Shirley Williams

About this book

For the best part of fifty years Shirley Williams has been one of Britain's most well-known and bestloved politicians, admired for her warmth, sincerity, compassion and integrity. This biography examines the root cause of that popularity and why it has remained so enduring. It will also explain why behind the upbeat facade a more complex character emerges. Shirley Williams: The Biography exposes the roots of an extraordinary vulnerability at the heart of this remarkable politician, focusing on her difficult family life and the level of expectation placed on her by highly ambitious parents. It also highlights her guilt about her privileged background, being a woman in the male political universe and her unhappy private life in adulthood. With full access to Williams's papers, and those of her parents, this biography reveals new information about the pressure of living up to her parents' high expectations of her; her equivocation between political ambition and family responsibilities, and her willingness to put individual principle before collective responsibility. This is a compelling portrait of one of the most complex and popular of modern politicians.