For a while there was a risk of narrative inconsistency with this claim; after all, Dr No was supposed to be the puppet master. Nadine Dorries is a bestselling author of fiction, bizarrely, and this seems to be a Boris Johnson fanfiction, essentially, with weird James Bond references. This book is clearly an attempt to sanctify Boris Johnson and to vilify all over those that the author believes were responsible for his downfall. Now the Covid inquiry has unearthed his contemptuous WhatsApps, Nadine Dorries’s contention that Cummings seemed to consider himself in charge, and surreptitiously texted colleagues “what the fuck is this clown on about?

The former British PM’s closest political ally Nadine Dorries believes the latter — and is penning a book as she seeks to prove it. There is a group of journalists, policymakers, special advisers and politicos who know each other, socialise, intermarry and exercise more influence on policy than elected MPs. m. today as farmers intensify their protest action and attempt to cut off the capital from the rest of France.I read the book because I was curious as to what Nadine had to say, and I am left wondering if there is a cabal of men who have conspired for many years to insert politicians and civil servants in various roles and constituencies.

Clearly she adores Boris and hates Gove, but what is glaringly obvious throughout is a gaping great hole where the corroboration should be. I can imagine the sense of horror experienced by Nadine when, after publishing this book, it neither entered the best seller lists nor led to the downfall of any of the villains she lays into. A good one might be how comes this book lasts over ten hours when largely it just repeats the same (largely unsubstantiated) information over and over?

I picked up this book in the admittedly naive hope that the title might imply the existence of at least one of these two kinds of plots. The blurb for The Plot, her first book for HarperCollins, reads: “Boris Johnson came to power in 2019 with a larger share of the popular vote than Tony Blair. Far too much of what has gone on since 2016 in the political world now makes a lot more sense when viewed through this particular lens. Ms Dorries says Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, ex-No 10 senior adviser Dominic Cummings and Conservative Party adviser Dougie Smith are all part of the club. This book may be about the Tories but I'm sure that the shocking story is mirrored across all parties within the Westminster bubble.

You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. On the other, they all sound the same, making the same convoluted points at similar length, explaining the same basic things about Westminster to her in a way that suggests that, if they are real, they think Dorries is an idiot. A conspiracy theory that would have filled one side of A4, but she goes round and around and around for 351 more rather tedious pages. From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. But the uncomfortable truth is, that the greater part of The Plot consists of verbatim interviews with those who were present, or in a position to observe closely.Trying to explain the bits of the historical record that cannot be denied, Dorries portrays her hero as a weak fool. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. It is a story that has never been told … a shocking tale of corruption and unaccountable power” They include Dominic Cummings; Munira Mirza and her husband Dougie Smith; Simon Case, cabinet secretary; staff of The Spectator; Sue Gray and Lee Cain. The reviewer is a political journalist working in Westminster, and was provided with a review copy of the book by the publisher.

To receive the best experience possible, please make sure any ad blockers are switched off, or add https://experience. He may not have liked me, but I was sure after all these years, he understood where I was coming from.Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. A plot was afoot to remove” her friend even before the 2019 election because he had “served his purpose” for The Movement who wanted him out of Number 10 so they could install their “Manchurian candidate”.