Fighting all the way

As a politician of the first rank in the Labour Party and a pioneering woman in the corridors of power, Barabara Castle is one of the most experienced and controversial political figures of our time. She rose to top-ranking jobs in Harold Wilson's cabinets, in offices which no woman had held before. Always fearless, she gave us the breathalyser and, at Employment, challenged the trade unions. She writes with frankness and panache of her personal and political relationships in and out of government.