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Unleashing Demons: The Inside Story of Brexit Hardcover – 4 Oct 2016

by Craig Oliver (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars 46 customer reviews
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Frequently Bought Together

  • Unleashing Demons: The Inside Story of Brexit
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  • All Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain's Political Class
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  • The Brexit Club: The Inside Story of the Leave Campaign's Shock Victory
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Product Description

Review

UNLEASHING DEMONS...HAS THE VIVIDNESS AND PACE OF A POLITICAL THRILLER. EXTRAORDINARILY CANDID... (Financial Times)

THE BOOK THAT WILL SET WESTMINSTER ABLAZE (Mail on Sunday)

Gripping reading (New Statesman)

Craig Oliver's account of his time as David Cameron's Director of Communications in Downing Street during the EU referendum will almost certainly prove to be the most important document for understanding what happened and why it all ended as it did. Oliver has managed the difficult trick of being frank as well as loyal, and his words have a remarkable immediacy. I found his book utterly fascinating, and I suspect that every historian of the period will regard it as indispensable to appreciating this extraordinary phase in our history. (John Simpson)

Part memoir, part diary, this is one of the most vivid, frank and exciting inside accounts to have been written for years. It points its forensic beam into the inner sanctums of power during one of the most crucial episodes in British history since the war. Stunning and highly readable. It will make uncomfortable reading for a few, but hugely enlightening and enjoyable reading for the many. (Anthony Seldon)

Wish you could have been a fly on the wall of Number 10 during the EU referendum campaign? No need. This is the compelling insider's account of the man who was at the centre of the Downing Street web as David Cameron took the decisions which led to Britain voting to leave the EU. (Nick Robinson)

A gripping fly-on-the-wall account of the frenzy in Downing Street during the EU campaign. (Robert Peston)

This is contemporary history at its best...It has pace, insider info and a bit of chutzpah.' (Iain Dale)

Book Description

David Cameron's Director of Politics and Communications, Craig Oliver takes us behind the scenes of the EU referendum.

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsUnleashing Demons: The Inside Story of Brexit
By S Riaz HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on 6 Oct. 2016
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Subtitled, “The Inside Story of Brexit,” this is the first in what will, undoubtedly, be many books about the referendum. It does, however, have a very interesting author – both in terms of his level of involvement and his access to the major players and in his obvious commitment to the Remain campaign. Craig Oliver was David Cameron’s Director of Politics and Communications and this book takes us through January, 2016, with Cameron renegotiating a deal with Europe, up until the aftermath of the referendum.

The beginning of the book opens on the 23rd of June, 2016, with early suggestions that Leave has lost and Remain has won. Oliver is feeling that it will be close, but he is confident and, indeed, Nigel Farage concedes defeat. However, in politics, as we know, anything can change and, as the results begin to come in, optimism turns to pessimism. The Prime Minister texts, “How worried should we be?” Of course, we now know the result and this book then asks what went wrong and why…

The referendum was a central promise in the Conservative 2015 election manifesto. It is clear, from this work, that Oliver believed that the electorate would not vote against their own pockets and that the economy would trump immigration as the primary concern. It was also assumed that the three million voters who had not voted in the recent general election would not turn out to vote in the referendum, when, many disaffected voters did, in fact, turn out to vote Leave. History is usually written by the winner – this is the story of the referendum from the losing side.

This book begins with cries for the Remain Campaign to be more proactive and this is a theme which follows through the book.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsThe definitive account of the referendum that changed Britain
By Dfk on 9 Oct. 2016
Format: Hardcover
Brilliant. This is a very personal, sometimes painful, account of a campaign that will define Britain for generations to come. Oliver manages to balance his two trades here; his journalism is evident in the critical analysis and his loyalty to the PM comes through in the personal anecdotes and the sheer frustration of the situation he and his boss find themselves in. No-one comes out it particularly well and no-one is spared, which all adds to the readibility. It's genuinely a page-turner to read. And it will probably serve history too, as the definitive account of the failed 'Remain' campaign. Highly recommended. And sobering too.
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2.0 out of 5 starsShould have waited.
By William Carpenter on 7 Oct. 2016
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Just finished this book. It should have been so much better, but the author perhaps should have left writing it until he had calmed down a bit. It oozes with a sense of indignation, so much that the raw information imparted is lost. Clearly Theresa May is given a hard time - events have dictated that the old Tory Government guard have thought it necessary to turn the knife in print.

Should you buy it? By all means, but don't expect an especially lucid or reflective account.
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5.0 out of 5 starsTold Like No Other Can
By Justinian on 20 Nov. 2016
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
The author has undoubtedly performed a service to inform future generations about how the referendum to renounce the European treaties came about and learn of the extraordinary way in which the campaign was conducted.

Far from an organised informed debate the author describes the diabolical spectacle of a level of malevolence unsurpassed in England for several centuries and despite all modern means of communication a most misinformed and misdirected campaign wrought with confusion and populist demagoguery.

The whole idea seems misconceived from the start. To ask the public whether we should remain in the EU is not a question most people could sensibly answer unless they held a master’s degree in economics, and international trade. What is quite evident from this story is an ill-informed truncated simpleton’s approach to some of the most complex and intricate questions concerning the trading future of the UK submerged by an emotional debate on immigration which proved the winning mischievous theme of the malcontents.

Of course the malcontents won inevitably in an ill thought out campaign especially when the Remain campaign failed to mobilise and focus on what should have been an overwhelming case against the misconceptions of the Leave campaign. This was a nasty low level political campaign which Oliver well describes. His critique of the role of the BBC is well founded. Their incompetent and mischievous reporting must be called into question. They, amongst many others have badly damaged their reputation; it is certainly not the organisation that won its spurs in fighting for the freedom of Europe in World War 2. This time it has facilitated perhaps the greatest geo-political mistake in modern British history.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsInside Remain
By Number13 TOP 500 REVIEWER on 7 Oct. 2016
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
‘Unleashing Demons’ is a gripping account of the run-up to the Brexit referendum and the final months of the Cameron government, seen, as the book’s subtitle promises, from the inside – from the heart of Downing Street and the centre of the Remain campaign.

Written mostly in the present tense from the author’s detailed diary, it’s a highly readable and exceptionally involving story of events from New Year’s Day 2016 to the aftermath of the referendum. Involving, because it goes far beyond the usual ‘who said what to whom’ to capture a strong sense of place, personalities and atmosphere worthy of a riveting political thriller, combined with the detail of an invaluable history of true and historic events.

The excellent writing made this reader feel almost present unseen at the Cabinet table while plans were discussed and able to share the emotional turmoil of Referendum night from Number 10, moussaka and lasagne provided. And able to follow the detailed moves and counter-moves of the planning, the renegotiation, the campaign – and the defeat. It will be fascinating also to read of these historic events from the Leave perspective when those authors publish in due course.

As you’d obviously expect, it’s a very pro-Remain book, but one which any interested Leave voter should also find absorbing, balanced and willing to acknowledge errors made by both sides. The sense of being on a political rollercoaster of polls and rival endorsements, interventions, ‘experts’ and pushing against a tide of mostly stridently hostile press coverage is brilliantly conveyed, including many moments of real humour – and a few of tragedy.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsEssential Brexit reading

A unique insight. Nowhere else will you get the inside perspective of how and why the EU referendum was fought.

Published 11 days ago by alan
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Wickedly enjoyable

Published 12 days ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent

Excellent. A great book.

Published 13 days ago by B. Morrell
4.0 out of 5 starsMore Stories About Buildings and Food

This is a valuable insider account of the Remain campaign in the referendum. It shows how closely the campaign was controlled from No 10, how much it was shaped by internal Tory... Read more

Published 18 days ago by Shale Bing
1.0 out of 5 starsOne Star

Banal and boring. A constant undercurrent of self pity.

Published 20 days ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsAbsolutely fab read !

Best book I have read in years ! Brilliant, couldn't put it down !

Published 20 days ago by Keith Young
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Fascinating, confirming what I thought most of the time during the campaign.

Published 22 days ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsA wonderful book.....Great insights

Worth a read...How did David Cameron lose this referendum... How did they plan...Inside story from someone who was heavily involved.....

Published 22 days ago by B Sinniah
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Great book could put it down even though I knew what happend!

Published 24 days ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Fantastic book

Published 25 days ago by Amazon Customer

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