This looks like a good beach book
In the 18 & 19th centuries the greatest political duels were between the leaders of opposing parties; in the 20th they have tended to be fought between members of the same party – though it is worth recalling that both Pitt and Fox and Gladstone and Disraeli started as competitors within the same parties before rivalry drove them apart. In each of his seven case studies – Fox and Pitt, Castlereagh and Canning, Gladstone and Disraeli, Asquith and Lloyd George, Bevan and Gaitskell, Macmillan and Butler, Brown and Blair – Campbell combines a vivid narrative with an authoritative assessment of the historical legacy.
About the Author
John Campbell is recognised as one of Britain’s leading political biographers. In addition to Edward Heath, which won the NCR Award in 1994, and his highly praised two-volume biography of Margaret Thatcher (2000 and 2003), his subjects have included Lloyd George (1977), F.E. Smith, Lord Birkenhead (1983), Roy Jenkins (1983) and Aneurin Bevan (1986). His most recent book, If Love Were All: The Story of Frances Stevenson and David Lloyd George, was published in 2006. He is currently writing the authorised biography of Roy Jenkins.