I enjoyed reading this although it is in reality no more than a series of "after-dinner" recollections which the author has strung together as prose for the purposes of a book. I would have liked more detail of many of the events he described and of course more of the scandals he alludes to but carefully protects the guilty parties.

I only realised after reading the book that the author is the father of Justin Welby, the current Archbishop of Canterbury.

Anthony Montague Browne is the kind of person who would tell you off in a restaurant or pub if you were airing views that he disagreed with. A loyal friend, but just as likely to lose a friendship because of his hot temper and sharp tongue. That said, what comes out very strongly in this book is the author's unswerving loyalty to Sir Winston Churchill, whom he served devotedly for over twelve years. WSC was nearly seventy-seven when he became Prime Minister in 1951 and, what with failing health and declining powers, wasn't half the man he had been during the war. This deterioration continued after his retirement from active politics in 1955. In the eyes of Montague Browne, and like-minded souls on the right, WSC's condition parallels Great Britain's declining importance on the world stage, losing an empire and suffering a damaged reputation after the Suez Crisis of 1956.

All of this makes Long Sunset a sad, difficult book to read at times, and it is better taken slowly. I thought there was rather too much to be said about Churchill's vacations with Lord Beaverbrook and Aristotle Onassis, as the author half acknowledges himself. However, I suspect that most Britons would agree with Montague Browne's view of the Anglo-American "Special Relationship" (even if his boss helped to forge it) and his observations on spiralling executive pay are as relevant now as when they were written, nearly twenty years ago. ( )