Book review: Pistols at Dawn

At 6am on 21 September 1809, George Canning and Viscount Castlereagh met on Putney Heath and faced each other with loaded pistols to fight a duel. Canning was wounded, but both survived.

What made the face-off extraordinary was not just that both men were politicians - in the early 19th century, political duels were not uncommon - but that both were also senior Cabinet ministers: secretary of state for war was pitched against Foreign Secretary, at the height of the national struggle against Napoleon.

This is the starting point for John Campbell's superb story of eight great political feuds, from Pitt and Fox to Blair and Brown, said Chris Mullin in the Observer. His book is a joy: "meticulously researched, beautifully written and scrupulously fair". It is also an entertaining, rip-roaring read, said David Stenhouse in Scotland on Sunday. Campbell, who made his reputation with well-received biographies of Thatcher and Heath, is just the man to tackle this tale of "dirty deeds, thwarted ambition" and bitter rivalries.

In an "elegant reversal" of the conventional wisdom, he shows us how frequently "it is rivalry which drives individuals to take up opposing causes, rather than opposed beliefs which make them rivals". He also makes clear that for "sheer venom" we should look to rivalries within the same party, such as Heath versus Thatcher and Macmillan versus Butler.

At the same time, Campbell's "brilliant" character sketches are never merely about character, said Richard Vinen in the Sunday Times. The author chooses his subjects because the feud in question has important consequences or because it illuminates some "broader fissure".

So Asquith versus Lloyd George hastened the decline of the Liberal Party and the rise of Labour, while the Fox/Pitt split illustrates the growing importance of popular politics. Pistols at Dawn is a "stylish", valuable and fascinating book.

Pistols at Dawn, by John Campbell, 453pp (Cape, £20) The Week Bookshop £18 (incl p&p) ·