Best seat in the house - Frank Johnson

For over 33 years, Frank Johnson delighted readers and kept politicians on their toes with his irreverent reports and when he died, the Evening Standard hoardings declared: ‘Fleet Street Genius dead’. It was Johnson who coined the terms ‘chattering classes’, referred to Norman Tebbit as ‘The Chingford Strangler’, and dubbed the MP Dennis Skinner ‘The Beast of Bolsover’.

There are many comic masterpieces in the book in Johnson’s dazzling and inimitable style, including his description of Margaret Thatcher’s ‘dimples of iron’, and the moment when dung was flung from the Gallery onto the Members below! There are plenty of serious moments too: the Brighton bombing, the Falklands war, the Iraq war and the mysterious death of Dr David Kelly. Johnson also writes wittily about many other subjects such as his love of opera and ballet, and his life in France with his wife Virginia.

Compiled by Virginia Fraser, and with introductions from William Rees-Mogg and Simon Hoggart, the book includes intriguing responses from leading politicians and others to the satirical pieces that Frank wrote about them.

Frank Johnson was the award-winning parliamentary sketch writer for The Daily Telegraph and then The Times, before becoming editor of The Spectator.