Overview

Lifting the lid on the most captivating story in British politics today, ‘Back from the Brink’ charts the Conservative Party's remarkable journey from the political wilderness to the threshold of power. Based on unprecedented access to key figures in the Conservative party, including every leader from John Major to David Cameron, political journalist Peter Snowdon sheds new light on the dramatic decline and renaissance of the party that dominated 20th century British politics. He reveals how the Conservatives were torn apart by in-fighting as they struggled to come to terms with their catastrophic electoral defeat in 1997 and the continuing trauma of Margaret Thatcher's sudden removal from office several years earlier. Under a succession of hapless leaders – William Hague, Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard – the party lost two further elections and at times effectively ceased to function as a political force across whole swathes of Britain. It took the emergence of a new generation of Conservatives, and David Cameron's election as leader in 2005, to set the party on the uneven road to electoral recovery. Packed full of fresh insights into what really goes on behind closed doors at Westminster, ‘Back from the Brink’ exposes the bitter rivalries and recriminations that have blighted the Conservatives in Opposition, and gets to the heart of Cameron's quest for power and ambitions for office.

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9780007308842

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Reviews

`One of the best political books I have ever read' Matthew D'Ancona, Evening Standard `A superb new history of the last decade in Tory politics...Peter Snowdon's meticulous narrative, `Back From The Brink', records the highs and lows of the party both before and after David Cameron captured the leadership' The Times `This is political history `Band of Brothers'-style, the feelgood story of a bunch of friends who take over a three-quarters-dead political party and charge, heads down, towards victory...like all the best war stories, it is exciting, immediate and intermittently grim...Snowdon's book is among the best of a crop of Tory literature...a definitive account' Guardian `[Peter Snowdon] is even-handed with his judgements...a riveting read for anyone interested in politics' Telegraph `A well researched, authoritative and workmanlike account of the Conservative Party's brush with extinction after 1990...an easy read, taking us, with the help of much quotation from the dramatise personae themselves, through the whole extraordinary story' Spectator

'One of the best political books I have ever read' Matthew D'Ancona, Evening Standard 'A superb new history of the last decade in Tory politics...Peter Snowdon's meticulous narrative, 'Back From The Brink', records the highs and lows of the party both before and after David Cameron captured the leadership' The Times 'This is political history 'Band of Brothers'-style, the feelgood story of a bunch of friends who take over a three-quarters-dead political party and charge, heads down, towards victory...like all the best war stories, it is exciting, immediate and intermittently grim...Snowdon's book is among the best of a crop of Tory literature...a definitive account' Guardian '[Peter Snowdon] is even-handed with his judgements...a riveting read for anyone interested in politics' Telegraph 'A well researched, authoritative and workmanlike account of the Conservative Party's brush with extinction after 1990...an easy read, taking us, with the help of much quotation from the dramatise personae themselves, through the whole extraordinary story' Spectator

`One of the best political books I have ever read' Matthew D'Ancona, Evening Standard `A superb new history of the last decade in Tory politics...Peter Snowdon's meticulous narrative, `Back From The Brink', records the highs and lows of the party both before and after David Cameron captured the leadership' The Times `This is political history `Band of Brothers'-style, the feelgood story of a bunch of friends who take over a three-quarters-dead political party and charge, heads down, towards victory...like all the best war stories, it is exciting, immediate and intermittently grim...Snowdon's book is among the best of a crop of Tory literature...a definitive account' Guardian `[Peter Snowdon] is even-handed with his judgements...a riveting read for anyone interested in politics' Telegraph `A well researched, authoritative and workmanlike account of the Conservative Party's brush with extinction after 1990...an easy read, taking us, with the help of much quotation from the dramatise personae themselves, through the whole extraordinary story' Spectator

'A superb new history of the last decade in Tory politics!Peter Snowdon's meticulous narrative, 'Back From The Brink', records the highs and lows of the party both before and after David Cameron captured the leadership' The Times 'This is political history 'Band of Brothers'-style, the feelgood story of a bunch of friends who take over a three-quarters-dead political party and charge, heads down, towards victory!like all the best war stories, it is exciting, immediate and intermittently grim!Snowdon's book is among the best of a crop of Tory literature!a definitive account' Guardian '[Peter Snowdon] is even-handed with his judgements!a riveting read for anyone interested in politics' Telegraph 'A well researched, authoritative and workmanlike account of the Conservative Party's brush with extinction after 1990!an easy read, taking us, with the help of much quotation from the dramatise personae themselves, through the whole extraordinary story' Spectator Praise for Blair Unbound 'One message is already clear: that modern government cannot work if its leadership is perpetually at odds with itself. In telling that tale, Blair Unbound could not bettered' Sunday Times This is as fair a judgement on a Prime Minister as you are going to get ! frank and fascinating' Mary Riddell, Observer Tony Blair's resignation has sent commentators back to the oldest of mysteries; who the hell is Blair, and what does he want? Blair Unbound and Alistair Campbell's Diaries might be read together' Nicolas Blincoe, Daily Telegraph

`One of the best political books I have ever read' Matthew D'Ancona, Evening Standard`A superb new history of the last decade in Tory politics...Peter Snowdon's meticulous narrative, `Back From The Brink', records the highs and lows of the party both before and after David Cameron captured the leadership' The Times`This is political history `Band of Brothers'-style, the feelgood story of a bunch of friends who take over a three-quarters-dead political party and charge, heads down, towards victory...like all the best war stories, it is exciting, immediate and intermittently grim...Snowdon's book is among the best of a crop of Tory literature...a definitive account' Guardian`[Peter Snowdon] is even-handed with his judgements...a riveting read for anyone interested in politics' Telegraph`A well researched, authoritative and workmanlike account of the Conservative Party's brush with extinction after 1990...an easy read, taking us, with the help of much quotation from the dramatise personae themselves, through the whole extraordinary story' Spectator

Author Information

Peter Snowdon is a contemporary historian and journalist. He has co-authored several works with renowned historian Anthony Seldon including ‘Major: A Political Life’ and ‘Blair Unbound’. He has written for the Observer and Newsweek and has also worked on the BBC’s The Politics Show. He lives in London.

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