Over the next fortnight Biteback has four cracking books coming onto the market. I don’t normally use this blog to push Biteback books, but I’m going to make an exception here, and you will understand why when you read on…

Tomorrow sees The Times start its serialisation of Roger Mosey’s book GETTING OUT ALIVE: NEWS, SPORT & POLITICS AT THE BBC. Roger held virtually every senior position there is to hold at the BBC without actually becoming Director General. His career culminated in coordinating the BBC’s Olympics coverage, and what a brilliant job he did.

Having commissioned the book and dealt with Roger over the last nine months I am at a loss to know how he had a such a successful career as he seems far too nice to have done any elbowing at all. His transparent decency really comes across in the manuscript, but he’s not shy about telling it how it is nad facing up to the BBC’s failngs. He tells a good story and the book is packed with anecdotes about his life in radio and TV.

Delinquent presenters, controversial executive pay-offs, the Jimmy Savile scandal… The BBC is one of the most successful broadcasters in the world, but its programme triumphs are often accompanied by management crises and high-profile resignations.

One of the most respected figures in the broadcasting industry, Roger Mosey has taken senior roles at the BBC for more than twenty years, including as editor of Radio 4’s Today programme, head of television news and director of the London 2012 Olympic coverage.

Now, in Getting Out Alive, Mosey reveals the hidden underbelly of the BBC, lifting the lid on the angry tirades from politicians and spin doctors, the swirling accusations of bias from left and right alike, and the perils of provoking Margaret Thatcher.

Along the way, this remarkable memoir charts the pleasures and pitfalls of life at the top of an organisation that is variously held up as a treasured British institution and cast down as a lumbering, out-of-control behemoth.

Engaging, candid and very funny, Getting Out Alive is a true insider account of how the BBC works, why it succeeds and where it falls down. If you’re at all interested in the recent past in the broadcasting world you really need to buy this book, which you can HERE.

Owen Bennett is a bright young journalist who has just joined the Huffington Post after a stint on the Daily Express. His new book FOLLOWING FARAGE: ON THE MARCH WITH THE PEOPLE’S ARMY is a travelogue cum political satire and tells the tale of Nigel Farage’s election campaign. Bennett has a very amusing writing style with an eye for the ridiculous, and there was plenty of that to observe in UKIP’s election campaign. While spending a slot of time in South Thanet, Bennett also follows Farage elsewhere throughout the country. This book is far from a Farage love-in but Owen Bennett is brilliant at penning portraits of some of the characters who played key roles in the UKIP campaign. Hunting with Godfrey Bloom; lunching on expenses with Janice Atkinson; talking ‘shock and awful’ campaign tactics with Douglas Carswell – nothing is off the table when you’re on the trail of UKlP’s People’s Army. It’s Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72 meets Louis Theroux, Following Farage recounts one hack’s journey as he follows, drinks with, laughs at and even occasionally defends the phenomenon that is the United Kingdom lndependence Party as it prepares to march upon Westminster. With exclusive interviews and unfettered access to all the disgraced generals, trusty foot soldiers, deserters and dissenters who make up its ranks, Bennett delivers the inside scoop on what makes the People’s Army tick – all the while making the transition from elbowed-out hanger-on to the journalist Farage calls for an honest, post-election run-down of events. From the initial skirmishes and battle plans (the successful and the scuppered) to the explosive events of the battle for No. 10 itself – and the all-out civil war that broke out in its aftermath – Following Farage leaves no stone unturned, avenue untrod or pint undrunk in its quest for the truth about Britain’s newest and most controversial political force.

Buy the book HERE

Also this week sees the launch of THE POLITICOS GUIDE TO THE NEW HOUSE OF COMMONS 2015. In the wake of the most unprecedented election result in recent memory, the question on everyone’s lips is: what just happened to the UK’s political landscape – and why? And who are the 182 new faces on the House of Commons benches?

In The Politicos Guide to the New House of Commons 2015, public affairs consultant Tim Carr teams up with editors of the bestselling Politicos Guide to the 2015 General Election Iain Dale and Robert Waller to present an all-inclusive and essential post-election document for academics, journalists, students and political enthusiasts alike in the wake of the poll-defying 2015 general election.

Wide-ranging and accessible, this essential guide provides, amongst much else:

• Biographies of the class of 2015, alongside details of their majorities and constituencies;
• Demographic analysis by age, gender, ethnic origin, education and background;
• Lists of new marginal constituencies, possible targets seats, defeated MPs, and more;
• Expert commentary from political journalists and pollsters, exploring the role of the media, the historic result in Scotland and the future impact of fixed-term parliaments.

Ranging from the disastrous pre-election polls to the failure of UKIP to make a breakthrough – and the massacre of Scottish Labour – The Politicos Guide to the New House of Commons 2015 is a must-read for anyone eager to know the details of the election result that has so dramatically re-shaped the country’s political landscape.

You can buy the book HERE

On July 2 we publish Faith Clifford’s FIT-UP:FIGHTING THE POLICE TO CLEAR MY HUSBAND’S NAME. Arrested without warning, charged on unjust terms; Fit Up is the harrowing true story of a couple’s ten-year battle to reclaim their lives and integrity after a flawed police inquiry effectively ruined them, both emotionally and financially. From her unique perspective as wife of the accused, Faith Clifford documents the tragic consequences of her husband Jeremy’s wrongful arrest and charges for downloading child porn on the internet, and the subsequent ordeal that nearly drove them both to suicide.

Embroiled in the ill-managed Operation Ore, the most controversial investigation in recent police history, the couple remain the only people in the UK to have successfully sued the police in this type of case, having been finally awarded damages and significant costs of over £750,000.

Lifting the lid on embellished charges and manipulated evidence, Fit Up recounts in heart-wrenching detail how a normal couple were subjected to the stigma and prejudice of being associated with the vilest of crimes, and how, against all the odds, they persevered not only to clear Jeremy’s name, but to get the justice the couple so richly deserved.

When I met Faith and Jeremy I was truly horrified by what they told me. If there’s any justice in this world they will be invited to tell their astonishing story on every media outlet in the country. It’s a very worrying story which raises important questions about how the police and the rest of the justice system operate.

Buy the book HERE