Out

The hotly anticipated final book of bestselling author Tim Shipman’s Brexit quartet. The Johnson Years to Rishi Sunak

‘Magnificent… Pacy and packed with delicious details… Shipman puts you in the room… His analysis is sharp and full of insight… For those seeking a moment-by-moment insider history it will not be topped’ FT

How did Boris Johnson supersede Theresa May to become Britain’s Prime Minister? How did he pursue his promise to Get Brexit Done amidst multiple Brexit secretaries, repeated coup attempts and reshuffles, and an extraordinarily terse relationship with Brussels? What really happened in Downing Street – from the political choices to the party place settings – as the pandemic took the world in its grip? Out follows from May’s resignation through to the tussles over the final Brexit deal, the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and our shortest serving PM ever.

If pre-Theresa May Westminster was largely obsessed with the clever idealism of The West Wing, marinated in the farce of The Thick of It, the parable of these years became Game of Thrones, the pseudo-medieval swords and shagging epic pitching warring factions against each other in the quest for the iron throne. At the centre of the action was Tim Shipman, chief political commentator for the Sunday Times, taking notes on the guts and gore and tears.

Out is a riveting, rambunctious account of the most dramatic years in modern British politics.

Author Biography

Tim Shipman is the political editor of the Sunday Times. He has been a national newspaper journalist since 1997 and in sixteen years writing about politics he has also reported from Westminster for the Daily Mail and the Sunday Express. Tim was Washington correspondent for the Sunday Telegraph during Barack Obama’s historic first election campaign. He has covered four general elections, three presidential elections, two wars and more leadership contests than he can count. He popularized the word ‘omnishambles’ in Westminster long before George Osborne based a budget on the idea. Tim was chairman of the Parliamentary Press Gallery in 2012. He was shortlisted for the Political Journalist of the Year award at the British Press Awards in 2015, 2016, and 2017. He lives in south-east London with his wife and more than two thousand books.