WHEN WILL WE SEE A PRESIDENTIAL BIOGRAPHY / MEMOIR LIKE THIS?

I've always enjoyed watching Canadian politics, which on occasion are more colourful than here. But a new book released yesterday has brought out charges of deceit and betrayal from former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney against author Peter C. Newman.

The Secret Mulroney Tapes: Confessions of a Prime Minister is the result of hours of recordings made with Mulroney, his family, and friends while he was still in office.

The new book lays out uncensoured opinions about himself and those who served in the Prime Minister's office before and after. Among them:

--- He obviously has a very high opinion of himself. "Nobody has achievements like this ... you cannot name a Canadian prime minister who has done as many significant things as I did, because there are none." Mulroney also was quoted in the tapes as saying "I know I am going to take my place in Canadian history in a very significant way."

Mulroney, who also was known as a bit of a womanizer during his time as PM from 1984-93, also told Newman the book would sell quite well --- obviously not knowing 20-plus years ago how the publication's content would treat him --- saying "The only question they're going to have to wonder about is whether they've got enough paper in the forest to print the f***ing books."

--- It was clear that he had not only a professional dislike, but a personal one, for Pierre Elliot Trudeau. He accuses Trudeau, who was PM from 1968-1979 and from 1980-84, of undermining the Meech Lake Accord, a series of failed amendments to the Canadian Constitution which were designed to recognize Quebec's "distinct society" and bilingual existance. According to the tapes, Mulroney said "..he didn't want anybody to succeed where he had failed...
Trudeau's contribution was not to build Canada but to destroy it, and I had to come in and save it."

--- He described his short-termed successor, Kim Campbell, as a "very vain person who blew the 1993 election because she was too busy screwing around with her Russian boyfriend" and ran "the most incompetent campaign I've seen in my life."

--- He also refers to another fellow Conservative who became Prime Minister, Joe Clark, as "stupid".

--- And author Newman, in an interview with CTV News, said that Mulroney described Liberal PM Jean Chretien, a "mean, dirty bastard" and described Mulroney making fun of Chretien. "He did the imitation of him [Chretien] speaking English, which is pretty cruel." Chretien suffered from Bell's Palsy in his youth, resulting in the left side of his face permanantly paralyzed.

CBC News reports that Mulroney feels "devestated" and "betrayed" by the book, but does not dispute it's accuracy and plans no legal action.