The Sound of Trumpets

It's three decades since local boy Leslie Titmuss, son of a humble brewery clerk, first entered Parliament as the member for the constituency of Hartscombe and Worsfield South and began his rise to the very height of government during the Thatcher years. Lord Titmuss, or First Baron Skurfield as he has become, is still a figure with formidable influence in the constituency, but now the Conservative government, under a new leader, is in trouble and it faces a difficult by-election at Hartscombe after the extraordinary death of the sitting Tory M.P. - his body found floating one summer morning in his swimming-pool, handcuffed and clad in a bikini. The Sound of Trumpets represents the triumphant completion of a political trilogy that began with Paradise Postponed and Titmuss Regained. It provides a wonderfully entertaining and alert view of the comedy of modern politics.