William Pitt the Younger Publisher: HarperCollins ISBN: 0 00 714719 8

William Hague has served as leader of the opposition, Secretary of State for Wales and Minister for Disabled People and is currently Shadow Foreign Secretary. He has been Member of Parliament for Richmond, North Yorkshire, since 1989, and lives in his constituency with his wife Ffion. This is his first book.

About the Book

WILLIAM PITT THE YOUNGER was one of the most extraordinary figures in British history, who became Prime Minister in 1783 at the remarkable age of twenty-four. In this lively and authoritative biography, William Hague explains the dramatic events and exceptional abilities which allowed extreme youth to be combined with great power.

The brilliant son of a father who was also Prime Minister, Pitt was derided as a 'schoolboy' when he took office. Yet within months he had outwitted his opponents, and he went on to dominate the political scene for twenty-two years (nineteen of them as Prime Minister). No British politician since has exercised such supremacy for so long.

Pitt's personality has always been hard to unravel. Generally thought to be cold and aloof, he was described by friends as the wittiest man they ever knew. By seeing him through the eyes of a politician, William Hague succeeds in explaining Pitt's actions and motives through a series of great national crises, including the madness of King George III, the impact of the French Revolution and the trauma of the Napoleonic wars. He describes how a man dedicated to peace became Britain's longest serving war leader, how Pitt the liberal reformer became Pitt the author of repression, and how - though undisputed master of the nation's finances - he died with vast personal debts.