yes Camp still in Government - there are a number of point where you are left wondering if the tale would have changed now the Conservatives, the leaders of the No Camp, are the party of Government. If you are a Labour supporter you are likely either to end up shout at the book for its historical inaccuracy or blushing in shame that Labour really were bad - a case of pay your money make your choice. Also the fact that the referendum campaign was viewed by many as a dry run for a referendum on the EU Constitution the Tony Blair side-stepped connects to the current politics as I was reading in a week when Ed Milliband told the Labour Party Conference that they would support holding an in/out referendum on the EU.
Norton's style will not be to everyones taste, there are endless footnotes - most of which are witty (or not) asides to his own main narative - and the feeling that it is "all about me" is inescapable, but it would be a very strange ego that wrote a memior and made it "all about someone else" so I think that should be forgiven.
I had got the book because graduating from Durham in 2002 I had missed the referendum but had been aware that the Regional Assembly was going to be coming to Durham - something as students we had mixed views about, Durham had bad traffic, expensive housing, expensive eating before you added a lot of new bureaucrats into the mix - but hearing the Regional Assembly had been voted down there was a pang of sadness that Durham was going to miss out of this extra accolade of being the capital of the North East.
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