Description

The unmissable inside story of the most dramatic general election campaign in modern history and Theresa May’s battle for a Brexit deal, the greatest challenge for a prime minister since the Second World War.

By the bestselling author of All Out War, shortlisted for the Orwell Prize 2017.

This is the unmissable inside story of the most dramatic general election campaign in modern history and Theresa May’s battle for a Brexit deal – the greatest challenge for a prime minister since the Second World War.

Fall Out tells of how a leader famed for her caution battled her bitterly divided cabinet at home while facing duplicitous Brussels bureaucrats abroad. Of how she then took the biggest gamble of her career to strengthen her position – and promptly blew it. It is also a tale of treachery where – in the hour of her greatest weakness – one by one, May’s colleagues began to plot against her.

Inside this book you will find all the strategy, comedy, tragedy and farce of modern politics – where principle, passion and vaulting ambition collide in the corridors of power. It chronicles a civil war at the heart of the Conservative Party and a Labour Party back from the dead, led by Jeremy Corbyn, who defied the experts and the critics on his own side to mount an unlikely tilt at the top job.

With access to all the key players, Tim Shipman has written a political history that reads like a thriller, exploring how and why the EU referendum result pitched Britain into a year of political mayhem.

Publisher Review

Praise for 'All Out War': `I can't imagine a more even-handed or better sourced, all points-of-view account of the biggest story in British politics since WWII ... A fine book' ANDREW MARR, Sunday Times 'Shipman's dispatches are a must read if you want to understand what happened beneath the smog and beyond the noise of the conflict' NICK ROBINSON `Shipman is brilliantly qualified to write the inside story of the referendum, with his unrivalled access to all the players' JOHN RENTOUL `One of the best political journalists of his era ... It's impossible to fully comprehend what happened on June 23 and the ensuing two weeks without reading this book ... Brilliant' - IAIN DALE, LBC `Shipman's book is by far the best. It is a detailed, often pitch-perfect account that delivers the tale with an infectious sense of human drama - no mean feat, given the task of completing the whole thing so quickly' New Statesman `The essential account ... Shipman has spoken to every key individual to produce the definitive first draft of history, a comprehensive yet impartial study of how Brexit won' Financial Times `Excellent ... Shipman convincingly marshals fresh evidence to prove what we already half-knew' Observer `The best political book of the year was undoubtedly Tim Shipman's masterly `All Out War'' New Statesman `Stonkingly good: if you're vaguely interested in politics buy it. It won't be bettered' FRASER NELSON `Thorough, comprehensive and utterly gripping. It is hard to imagine a better first draft of history' Economist `Undoubtedly the British political book of the year' ALEX MASSIE `Shipman, one of the most brilliant, best informed and well-connected journalists in Westminster, has written a superlative book which does full justice to a momentous time' PETER OBORNE `Don't think any of the quotes do justice to quite how good it is. A superb work of reporting and storytelling, and sets new benchmark for the writing of contemporary political history' ANDREW SPARROW