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The book's juiciest tidbit was the allegation that Wilson's controversial resignation honors list—the titles and decorations with which departing Prime Ministers traditionally reward loyal political service—was drafted not by the P.M. but by Williams, on her personal "lavender note paper." The roster, says Haines, was crammed with business cronies and celebrities whom she, in many cases, knew better than Wilson. Among those honored: Williams' sister Peggy Field, who became an M.B.E. (Member of the Order of the British Empire).
Lady Falkender, who continues as Wilson's secretary, was quick to retaliate Haines' cruelties in kind. Although laid up in her fashionable West End mews house with a slipped disc, she issued a statement accusing Haines of rank disloyalty and recalling unkindly that his penchant for foul language once prompted a Cabinet member to empty a glass of whisky over him in Wilson's presence. Take that, Haines! For his part, Wilson weighed in against his former press secretary by calling the book "a farrago of twisted facts"—though many familiar with the Wilson political household doubt that they have been twisted all that far. As the mud continued to fly, former Labor Chief Whip Bob Mellish finally exclaimed, "Shut up! I am sickened at the trivia of it all!" So were others, but hardly anyone could stop from reading about it.