Blue Murder

UPDATED WITH A NEW CHAPTER ON THE 2024 ELECTIONA GUARDIAN AND DAILY TELEGRAPH POLITICS BOOK OF THE YEAR'BRILLIANT' ANDREW MARR'MAJESTIC' GUARDIAN'ESSENTIAL' JON SOPEL'A CRACKING READ' FINANCIAL TIMES'A SHARP INSIDER ACCOUNT' NEW STATESMAN The full inside story of fourteen years of Tory rule, from coalition to self-destruction. In 2010 David Cameron's Conservative Party came into power with a promise of stability. Fourteen years and five prime ministers later, the Tories have been swept away, divided and decimated. What went wrong? From the ashes of a financial crisis to a break from the EU to a global pandemic, prime ministers have changed dramatically while the Tories remained in power. Merciless rebellions and the swift ousting of leaders enabled this, but the same ruthlessness ultimately brought about their downfall. Blue Murder links stories of betrayal in Cameron's coalition, the travails of May, the sagas of Johnson, the Truss implosion and the Sunak spiral. Through his unique access and unmissable inside stories, Ben Riley-Smith's thrilling account is essential for anyone wondering how the Tories carved out the political opportunity of a generation and then tore themselves apart. PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS THE RIGHT TO RULE.

Ben Riley-Smith is the Daily Telegraph's Political Editor. He has spent a decade at the paper covering politics in the Scottish Parliament, Westminster and Washington, DC. He has interviewed the last five prime ministers and covered the elections and referendums that have shaped recent British politics first hand. He has been shortlisted twice for political journalism at the British Journalism Awards.