All Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain’s Political Class

773 Pages·2016·10.13 MB·English

by  Tim Shipman

Copyright
William Collins
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This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2016
Copyright © Tim Shipman 2016
Tim Shipman asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work A catalogue record for this
book is available from the British Library Cover illustration by Morten Morland/Spectator All rights
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Source ISBN: 9780008215156
Ebook Edition © October 2016 ISBN: 9780008215163
Version: 2016-10-18
Dedication
For my mother, who taught me to read,
and my father, who taught me to think.
Above all, for my wife Charlotte,
who was there and who deserved to win.
By meeting her, I did.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Timeline
Introduction: Demons Unleashed
PART ONE: SKIRMISHES
1 ‘My Lily-Livered Colleagues …’
2 For Britain
3 Dom and Arron
4 Stronger In
5 Cornering Corbyn
6 Guerrilla Warfare
7 The Coup
8 The Deal
9 Boris and Michael
PART TWO: BATTLE IS JOINED
10 Project Fear
11 The IDS of March
12 Designation’s What You Need
13 ‘Back of the Queue’
14 The Economy, Stupid
15 Blue on Blue
16 Turning Points
17 Aunty Beeb
18 Debating Points
19 Labour Isn’t Working
20 Immigration Crisis
21 George’s Monstrous Medicine
22 Breaking Points
23 Wembley
24 The Waterloo Strategy
25 Brexit Night
PART THREE: ALL OUT WAR
26 Fallout Friday
27 Jexit
28 The Dream Team
29 Anyone But Boris
30 Brexecuted
31 Mayniacs v Leadbangers
32 Iron May-den
Conclusion: Why Leave Won
Appendix 1: Boris Johnson’s First ‘Out’ Article
Appendix 2: Boris Johnson’s ‘In’ Article
Appendix 3: David Cameron’s ‘Victory’ Speech
List of Illustrations
Picture Section
Bibliography
Notes
About the Publisher
Acknowledgements
This book is based on more than eighty interviews conducted in person and on
the telephone during July and August 2016. A number of people have been
immeasurably helpful but understandably do not wish to see their names in print,
particularly those who work for the civil service, the new prime minister or the
Labour Party, whose discretion is a living concern. They know who they are, and
I’m grateful. Many of the interviews included ‘on the record’ observations, but
most of the time we spoke on the understanding that I would construct a
narrative of events without signalling the parentage of every fact and quote.
Where I have directly quoted someone, or attributed thoughts or feelings to
them, I have spoken to them, the person they were addressing, someone else in
the room, or someone to whom they recounted details of the conversation. This
means that I have only provided references to quotes or information from
published sources and broadcast interviews. Where matters are disputed I have
been clear about who is making the claims.
While it is invidious to single anyone out for special thanks, I am immensely
grateful to: Iain Anderson, Adam Atashzai, Steve Baker, Arron Banks, Eddie
Barnes, Jake Berry, Gabby Bertin, Nick Boles, Peter Bone, Graham Brady,
Andrew Bridgen, Chris Bruni-Lowe, Conor Burns, Alistair Burt, Paul Butters,
Alastair Campbell, David Campbell Bannerman, Joe Carberry, Douglas
Carswell, Max Chambers, David Chaplin, Bill Clare, Ryan Coetzee, Therese
Coffey, Henry Cook, Andrew Cooper, Dominic Cummings, Ruth Davidson,
Henry de Zoete, Oliver Dowden, Brian Duggan, Sir Alan Duncan, Iain Duncan
Smith, Matthew Elliott, Nick Faith, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, Nigel Farage,
Smith, Matthew Elliott, Nick Faith, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, Nigel Farage,
Liam Fox, Mark Fullbrook, Nusrat Ghani, Ameet Gill, John Glen, Michael
Gove, Chris Grayling, Damian Green, Gerry Gunster, Matthew Hancock, Daniel
Hannan, Richard Harrington, Michael Heaver, Patrick Heneghan, Kate Hoey,
Richard Howell, Bernard Jenkin, Alan Johnson, Boris Johnson, Hermann Kelly,
Daniel Korski, Brandon Lewis, David Lidington, James McGrory, Michael
McManus, Lord Mandelson of Foy in the County of Herefordshire and of
Hartlepool in the County of Durham, Katie Martin, Zack Massingham, Nicky
Morgan, David Mundell, Jonathan Munro, Henry Newman, Brett O’Donnell, Sir
Craig Oliver, George Osborne, Rob Oxley, Mike Penning, Mats Persson, Amy
Richards, Lewis Robinson, Lord Rose of Monewden, Josh Simons, Keith
Simpson, Anna Soubry, Paul Stephenson, Will Straw, Lucy Thomas, Gawain
Towler, Laura Trott, Nick Varley, Will Walden, Ben Wallace, Graeme Wilson
and Nick Wood.
I’m also grateful to several lobby colleagues for passing on anecdotes and
advice, including James Lyons, Oliver Wright, Sam Coates, James Kirkup, Beth
Rigby, Fraser Nelson, Matt Chorley and Rob Hutton. Laura Kuenssberg gave me
prior sight of the transcript of her television documentary Brexit: Battle for
Britain, which was broadcast on 8 August 2016. Andy Taylor made several
helpful suggestions on structure.
A first-time author has more debts than they can possibly repay. Victoria
Hobbs, my agent at A.M. Heath, has been a friend and a professional through
various abortive projects, and quickly did the deal, mid-holiday, when this one
came up.
At HarperCollins, my editor Arabella Pike embraced the project from the off,
and was very understanding of a recalcitrant hack’s flexible approach to
deadlines. Special thanks to Robert Lacey, the best copy editor in the business,
Joseph Zigmond for sorting the pictures, PR supremo Helen Ellis, and Essie
Cousins who keeps the ducks in a row.
My greatest debt is to Gabriel Pogrund, without whom this project would
never have been completed. When he got in touch to offer his services I
never have been completed. When he got in touch to offer his services I
envisaged a keen amanuensis, but he was so much more than that. He began by
tirelessly transcribing my tapes, but was also quickly introducing me to key
sources, conducting some interviews himself, and always fizzing with ideas. He
has been an engine of great industry and insight, and does everything with good
humour and judgement. Bénédicte Earl, George Greenwood, Hannah McGrath,
Oliver Milne and Thomas Seal also provided invaluable assistance in
transcribing more than half a million words of interviews. Hannah also shared
some notes on one episode. Harriet Marsden gave me access to her Brexit
project, including an interview with Andy Wigmore.
At the Sunday Times I’d like to thank the editor Martin Ivens, his deputy
Sarah Baxter and Eleanor Mills, the magazine editor, for giving prominence to
serious coverage of politics that also revels in the soap opera of SW1.
We are all products of our education, and I was fortunate to have inspirational
teachers at Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Horncastle, Lincolnshire.
None more than my English teachers David and Heather Slater, who taught me
to appreciate a good sentence (though not how to write one) while nurturing the
subversive aspects of my personality that best prepared me for journalism. At
Cambridge, Christopher Andrew, the late Mark Kaplanoff, Joanna Lewis, Peter
Clarke and Chris Clark nurtured my love of history. I hope that as a first draft
this passes muster.
Whenever there is an election, people ask me who I would like to win. I have
a stock answer, which is only partially facetious: ‘My contacts – anyone who
answers the phone.’ In general elections your mates can theoretically all win
their seats. But the EU referendum was a civil war. I had close friends on both
sides. At least one journalist with a loved one on a campaign was banished from
the marital bed as a result of something they wrote. By the end of it people I like
and admire were looking for work. Others whose careers had been unfairly
coasting were returning in glory. The public rarely considers the human cost that
accompanies a political realignment. The referendum campaign represented a
career-life-or-death situation for many involved. Yet under levels of sleep