Just right for a desert island

It would be difficult to write a boring book about Michael Foot. As well as being eloquent, imaginative and idealistic he possessed the priceless quality, from the point of view of the biographer at any rate, of intemperance. He did nothing by halves. ‘No attempt is made at impartiality,’ he announced defiantly in the preface to his first book. ‘Impartial historians are as insufferable as the people who profess no politics.’ He was as committed in his politics as in his history; his career consisted of a series of crusades, tilting sometimes at windmills, sometimes at real dragons, but always conducted with courage and panache. One of his heroes was Georges Danton and Danton’s apophthegm — L’audace, encore l’audace, toujours l’audace — could have provided the inspiration for Foot’s career.

Kenneth Morgan does make some gestures towards impartiality, but Foot would probably forgive him, for there is no doubt where his sympathies lie.