'Revealing': Lord Norton reviews 'Kingmaker: Secrets, Lies, and the Truth about Five Prime Ministers'
December 2018: Graham Brady (centre) reveals that then PM Theresa May has survived a vote of no confidence | Image by: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo
3 min read
Providing great insights into the reality of political life, Lord Brady has produced a highly readable book
Graham Brady was the longest-serving chair of the Conservative 1922 Committee, chairing it for 14 of the 27 years he spent in Parliament. He became better-known than most Cabinet ministers because of his refusal to answer a question: “How many letters have you received?” Now free of the shackles of office, he reveals what happened behind closed doors.
Elected in 1997 as the youngest Conservative MP, he looked set for a leading role as a front bencher. He was appointed by David Cameron as shadow minister for Europe. He doubtless would have gone on to high office once the party returned to power, were it not for a stance taken by Eton-educated Cameron in 2007 in supporting an attack on selective grammar school education. Brady, the former deputy head boy of Altrincham Grammar School, resigned in protest.
The book confirms the limitations of the leaders that Brady had to deal with
He was elected to the executive of the 1922 Committee. In 2010, after Michael Spicer’s retirement, he decided to stand for the chairmanship. A cack-handed attempt by Cameron to pack the 1922 with ministers failed; Brady was elected and spent succeeding years presiding successfully over the committee in turbulent times. He carried on as chair while prime ministers – five of them – came and went. He administered the coup de grâce to three of them, each striding out into Downing Street to resign following a meeting with Brady. He became adept at slipping into No 10 unseen.
Kingmaker is a testament to the inherent instability written into the rules of the Conservative Party for removing a leader. MPs can write to the chair of the 1922 calling for a vote of confidence in the leader, but the number submitted is never revealed. A few MPs saying they have submitted letters (whether they have or not) can prompt media speculation damaging to the leadership. Of the incident in March 2024 when Chris Hope reported a ‘flurry’ of letters in The Telegraph, thought to be about 40, Brady writes: “I had received nine. Sir Simon Clarke briefed the press that ‘around 50 letters are in’. There were still nine.”
The book also confirms the limitations of the leaders that Brady had to deal with. Cameron was overly self-assured, good at meeting, but not at listening. Theresa May lacked a capacity for flexibility. Boris Johnson was self-obsessed. Some of the letters calling for a vote of confidence were excoriating. As for Liz Truss, “I had always found her somewhat peculiar… She certainly exuded a strange kind of energy in person.” His highest regard was for Rishi Sunak, who achieved the Windsor Framework through diligence, steadiness and a bit of charm.
Highly readable, this book provides a great insight into the reality of political life and the difficulty for leaders of staying in office in difficult times.
Lord Norton of Louth is a Conservative peer and author of The 1922 Committee: Power behind the scenes
Kingmaker: Secrets, Lies, and the Truth about Five Prime Ministers
By: Graham Brady
Publisher: Ithaka
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