Thirty Years of British Politics - off the record

The Hugo Young Papers

Hugo Young was for over three decades the deputy editor of the Sunday Times and political editor of the Guardian. 
 
Ion Trewin is the editor of the Alan Clark Diaries and is currently writing Alan Clark&rsquo;s biography for publication in 2009. After a decade as literary editor of The Times, he became a publisher, retiring recently as editor-in-chief of a London publishing house.

Hugo Young was one of Britain&rsquo;s leading journalists for over thirty years, first on the Sunday Times, where he was political editor and deputy editor, and then as the Guardian&rsquo;s senior political commentator. On his death in 2003 he was called &lsquo;the Pope of the liberal left&rsquo;, but for the last decade or more of his life there was really no more admired and respected journalist in any position on the political spectrum. 
 
One of the secrets of Young&rsquo;s success as a journalist was that he was exceptionally well informed. Politicians from every major party, senior civil servants, judges and public figures of all kinds talked to him off the record, discussions which then informed the judgements he made when he wrote. Most of his interlocutors were unaware that straight after their telephone conversation, meal or meeting with Young had finished, he meticulously wrote down exactly what had been said, together with his own immediate impressions of whoever he was talking to. 
 
By 2003, Young&rsquo;s records from such conversations amounted to a million and a half words. From this extraordinary archive Ion Trewin, who knew Young since they were colleagues in the 1960s, has made a selection which presents a unique record of what many of the leading figures in British political and public life were thinking, frankly and without the distortions of hindsight, for more than three decades. The result is one of the most gripping and informative books about British politics published for many years. Young&rsquo;s first interviewee, Douglas Hurd, later Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary, and one of his regulars for the whole of the period of this book, judged him thus: &lsquo;His success was partly achieved by creating a conversation between two people roughly equal in status and knowledge. His own preconception sometimes appeared, as is natural in a conversation between equals, but never in a way which interrupted the even flow of discourse. He did not distort what he heard.&rsquo; 
 
The Hugo Young Papers shows Young&rsquo;s central place in the nexus between politics and journalism in Britain and provides a historical document of the first rank.

Hugo Young

Ion Trewin

A Journalist's Notes from the Heart of Politics

Hugo Young was one of Britain's most influential, respected and trusted political journalists. For decades, until his death in 2003, he talked off the record to politicians from every party, meticulously writing down everything that had been said. This selection of the best of those confidential notes offers an unparalleled insight into British political life, and is a testament to one of journalism's towering figures.

About us

About Us (Header 4)

Best-Jane-Austen-quotes_Online-Desktop_Penguin

James-Baldwin

Marian-Keyes

haruki-murakami-320×320-1

Richard-Osman

Malorie Blackman

Lisa-Jewell

Charlie-Mackesy

Authors (Header 3)

Children&#039;s

Company

Discover

Fiction

Non-fiction

Penguin Classics

Penguin Shop (Header 5)

Useful links

Work with us

sectionTitle

isEnabled

anchor

anchorLabel

prhuk/featured-book

prhuk/praise-section

maxBooks

showViewMore

prhuk/books-section

hideAuthorAlert

formName

iterableDivision

iterableBrand

buttonText

description

heading

legalText

successHeading

successText

image

alignment

variation

prhuk/email-section

prhuk/series-section

prhuk/biography-section

prhuk/articles-section

prhuk-authors

The perfect gift? A Penguin Shop gift card

East of Eden

Wuthering Heights

White Nights

Fyodor Dostoyevsky Boxed Set: Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Brothers Karamazov

Hugo Young

Books by Hugo Young

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter