The Wintertons Unmuzzled

With two MPs for parents, Sarah Winterton was one of the proudest women in the country. She felt as though her family was at the centre of events, and her parents, Nicholas and Ann Winterton - respective Members for Macclesfield and Congleton - were truly making a difference at the heart of British politics. But when the Wintertons became caught up in the parliamentary expenses scandal in 2009, Sarah was forced to question some of her longest-held assumptions about politics, family and the media. Was the life of a backbench MP worth the candle? Why slog away for hours on behalf of your constituents, if your only reward was to be vilified by Fleet Street? In this affectionate, defiant memoir, Sarah Winterton celebrates a pair of MPs renowned for their bloody-minded independence, who remain the longest-serving couple in the history of the House of Commons. She warmly and unashamedly defends not just her outspoken parents, but an entire political class in a time of great upheaval. With her rare perspective on 21st-century British politics, Sarah reveals a lost political world through insightful anecdotes, and asks challenging questions about the character of modern MPs and the functioning of Britain's parliamentary democracy.

Sarah Winterton grew up in the corridors of the Palace of Westminster (mainly the family room and cafeteria) in between the constituency home in Congleton and boarding school in Malvern. As the daughter of two maverick MPs, she had a ringside seat granting a unique perspective on British politics for over thirty years. Sarah toyed with banking, publishing and headhunting in an attempt to stay away from the world of politics, but was inevitably lured into it. In 2010, she set up KW Communications, her own boutique London- and Brussels-based public affairs and communications consultancy. Sarah advises and delivers political strategies for a wide range of global clients, often with complex or contentious issues, between the institutions of Brussels and Westminster.