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In It Together: The Inside Story of the Coalition Government
Matthew d'Ancona's In It Together is the revelatory inside story of Britain's coalition government.
With exclusive, unprecedented access to all the major senior figures, from David Cameron, George Osborne, Boris Johnson and Nick Clegg, he will tell the truth behind key relationships, the U-turns, the shifts in policies, the dramatic fights and arguments and the warring within the party. A breathtaking book that takes you into the heart of government, it reveals the truth behind the corridors of Whitehall and Number 10.
With exclusive, unprecedented access to all the major senior figures, from David Cameron, George Osborne, Boris Johnson and Nick Clegg, he will tell the truth behind key relationships, the U-turns, the shifts in policies, the dramatic fights and arguments and the warring within the party. A breathtaking book that takes you into the heart of government, it reveals the truth behind the corridors of Whitehall and Number 10.
- GenresPoliticsNonfiction
432 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2013
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70 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 27, 2022
It was a decent book covering the first 3 years if the Coalition government Plenty of insight provided.
However, I think the issue with this book compared to the Rawnsley book on the Blair government that had alot of years to cover, and the Shipman brexit books that had alot of significant political events that happened in a short amount of time to cover; d'Ancona writes about a short period of time where not that much happens.
Like dude, would it have hurt to have waited till 2015? I can't imagine there was that much clamour to get a book out on the coalition.. It felt like D'Ancona wanted to be the first one there and by doing that, wrote something that was partially relevant and therefore partially interesting.
Yes the way the coalition came together and the slow decline of its junior partner are interesting stuff. But by jumping the gun, he missed 2014 Scottish referendum, UKIP winning the 2014 EU elections, the defections to UKIP and the actual 2015 general election itself.
To D'ancona's credit, he missed covering these important points of British politics by his enthusiasm, however he clearly shows great political insight, as his coverage sets up the narrative prologue for these events. Nevertheless, it does make alot of his book feel like a pre-amble, and because he made the bad decision to write this book in 2013, he doesn't have alot to work with. Hence everything feels stretched out and unfinished. The book itself feels like it's a first part and ends abruptly, to its own detriment.
However, I think the issue with this book compared to the Rawnsley book on the Blair government that had alot of years to cover, and the Shipman brexit books that had alot of significant political events that happened in a short amount of time to cover; d'Ancona writes about a short period of time where not that much happens.
Like dude, would it have hurt to have waited till 2015? I can't imagine there was that much clamour to get a book out on the coalition.. It felt like D'Ancona wanted to be the first one there and by doing that, wrote something that was partially relevant and therefore partially interesting.
Yes the way the coalition came together and the slow decline of its junior partner are interesting stuff. But by jumping the gun, he missed 2014 Scottish referendum, UKIP winning the 2014 EU elections, the defections to UKIP and the actual 2015 general election itself.
To D'ancona's credit, he missed covering these important points of British politics by his enthusiasm, however he clearly shows great political insight, as his coverage sets up the narrative prologue for these events. Nevertheless, it does make alot of his book feel like a pre-amble, and because he made the bad decision to write this book in 2013, he doesn't have alot to work with. Hence everything feels stretched out and unfinished. The book itself feels like it's a first part and ends abruptly, to its own detriment.
January 6, 2014
This book by the journalist Matthew D'Ancona on Britain's Coalition government was recommended to me by someone who works in politics - partly around Westminster - as a must-read if I wanted to understand more about its inner workings.
'In It Together', a title taken from one of the key pieces of rhetoric used by politicians in the Conservative/Liberal Democrat government, is an account of the relationships between those politicians, and how the government has operated behind the scenes--developed through the author's Parliamentary contacts and his interviews with politicians. The book is gripping from start to finish.
I started taking a real interest in national politics when the General Election of 2010 was taking place, when I was 17 and a few months short of being able to vote, so the story of the Coalition government is one that I've been following ever since the fateful 'rose garden' scene with David Cameron and Nick Clegg announcing their new political partnership (ITN video of the occasion: ).
The book has led me to recall a lot of the major issues and stories from 2010 up to today, and has made me feel more informed, not only as a student with an interest in politics, but as a member of today's electorate.
Another aspect of the book worth mentioning is that of superb quotations and painting of situations: for instance, there's Clegg's insecurity as a leader ("I wasn't really leading", he is claimed to have said, after the failure of the AV referendum and the tuition fees u-turn), and the clashes between Clegg and the prime minister (Cameron is reported to have said to his deputy: "You can go off and do whatever you want with Labour!").
Even if you completely disagree with the Coalition's politics, you'll be able to enjoy the way that the author so finely humanises our leaders and governors, and brings a touch of novelistic characterisation to figures that we read every day about and might mostly see from a distance in a two-dimensional way.
So I'd recommend this book to anyone with an interest in British politics in the modern day, and how government works behind the stage curtains. You'll also feel like you're in-the-know: ever something to be desired when you have political friends that all think they know everything about the government, and current affairs, but aren't privy to Westminster gossip.
'In It Together', a title taken from one of the key pieces of rhetoric used by politicians in the Conservative/Liberal Democrat government, is an account of the relationships between those politicians, and how the government has operated behind the scenes--developed through the author's Parliamentary contacts and his interviews with politicians. The book is gripping from start to finish.
I started taking a real interest in national politics when the General Election of 2010 was taking place, when I was 17 and a few months short of being able to vote, so the story of the Coalition government is one that I've been following ever since the fateful 'rose garden' scene with David Cameron and Nick Clegg announcing their new political partnership (ITN video of the occasion: ).
The book has led me to recall a lot of the major issues and stories from 2010 up to today, and has made me feel more informed, not only as a student with an interest in politics, but as a member of today's electorate.
Another aspect of the book worth mentioning is that of superb quotations and painting of situations: for instance, there's Clegg's insecurity as a leader ("I wasn't really leading", he is claimed to have said, after the failure of the AV referendum and the tuition fees u-turn), and the clashes between Clegg and the prime minister (Cameron is reported to have said to his deputy: "You can go off and do whatever you want with Labour!").
Even if you completely disagree with the Coalition's politics, you'll be able to enjoy the way that the author so finely humanises our leaders and governors, and brings a touch of novelistic characterisation to figures that we read every day about and might mostly see from a distance in a two-dimensional way.
So I'd recommend this book to anyone with an interest in British politics in the modern day, and how government works behind the stage curtains. You'll also feel like you're in-the-know: ever something to be desired when you have political friends that all think they know everything about the government, and current affairs, but aren't privy to Westminster gossip.
December 20, 2013
Clegg making an honest woman of the Conservative Party - or better, "keeping them nice". Matthew d'Ancona's tale of coalition trouble and strife is oddly like an account of a marriage - a sort of second rank soap opera one at that. Did he or didn't he? She's no better than she should be. Ehhh get her. Etc etc. rarely rising above the workmanlike, d'Ancona admits that this is so much history in the making that it can't claim to be definitive. I'd say bits of it aren't even reliable. There's a lot of speculation about inner dialogues - particularly in the last chapter A New England - that simply isn't sustained by evidence.
Enjoyable nonetheless, and with a few good rambunctious passages, plenty of gossip and the odd pithy insight. I did enjoy the Churchill quotation, late on, when reflecting on the G8 summit at Lough Erne: 'The whole map of Europe has been changed, but as the deluge subsides and the waters fall short, we see the dreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone emerging once again.' For anyone who's ever wrestled with intractable vested interests, tedious monomaniacs or single issue campaigners certain of their own rectitude, there's a world of pain in that at sentence.
Enjoyable nonetheless, and with a few good rambunctious passages, plenty of gossip and the odd pithy insight. I did enjoy the Churchill quotation, late on, when reflecting on the G8 summit at Lough Erne: 'The whole map of Europe has been changed, but as the deluge subsides and the waters fall short, we see the dreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone emerging once again.' For anyone who's ever wrestled with intractable vested interests, tedious monomaniacs or single issue campaigners certain of their own rectitude, there's a world of pain in that at sentence.
July 5, 2015
Many of us don't follow/believe in politics in the modern age because there are so few "operators" - people who know how to get deals done with people who fundamentally disagree with them. I agree with Russell Kirk that politics is the art of the possible and the 5 years of Coalition Government in Britain were hardly a model of how such parties with divergent views on so many things came together in the national interest and really succeeded. The story only gets you up to the 2015 election so it doesn't have the surprise result no one expected - which led to the Lib Dems paying for the sins of the coalition and the Tories reaping the rewards. I came away from this book, and from a close observation of the 2015 GE, greatly edified by the Lib Dems as principled types.
If you want to learn more about a government that actually managed to accomplish some great things in 5 years of ruling, read this book. It's definitely an insider's view, and not in the Woodwardesque gossipy, preachy way. D'Ancona leads with a pretty dispassionate tone throughout and it serves this kind of work very well.
If you want to learn more about a government that actually managed to accomplish some great things in 5 years of ruling, read this book. It's definitely an insider's view, and not in the Woodwardesque gossipy, preachy way. D'Ancona leads with a pretty dispassionate tone throughout and it serves this kind of work very well.
November 15, 2013
Now this is Gossip with a capital G. If you like your politics spicy, fuelled by intrigue, swearing, rows between colleagues, with a dash of sex, corruption and deficit reduction, then you'll love this book.
D'Ancona takes us from the birth of the coalition through a series of events (not chronologically ordered but thematically) most of which provided the coalition with a panic or two - Coulson, Education reform, NHS reform and so on. We gain an insight into why the Liberal Democrats were willing to go into a pact with a party they previously had little in common with, learning on the way that IDS (for example) refused to speak to George Osborne for months about Child Benefit; that Boris gleefully admitted he took credit for the Olympics won and organised by others; and that Dave and George say F**k more often than you'd suppose.
Not for everyone I suppose, but i ripped through this book in a day or so, such was my interest. If politics and political gossip is your bag then bag this book for Christmas.
D'Ancona takes us from the birth of the coalition through a series of events (not chronologically ordered but thematically) most of which provided the coalition with a panic or two - Coulson, Education reform, NHS reform and so on. We gain an insight into why the Liberal Democrats were willing to go into a pact with a party they previously had little in common with, learning on the way that IDS (for example) refused to speak to George Osborne for months about Child Benefit; that Boris gleefully admitted he took credit for the Olympics won and organised by others; and that Dave and George say F**k more often than you'd suppose.
Not for everyone I suppose, but i ripped through this book in a day or so, such was my interest. If politics and political gossip is your bag then bag this book for Christmas.
January 25, 2015
Very well written and fascinating account of the beginnings and workings of the coalition. I don't agree with the author's politics, but it does us good to push ourselves out of our comfort zones sometimes. I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to understand the behind the scenes deals and personalities that have kept the coalition together, even if at times it has come close to collapse.
I voted libdem at the last election and was horrified when they went into partnership with the conservatives. I now understand more about that decision, but I'm not persuaded it was the best decision, and I think it signalled the end of the libdem party.
If the next election brings us another coalition it will be interesting to see what form that takes.
I voted libdem at the last election and was horrified when they went into partnership with the conservatives. I now understand more about that decision, but I'm not persuaded it was the best decision, and I think it signalled the end of the libdem party.
If the next election brings us another coalition it will be interesting to see what form that takes.
March 12, 2014
Matthew d'Ancona's closeness to the people he writes about weakens this book. Historians need not only the distance of time but also objectivity. In It Together has neither. However, there's plenty of detail about the Coalition I never knew and it's here that d'Ancona's contacts with senior government figures is a plus.
Later historians will find In It Together a useful reference work but this is not the definitive account of Cameron's government.
Later historians will find In It Together a useful reference work but this is not the definitive account of Cameron's government.
October 23, 2013
In It Together
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