Through the eyes of Norman Lamont, John Major's Chancellor of the Exchequer, this volume recounts the events leading up to the drama of Black Wednesday - the day the Bank of England lost billions unsuccessfully defending the pound - and reveals what really happened that day. As Major's campaign manager during the leadership election of 1990, Lamont is well-positioned to analyze Major's performance as Prime Minister. He describes wryly, and not without self-criticism, the deterioration in their relationship over three years which culminated in his enforced departure from the government in 1993. How was it that the Conservative Party, the most successful political machine in Western Europe, which had been in power for 18 years, ended its reign with such a disastrous electoral wipeout? Were the splits in the party over Europe inevitable? Was the party unleadable, or did it lack leadership? Norman Lamont addresses these and other questions in his account of the Major years.