Keeping the Party in Tune embraces twenty stories ‘for the record’, primarily about battles in the life of a union leader and Labour politician during some of the most turbulent times in New Zealand’s political and industrial history. As the MP for Porirua and later Mana, Graham Kelly was at the coalface of sweeping changes in the 1980s and ‘90s to working people’s lives. He documents the causes and consequences of neo-liberal economic policies. Other pieces capture the often-hilarious life of a musician and dance band leader. These stories are interspersed with insights from international travels as a New Zealand MP on fact-finding missions to remote countries such as Tibet and North Korea, and later as High Commissioner to Canada.