John Crace | Taking the Lead: A Dog at Number 10
Fri 25 Apr 2025 | 8:00pm - 9:00pm


From the ingeniously quick-witted John Crace, parliamentary sketch writer for The Guardian, comes a satirical memoir from the eyes of his beloved dog, Herbie. This is the story that the politicians didn’t want you to know and now, finally, Herbert the hound tells all. It started when a chance encounter with Sadiq Khan’s Labrador landed Herbie a job working as a special advisor to Ed Miliband in 2014. Then he was summoned by David Cameron to work on the Remain campaign in the EU referendum. He experienced the pain of working with Theresa May; was sacked and then rehired by Boris Johnson to advise on Covid; was at Balmoral when the Queen died; had a ringside seat for Liz Truss; was fired by Rishi Sunak and then latterly taken on by Keir Starmer.
As Westminster veterans, boy, do John Crace and Herbie have stories to share… Come join the fun with one of newspapers’ most beloved columnists.
In conversation with Alex Clark
Venue: TTP Stage (Cambridge Union)
Duration: 1 hour
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Author Biography
John Crace has been the Guardian’s political sketch writer for the last ten years and is one of the paper’s most loved columnists. He has also written about twenty books on everything from cricket, football, TV, literature, politics and – not forgetting – himself. The most recent, Depraved New World, a collection of his Guardian columns, was published in November 2023 and was a Waterstones Politics Book of the Year. In January 2024 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Bath Spa University in recognition of his literary satire.
Chair Biography
Alex Clark is a broadcaster and journalist, who writes for many publications including the Guardian, the Observer, and the Times Literary Supplement. She was the co-host on the Graham Norton Book Club for Audible and hosts the TLS podcast. She is a professional chairperson and appears all over the UK at Cheltenham, Hay and the Southbank Centre. Alex is a festival honorary patron and now lives in Ireland.