The last decade has been indistinguishable from a rollercoaster drawn by M. C. Escher, composed entirely of nauseating descents." In The Decade in Tory, Jones gives us a magnificent tour of misconduct in public office and venal malfeasance on a scale the country should have a collective nightmare about. As Jones points out It's absolutely fine to scream occasionally whole reading this book.

It is perhaps the British way to laugh and brilliantly satirise the moral and practical weaknesses of our political "masters" rather than - say - take to the streets in protest to overthrow them. We are after all, a nation concerned with propriety and not breaking laws or causing a fuss, unlike the Tories. That may be a failing on our part, but one can always appreciate Jones way with words, for example when he described Theresa May's awkward angular strut onto the stage at her last Conservative conference as leader as being like Vogon poetry in motion.I never review books on here but had to review this one. I listened to the audiobook and never has a book made me want to laugh, cry, shout, feel so frustrated and helpless, but better informed all at once. The book details ten years in Tory power, yet manages to do so whilst using humour and comic timing in the reading of it throughout. My only criticism is it's very long (18 hours on audio) and the book can basically be summarised by the key themes it outlines of the utter ineptitude, power seeking, money grabbing behaviours of the party as a whole and individuals within it. The description of decisions made helped me understand the state of the government and the information kept out of the general media that exposes the party fully for what it is. And if there was anything wrong or unjust in how Jones describes his many Tory targets (over half of Tory MPs who served in the years 2010 to 2020 are named in this litany of failure) I am sure they would come out to refute his claims...

In 2020 the United Kingdom reached a bewildering milestone: ten successive years of Conservative rule. In that decade there were three prime ministers, each in turn described as the worst leader we ever had; ministerial resignations by the hundred; and an unrelenting stream of ineffectual, divisive bum-slurry oozing from 10 Downing Street. As a History graduate, it occurred to me that books like this are actually quite rare: a meticulous, conscientiously-cited account of basically every awful thing that a Conservative-led Government did over a ten-year period. Normally, such corruption and mendacity would be summarised in a few sentences or at best a couple of paragraphs of a book trying to cover a longer period or make more sweeping points about an era or macro-trend. As such, I think that behind its sarcastic exterior, it's actually a really important documenting of a disastrous decade when Britain's body politic, society and public discourse were dragged to depths from which the country as we previously knew it may never properly recover. But Jones' book shows that - while no politician is likely to be perfect - they most definitely are not all the same. Nearly 75 years on from Nye Bevan's Manchester speech, his words ring as true as ever What is Toryism but organised spivvery? … No amount of cajolery can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory PartyAt the centre of this decade of disaster lies the Brexit vote, not so much the nadir as the point of inflexion at which the collapse in government competence, honesty and standards in public life abruptly accelerated. As Jones puts it The Decade In Tory is a bravura performance. Substantial, meticulous, incredible, depressing, hilarious, rude – and essential reading. If you are just pissed off with successive Tory incarnations claiming that they will 'fix Britain' while denying that it was tories that broke it, then this book is for you. It's too much to hope for that anyone other than a tax-dodging billionaire with a seat in the House of Lords who still wants to vote Tory will read this and pause for thought, but for the rest of us - and perhaps for more sanguine generations yet to come (assuming the world survives the current iteration of disaster capitalism) - it will serve as a crucial, engaging and clear-eyed testament of how badly wrong a once-decent country can go in the space of a few years when it is led by the most incompetent, venal and cruel group of people you could possibly assemble. If you want a deep dive into a decade of mismanagement, corruption, and putting self/party interest over nation, then this book is for you.