A War of Words

Lord Mayhew's memoirs in this book include an account of his early life at Oxford and the attraction of communism - so common among his contemporaries - and of his visit to the Soviet Union, which was followed by disillusionment and the beginning of his strong anti-communist beliefs. After war service and entry into parliament, he was marked out as a potential high-flyer and served as Personal Private Secretary to Ernest Bevin at the Foreign Office. In covering this period of Mayhew's life, the book highlights Britain's role in the early years of the Cold War, and describes how the country was the first to take up the offensive to rebut Soviet propaganda and to try to further world-wide belief in western social democracy.