All Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain’s Political Class

All Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain’s Political Class
Tim Shipman

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2017#1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER‘The best political book of the year’ Andrew Marr‘A superb work of storytelling and reporting. Sets new benchmark for the writing of contemporary political history’ GuardianThe only book to tell the full story of how and why Britain voted to leave the EU.Based on unrivalled access to all the key politicians and their advisors – including Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, George Osborne, Nigel Farage and Dominic Cummings, the mastermind of Vote Leave – Shipman has written a political history that reads like a thriller, and offers a gripping, day-by-day account of what really happened behind-the-scenes in Downing Street, both Leave campaigns, the Labour Party, Ukip and Britain Stronger in Europe.Shipman gives his readers a ringside seat on how decisions were made, mistakes justified and betrayals perpetrated. Filled with stories, anecdotes and juicy leaks the book does not seek to address the rights and wrongs of Brexit but to explore how and why David Cameron chose to take the biggest political gamble of his life and explain why he lost.This is a story of calculation, attempted coups, individuals torn between principles and loyalty. All the events are here – from David Cameron’s pledge to hold a referendum, through to the campaign itself, his resignation as prime minister, the betrayals and rivalries that occurred during the race to find his successor to the arrival of Theresa May in Downing Street as Britain’s second female prime minister.All Out War is a book about leaders and their closest aides, the decisions they make and how and why they make them, as well as how they feel when they turn out to be wrong. It is about men who make decisions that are intellectually consistent and – by their own measure – morally sound that are simultaneously disastrous for themselves and those closest to them. It is about how doing what you know has worked before doesn’t always work again. Most of all it is about asking the question: how far are you prepared to go to win?

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Copyright (#u10d7264a-ba90-589b-8570-219e3969fcc3)

William Collins

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

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London SE1 9GF

WilliamCollinsBooks.com (http://www.williamcollinsbooks.com)

This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2016

Copyright © Tim Shipman 2016

Tim Shipman asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Cover illustration by Morten Morland/Spectator

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Source ISBN: 9780008215156

Ebook Edition © October 2016 ISBN: 9780008215163

Version: 2017-05-04

Dedication (#u10d7264a-ba90-589b-8570-219e3969fcc3)

For my mother, who taught me to read,

and my father, who taught me to think.

Above all, for my wife Charlotte,

who was there and who deserved to win.

By meeting her, I did.

Contents

Cover (#u348e1b8d-188f-5c7a-9db1-f164c60a0cd7)

Title Page (#u955167c7-8fd8-500b-b560-7bf18cd01512)

Copyright (#u29925157-b959-51cb-b1cd-9445c5242003)

Dedication (#u9d92d5fc-a81c-589a-ab69-c147e5088a0b)

Acknowledgements (#ub89dbadb-1789-59fe-b96e-f9bfad09ab52)

Timeline (#uf84b534a-bc5e-579d-b8a5-a566a7c99254)

Introduction: Demons Unleashed (#u93c0136b-3bc8-5eab-99b5-4faea71f8eaa)

PART ONE: SKIRMISHES (#ua0705ef5-b4ca-55b7-b1c4-9dba6af6dbf5)

1 ‘My Lily-Livered Colleagues …’ (#u9ec55b28-7714-5ea5-be50-bff18b2d60a6)

2 For Britain (#u2396e7f7-d3f5-5ba3-bf25-046046849c20)

3 Dom and Arron (#u6bafce50-a848-5304-917b-421cc8c9c4c0)

4 Stronger In (#uab896a01-13e4-5829-8870-6d8b6ff74568)

5 Cornering Corbyn (#ud15bb23a-d3cc-5270-a469-4a16fc0d6ff4)

6 Guerrilla Warfare (#u64daa7ce-ea01-5db8-b39d-d7cafc961ba8)

7 The Coup (#u35b78220-d707-5b94-8664-597bcdecd7aa)

8 The Deal (#u39967908-914b-5eff-ad42-068790f81b0f)

9 Boris and Michael (#ufbdc46d6-76d7-5822-9137-910505d411bc)

PART TWO: BATTLE IS JOINED (#litres_trial_promo)

10 Project Fear (#litres_trial_promo)

11 The IDS of March (#litres_trial_promo)

12 Designation’s What You Need (#litres_trial_promo)

13 ‘Back of the Queue’ (#litres_trial_promo)

14 The Economy, Stupid (#litres_trial_promo)

15 Blue on Blue (#litres_trial_promo)

16 Turning Points (#litres_trial_promo)