Kingmaker cover art

Kingmaker

Secrets, Lies, and the Truth about Five Prime Ministers

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Kingmaker

By: Sir Graham Brady
Narrated by: Sir Graham Brady
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About this listen

 THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR

THE BESTSELLING INSIDER STORY OF WESTMINSTER'S BLOODIEST POWER BATTLES

'Myths are debunked, prime ministers exposed and secrets revealed ... essential' The Times

'Refreshingly honest' The Telegraph

'Entertaining and approachable' The Spectator

David Cameron. Theresa May. Boris Johnson. Liz Truss. Rishi Sunak. Five prime ministers, one explosive memoir. Kingmaker lifts the lid on the leadership battles that have defined British politics

The last fourteen years have seen turbulence at the centre of politics that is perhaps unique in British history. From coalition to Brexit, Covid to Partygate, Trussonomics to this year's election, our government has never felt so fractured. And as Prime Ministers have come and gone, one man has been at the heart of every leadership challenge, seeing all, but saying nothing. Until now.

Sir Graham Brady was the Chairman of the 1922 Committee since 2010. As the leader of the group with the power to choose a new leader of the Conservative Party, it was his hand that held the executioner's axe over five consecutive Prime Ministers' heads.

Elected to Parliament in 1997 as the youngest Conservative MP in the house, Brady comes from a lower middle-class background and fell into politics age 16 when he joined a campaign to save his grammar school. This book is the story of how a boy from Salford came to be the definitive political insider.

With unique access to every key decision-maker of the past fourteen years, it offers insights into the character and choices of successive Prime Ministers and the administrations they led. Ultimately, it reveals where our most recent leadership failures originate, and asks hard questions about who will be fit to lead us tomorrow.©2024 Graham Brady (P)2024 Bonnier Books UK Corruption & Misconduct Politics & Government Thought-Provoking Leadership

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All stars
Most relevant
The Westminster Insider podcast featuring Brady’s interview about this book contains the same level of insight at only a fraction of the listening time.

Light on detail

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There's a decent amount of what I wanted from this book in it - a look behind the scenes at how things work in politics, especially in the opaque world of the '22, and an account of what the seven thousand Prime Ministers we've had since 2010 were like. It's read extremely well by its author, and for those who are tempted (yes, as I was) to skip the "...I was born at a very young age..." section, I recommend you don't - it's a valuable look into Brady's perspective and illustrative of how politicians of his party and generation were formed. For the most part, Brady's account of his career is entertainingly told and refreshingly succinct. It does arguably the most important thing a political memoir should do - it reminds you of the basic humanity of all involved, which a polarized political climate can easily obfuscate. Stories of his wife's health concerns in the build up to 2010 I found especially moving.

The book lets itself down when it descends into score settling and self-congratulation, in exactly the way you expect from more tedious political memoirs from more prominent figures, in which one can tell the author is more concerned with the people who might read it today than the use it might provide to posterity. Especially as he starts to cover the pandemic years, Brady lapses into "why, oh why" style ranting about this or that very specific policy issue. There's an irony in the way Brady correctly identifies how COVID drove everyone a little mad, but fails to reflect that he, too, may have been a victim.

Finally, a minor point: the title is really very silly. Brady goes to great pains in the book to tell us that he is very much not a kingmaker - just a servant of his party, a node of stability, which enables the kings to be made in the traditional way. Given his reputation as the person to come knocking when a Prime Minister's time is up, my wife suggested the alternative title "Headsman". Altogether more macabre, but much more accurate.

Ably Told, but Lacking

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A very moving account of our recent times by Sir Graham Brady, who comes across as a more humane politician with integrity in our troubled times.

Likes the Audible version for his mimicking David Cameron and Boris Johnson!

Factual Account of our troubled Governments Of recent times

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Sir Graham comes over a both genial and sensible, which is he bearing when ever I saw him. A grown up in the room but also someone who was expedient about politics in general. He has overseen some astonishing times and seems to have come away broadly happy but with a pretty negative personal view of what public service really means and how politics today’s makes everyone a liar for a cause. A man of certain principles but also a pragmatist is what I took from this excellent book. He probably could have been a good man to have on the front benches more I suspect.

Fabulous read

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Enjoyed this a lot more than perhaps I thought. As a political nerd I found the detailing of how the Conservatives’ 1922 committee works really interesting, although at times the Hokey Cokey of MPs putting letters in against the leader then taking them out grew a little tiresome.

There’s also no doubt that Brady absolutely loved being in the limelight (despite his weak protestations to the contrary) and the drama around both Johnson and Truss’ leaving office.

Where this book really impressed me was Brady’s calm and sensible condemnation of lockdowns and how the reaction to Covid was poorly thought through, and the restrictions were always going to be more damaging than the infection itself. We have to rely that he is telling the truth on how strongly he disagreed with Johnson’s craven capitulation to the left wing unions and scientific bodies whose models were always so demonstrably flawed.

I don’t think Brady would have been anything approaching a decent prime minister, but he seems to accept that himself.

An interesting book and vital for yet more insight into a turbulent 10 years in British politics.

Interesting and thoughtful

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