"It's no crime in our system, and not remotely a rarity either, to end up as the Head of a Department that you know almost nothing about, feel almost no natural affinity with and rather wish you were somewhere else."

All ministerial careers end in failure, though they start in hope. Not everyone thinks they're heading to Number 10 but everyone wants to do something important. Politics has all sorts of downsides but the fortunate few get the opportunity to do something meaningful - prevent or win wars, reduce poverty, create the NHS or, just sometimes, prevent real injustice.

How to Be A Minister launches you in your fledgling ministerial career and shows you how to proceed. This is a fail-safe guide to how to survive as a Minister in Her Majesty's Government, from dealing with civil servants, cabinet colleagues, the Opposition and the media, to coping with the bad times whilst managing the good (and how to resign with a modicum of dignity intact when it all inevitably falls apart).

Written by former Labour minister John Hutton How to Be A Minister is not only a survival guide for ambitious MPs but a tantalising view into the working lives of the people we elect to run our country. As such it is essential reading for anyone with a passing interest in British politics.