Robin Cook’s unvarnished account of the build-up to and the consequences of the second gulf war, as well as a broader look at the Blair government since its re-election in 2001: its increased alliance to right-wing figures such as George W Bush; its erosion of Cabinet government; its failure to use two record majorities to create a progressive leadership on social change. No-one is better placed than Robin Cook to write about this recent extraordinary period in our political history. Drawing on his first-hand experiences of the Commons and the Cabinet, Robin Cook mixes forensic analysis with a fresh and intimate narrative to explosive effect. The first inside account of the Blair government from a genuine political heavyweight, Point of Departure has already been heralded as one of the most incendiary political memoirs for decades.