Peggy Noonan on Ronald Reagan

Noonan is one of the world's most famous speechwriters. And Ronald Reagan is acknowledged as one of the great political communicators of the C20th. So When Character Was King, A Story of Ronald Reagan was a promising book.

It's a very weird book, however. Twenty years on and Noonan looks back at Reagan as some kind of saint. Even when he was exasperating, Noonan looks back and sees it as exhibiting a superior wisdom. I've noticed that British journalists like Charles Moore and Simon Heffer take this sort of line on Mrs Thatcher. They were young, they had privileged access, so they look back on those times through a deep romantic haze.

Noonan is treacly about her old boss, and it grates from time to time. But for some reason you just don't stop reading. Maybe there's a lesson there about speechwriting, the message has to be so positive, it's almost over the top. Listeners don't want criticism or edge.

I took away several lessons about politics. Reagan's rise was swift because he had a message and he'd honed it over many years working as a travelling speaker for General Electric (it was a very unusual job). Like Bruce Forsyth, he did his time in the provinces, perfecting his act.

Reagan drew most of his political capital from painting a picture of the Soviet menace. He picked on fear of an external enemy to win support. Thatcher did the same thing. The fact that, in retrospect, the fear might have been exaggerated, is forgotten.

He wasn't exceptional. Apart from his ability to act. He looked the part and did the best he could. Noonan isn't all schmaltz. She does suggest that Nancy was a bit of a nightmare. And Reagan's kids were not great fans.

Reagan was a man full of stories. And Noonan suggests they could become a bit wearing in the White House. But it backed up my experience meeting speechwriters in America, leadership is often just about being able to articulate through stories what has to be done, and the difficulties that entails.

It's a sad story with Reagan ending up isolated from the world, unable to recognise anyone or remember anything.