First Among Equals - Jeffrey Archer

Though Archer has often included an angle of British politics in many of his stories, and to some extent. American politics (Sons of Fortune), his 1984 published, “First among equals” is his attempt into the extravaganza of British politics. The entire plot revolving around British politics, tells us the story of four Member of Parliament (MP), having diverse social and political backgrounds, their lives intertwined amongst each other over a period of three decades to achieve the most desired profile in any form of politics, the office of Prime minister. What could surely be said that, though it has the commercial Archer feel to the story, this was an attempt which had very good plot detailing, yes, there would appear many moments and events, which one would feel that, perhaps Archer had brought in from his other stories, but what’s important that they really did fit in well.

The book starts with the trade mark Archer style, where in the first page would describe an event in a “If –then” narrative which would impact a character and his future life continued with the introduction of the other three principal characters in parallel times. But what actually surprised me were the amazing animated sketches of the characters and some events in the story which were presented beautifully in the sketches. Those Sketches have been drawn by Charles Griffin. They are impressive, very impressive indeed. The first page itself gives a very impressive animated sketch of the four principal characters. The impact it has is that we actually start imagining those sketches as and when the characters appear in the narrative. However what really interested me, was the inspiration of Archer for such a change. Was it Frederick Forsyth’s “The shepherd”, is a question which perhaps is best left unanswered.

What this book also does, is that it gives a very good overview of British politics from the period 1964 to 1991. The reader actually comes to term with certain phrases which a person only associated with British politics relate with. The narrative is broken into trade mark Archer style into cluster of years, beautifully woven into events, with great character backgrounds and ups and down. Archer, himself having been a part of British politics, brings his experience into events inside the Parliament, back office negotiations and of course, the social lives of various characters dominating the British politics.

We would also not miss Archer’s trademark, strong negative characters, though the level of antagonism is soft and does not surpass the antagonists of Archer’s other stories. It also gives a good idea about the importance of Scotland, Ireland and Wales to British politics.

The story telling is as usual great and speedy and the best part of the entire narrative is that not until the last line will the reader come to know about the final selection of the Prime minister, trade mark Archer.

Interestingly, “First among equals” has two versions, one a United Kingdom version with four protagonists, and another is the American edition with three protagonists. So even though the basic story would remain the same, if one is reading the American Edition, every act and event would be minus one of the protagonists, the events in relation to him would be put onto one of the other three.

Though “First among equals “may not be a masterpiece, it is actually a very impressive narrative about British politics, and impact of politics on individual lives involved with it.