Awkward outsider

Hugo Young. the political editor of the Sunday Times reviews "Longford: A Biographical Portrait" by Mary Craig, recently published by Hodder and Stoughton at £5.95.
There are not many contemporary figures who would merit a biography in their lifetime. Perhaps surprisingly, Lord Longford is one of them. Such books are usually of two kinds flatulent hagiographies of politicians on the rise, or gritty investigations of men with guilty secrets.
Again. Mary Craig's thoroughly enjoyable biographical portrait is an exception. It presents a detached yet affectionate picture of a man of many parts.
Lord Longford is often dismissed as a loony — an assessment he does a good deal to encourage. I prefer to see him as a strong-minded eccentric. who should be admired for the causes he so energetically takes up. rather than derided because of the way he sometimes goes about it.
Such men should be cherished in these grey. conformist days. When Longford began in public life, there were more of them. But. as Mary Craig reminds us. that was a long time ago.
One reason the book was worth writing is that Longford has done so much: Beveridge's assistant in 1941. Minister in Germany after the war. Attlee's Minister of Civil Aviation. chairman of the National ,Bank of Ireland. as well as prison reformer. publisher and anti-porn crusader.
Mrs Craig is particularly good on the tensions never far from the centre of Longford's dynamism: the Socialist from the
peerage. the Irishman in England, t!s: I ihrral at war %%Al per missiveness. the headline seeker 55 lacked by intimations of Christian humility.
Above all. although an Establishment man who has known everyone. Longford is essentially the permanent. awkward outsider -which is why he Witti itn unsuccessful. but rather admirable, politician.
Clearly the author had some help from the Longford family, but she does not allow that to load the verdict. not the least of the book's virtues is that it is full of very funny stories. many of which can only have come from the subject himeself and not all of which are apocryphal.
And apart from a weird prologue. sketching the anti •porn commission's visit to Denmark, the book is crisply and pleasingly written.
have one criticism. In a way the book is not long enough. Important questions arc incompletely answered. What does Longford actually do when all .the prisoners he has visited turn up On his doorstep?
And what was the real effect of his work with young people? What did they make of him? We learn a lot about Longford's inner need to serve. less about what he ,has left behind..
Still. to say that one wanted more is not a bad verdict on any book. Happy the man whose personal odyssey can provide such a stimulating and entertaining read.