Ungovernable: The Political Diaries of a Chief Whip

From Partygate to Brexit, over the course of five years, Simon Hart had a front-row seat to the most turbulent times in recent political history. Lifting the lid on the British Government, Ungovernable is the first insider account of life as chief whip.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, Brexit negotiations and Liz Trusss extraordinary forty-nine-day premiership Simon Harts seen and heard it all. And starting in 2022, under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, he witnessed successive dramas unfold, all while holding down the (often misunderstood) position of chief whip.

Astonishingly, during those whip years, Simon oversaw a near-record fifteen Conservative MPs fall by the wayside. Three of these were resignations, including Nadine Dorries and the scandal of her disappearing peerage; two were defections to Labour; and the remaining ten were suspended by Simon for offences ranging from Matt Hancocks unauthorized appearance on Im a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! to Lee Andersons comments about the London Mayor. Each one of these involved an extensive build-up, a complicated process and a noisy and vitriolic public commentary.

None of this stopped him from becoming one of the few chief whips of which there have been eleven since 2010 to survive for an entire premiership.

In a first-of-its-kind, extraordinary look at life as a chief whip, Ungovernable is a revealing, real-time, blow-by-blow account offering a glimpse of what truly goes on in Westminster behind closed doors.