FORMER Rossendale and Darwen MP Sir David Trippier has penned an autobiography to provide a vivid insight into life as a minister during the Thatcher years.

Lend Me Your Ears, launched at this week's Tory party conference in Blackpool, details Sir David's time in East Lancashire.

Its publication has come at the same time as autobiographies by former Prime Minister John Major and ex-Chancellor Norman Lamont.

From the day he held his first surgery and was asked to become president of Bacup Flying Club, to his appointment as a minister in the Trade and Industry Department after the 1983 election, the book provides a candid assessment of political life locally and nationally in the 1980s.

He says he was told to "tell the truth then you can remember what you said" by his father from an early age.

Sir David says he has stood by the maxim throughout his life and has done the same with Lend Me Your Ears which is also a love story conveying Sir David's feelings for his wife Ruth and his three sons.

He said: "It took four and a half months to write the book and I was buried in it for so long I got withdrawal symptoms when I had finished. "There was a lot of checking and research on dates and figures as well as ensuring that names were spelt correctly.

"Initially, the idea was that I would write a couple of chapters in the hope that someone could help me ghost write it because I didn't have a lot of spare time.

"The publishers read the first few chapters and seemed pleased and asked me to write some more - 27 chapters later I'd written the whole book.

"I had to get up an hour earlier and go to bed an hour later and I spent five hours working on it at the weekend.

"I passed it on to my wife Ruth because she's quite good at cutting out the gibberish and she said which were the good points that could be developed, so the publisher hardly changed it.

"It was very enjoyable but I wouldn't rush to do another one too soon. It's meant to be entertaining and not just about my work in politics.

"It's good that I have done it for my children and for future generations."

Lend Me Your Ears has been launched by The Memoir Club and will cost £18.95.

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