No Way Out: Brexit: From the Backstop to Boris

Brexit: From the Backstop to Boris

By: Tim Shipman

Narrated by: Rupert Farley

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

'Meticulously sourced, merciless and revelatory. It is a closely observed study of power, and how it is gained, used and lost' FINANCIAL TIMES

The unmissable next instalment of Tim Shipman’s #1 bestselling Brexit quartet.

To follow his bestselling books All Out War and Fall Out, this book launches off from 2017 to offer an unflinching, unfiltered account of some of the most turbulent years of British politics.

In the company of all the key players and with countless never-before-revealed insights, No Way Out traces the unprecedented disasters and triumphs of Theresa May’s tenure. Spun with characteristic wit and wisdom, Shipman tells the story of May’s three great negotiations – first, with her cabinet, then with the EU and finally with parliament – and chronicles her fall in thrilling detail.

This is the ultimate insider narrative to three of the most turbulent and impactful years of government, revealing the strategies, gambles, mistakes, mindsets and scandals that have shaped and shaken Britain.

As always, political insider and chief political commentator for the Sunday Times Tim Shipman unleashes a slew of insight – and gossip – to reveal the democratic drama as it really happened.

'The quantity of work required to tell a complicated, many-sided story in such detail is astonishing. What do we learn? Well, many things of genuine interest to political followers and historians. Is his book worth it? In the end, undoubtedly yes… in an age of short-attention-span social media caricature, this is proper work, the real stuff of understanding. Historians will lean on it heavily. Would-be political leaders of the future will learn from it. It will set the narrative about how Brexit was handled, in a way other journalists can only envy' ANDREW MARR, NEW STATESMAN

©2024 Tim Shipman (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

‘Not one but three books — with one more to come — that have become the go-to chronicles of Brexit and its aftermath. The books are unparalleled works of palace intrigue, largely although not exclusively focused on the inner life of the Conservative party’

FINANCIAL TIMES

‘Meticulously constructed… There are enough tasty vignettes and morsels of gossip to make the main course of backstops and “meaningful” votes enjoyable for fans of the previous volumes. It is also a scrupulously even-handed account that will be of great value to future historians. As in the first two books, Shipman avoids easy caricatures and sets out the real-world constraints and pressures acting on the players.’

THE TIMES

'Shipman has had a sound claim to the mantle of master chronicler… May is a difficult PM to write about and Shipman does the best job to date of making a dutiful, uncommunicative and limited leader come to life'

EVENING STANDARD

‘Shipman’s books are a kind of pointillism, in which dots of incident are clustered together to form a whole — as though Georges Seurat had been let loose, paint and brushes to hand, in Number 10 or Central Lobby. The detail is compelling; the judgement magis­terial. No Way Out is a formidable book’

THE CRITIC

‘The best political watcher out there’

NICK FERRARI, LBC

'An essential read for anyone interested in contemporary British politics… a masterclass in political reportage, offering clarity and context to one of the most tumultuous periods in recent history'

THE DEEPING

Absolutely spell-blindingly brilliant and enjoyable and totally totally bonkers.

So good! The best of Shipman’s books! Like Caro it’s his 3rd where the characters have ripened and the indefatigable Shipman presents meeting after meeting in the most incredible way. The venality the hubris the people having to be brought up to speed why x won’t work why y not possible. All the characters are there and then the moments you forgot. I laughed so hard when G Brady thinks there’s a chance the crown could be his. So many amazing moments, a totem of diplomatic and political history brilliant insights into how HoC works how mandarins work how the EU works. The bathos of Juncker smoking gitanes in May’s face which means she loses her voice at a crucial moment….. just brilliant can’t wait for the next one!