Coalition: The Inside Story of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government

(Hardback)

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Coalition is the definitive insider account of the historic Conservative - Lib Dem coalition from its birth in 2010 through to its demise in May 2015

Itreveals how key decisions were made, lays bare the often explosive divisions between and within the coalition parties, and explores candidly the personalities and positions of the key players on both sides of the government. Finally, it makes a thorough assessment of the government's successes and failures.

"David Laws has written what deserves to become the definitive account of the 201015 coalition government." - Paddy Ashdown

"There are few even from within my own party whose inside story of the 201015 coalition I would trust more than David Laws's." - Matthew Parris

"This book makes the politics of coalition come alive. It is well written, with a great deal of humour and a nice eye for detail. [] This is an important work that goes a long way towards explaining our contemporary political predicament. I cannot recommend it too highly." - Peter Oborne, New Statesman

"Packed with remarkable verbatim accounts of the arguments between the men at the top: David Cameron, George Osborne and Nick Clegg." Sunday Times

Reviews

"There are few - even from within my own party - whose inside story of the 2010-15 coalition I would trust more than David Laws's." - Matthew Parris; "David Laws has written what deserves to become the definitive account of the 2010-15 coalition government. It is also a cracking good read: fast-paced, insightful and a must for all those interested in British politics." - Paddy Ashdown; "These memoirs are terrific, everyone should read them." - Peter Hitchens; "Crisply written [...] Laws is a wry, thoughtful observer" - The Times; "Packed with remarkable verbatim accounts of the arguments between the men at the top: David Cameron, George Osborne and Nick Clegg." - Sunday Times; "This is an impressive work. A lucid, engaging mix of anecdote and forensic detail, it has a fair claim to become, at least for the foreseeable future, the definitive account of the UK's first postwar experiment in coalition government." - The Observer; "[Combines] almost unrestricted levels of access with his unparalleled attention to detail to produce a convincing account of a historic term in office." - Total Politics; "An honest, thorough and thoughtful account of life at the heart of the last government." - Standpoint

Author Bio

David Laws was the Liberal Democrat MP for Yeovil from 2001 to 2015. He helped negotiate the historic Lib Dem-Conservative coalition in 2010, and briefly became Chief Secretary to the Treasury before resigning due to the disclosure of his parliamentary expenses claims. He later returned to government as a Minister of State for Schools and then to the Cabinet Office. He is co-editor of the highly influential The Orange Book: Reclaiming Liberalism and author of the bestselling 22 Days in May: The Birth of the Lib Dem-Conservative Coalition.