Friendship and Betrayal: Ambition and the Limits of Loyalty Book

?There are no friendships at the top? claimed David Lloyd George. History shows that the nearer a person gets to the summit of power, the more hazardous they will find the conflicts between the personal attachments, political expediency and their own interpretation of ?the common good?. In FRIENDSHIP AND BETRAYAL, four self-contained stories act together to develop a unifying theme. - The intense friendship of Sarah Churchill and Queen Anne at the turn of the eighteenth century. Sarah had been Anne?s principal friend, advisor and confidant since the future Queen was eight years old and their conflict, when Anne ascends the throne, is dramatic. - The second story moves to France at the turn of the nineteenth century and describes vividly the schism between Napoleon and his brilliant generals, Murat and Marmont. These men helped Napoleon conquer Europe but at the end of their lives they were at war against him. - Next Stewart looks at Britain at the turn of the twentieth century and shows grippingly how rivalries between Asquith, Lloyd George and their supporters caused a cataclysm in the Liberal party from which it is still to recover. - The final narrative describes the corrupt American presidency of Warren Harding, whose administration was packed with cronies who used office to enrich themselves. Harding, forced to chose between friendship and country, chose his gambling friends to disastrous effect.Read More