He documented his time as Leader of the House of Commons in a widely acclaimed memoir "The Point of Departure", which discussed in diary form his efforts to reform the House of Lords and to persuade his ministerial colleagues, including Tony Blair, to distance the Labour Government from the foreign policy of the Bush administration. The former political editor of "Channel 4 News", Elinor Goodman called the book 'the best insight yet into the workings of the Blair cabinet', the former editor of "The Observer", Will Hutton, called it "the political book of the year—a lucid and compelling insider's account of the two years that define the Blair Prime Ministership".