NO biography of a leading political figure, least of all one who towered on the parliamentary and government stage for a quarter of a century, would be complete if it failed to tell the whole story.

And so it is that, with the publication today of her biography on the late Barbara Castle, authoress Anne Perkins lifts the lid on the 10-year affair that the woman who was Blackburn's MP for 25 years began with a leading trade unionist early in her political career.

But although this is not an altogether-new revelation, it may surprise many in East Lancashire who remember Barbara Castle as being devoted to her late husband, Ted, and to her job.

Yet the earlier episode when, long ago, she was the secret lover of a married man, is not what Barbara Castle will be remembered for. In East Lancashire, she left an impressive legacy as the MP who never stinted on her constituency work and who fought the battles of the "little people" while wrestling with her duties and problems at the heights of government.

And on the larger political stage, she is remembered for major achievements that will live long in the public mind - the introduction of the Breathalyser, equal pay for women, child benefit and much more.

Buy 'The Authorised Biography of Barbara Castle' on-line now...