Rake’s Progress by Rachel Johnson

The i paper 2 april 2020

Rachel Johnson’s diary of her time as editor of The Lady magazine was a comic masterpiece. Those of us who consider it one of the funniest books ever written might wonder why she wastes her talent on anything else: novels, appearing on Celebrity Big Brother or, in fact, standing as a candidate for the European Parliament.

Johnson has now published another diary of sorts, about this latter experience: her decision to enter politics in 2019, when she stood as a candidate for Change UK in the European elections, a few months before her eldest brother became Prime Minister.

The book has been furnished with quotes from Marina Hyde and Jilly Cooper but sadly, it is not the moreish treat one might have hoped for. Even her best writing has a sense of haste about it. At one point, when she reflects that “I could literally print the WhatsApp group as a book as it tells you all you need to know about the logistics and seat-of-the-pants, Blue Peter-style, sticky-back-plastic effort of launching a party from scratch as a pop-up to fight an election in less than a month,” one wonders how much this has influenced her approach.

There are flashes of brilliance – at the declaration for the European elections, she describes Ann Widdecombe "in a purple and indigo tiered and ruffled frock, a Battleaxe Blue jacket with a splashy pale blue Brexit Party rosette as a boutonnière" – but there is no escaping the fact that Rake’s Progress feels dashed off. It is not that she is incapable of sincerity – she has written with conviction before about how much she loves her children and how grateful she is to have a job she enjoys – but she also has a weakness for namedropping and cheap jokes.

The jokes are often directed at herself, of course, and her indiscretion is part of what makes this book worth reading but the whole effort feels disappointingly scrappy.

This review first appeared in the the i paper