Plucked from civil service obscurity by Charles Haughey in 1981, Mansergh went on to become the Fianna Fail leader's most trusted confidant, and the only party advisor to survive through the leadership upheavals that brought first Albert Reynolds and then Betie Ahern to power. What was it that brought this English-born, Oxford-educated member of the Church of Ireland to the core of successive Irish governments? And what was the extent of his role in the clandestine contacts with the Republican movement that initiated the peace process in Northern Ireland? In the summer of 2002, Mansergh swapped his backroom role as a government advisor for membership of Seanad Eireann. In this penetrating and revealing biography, Kevin Rafter brings us the first in-depth examination of this remarkable man and his contribution.