I lived through all this.

A cracking read if you want to know how all sides were working. It was a tough decision for me and i liked the honesty of the Tim Shipman diagnoses and it would be interesting to know how he thinks his conclusions (such as they were) hold up after 6 months.

the naration was good, i get a sense he was amusing himself as much as anything with the attempts at accents and voices and in my view it was better for all that. I really enjoyed this book and if you read anything on Brexit, start here.

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2 people found this helpful

Fascinating

The story is well told and very detailed. Despite the in depth nature of the telling and the length the book never allows your interest to dwindle. One small issue was with the reading. For the vast majority of time the narration was excellent, I did find the attempted accents and impersonations a little distracting. They were neither consistent nor needed.

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Detailed, well written, amusing.

This book, written in such a short space of time, is impeccable. It includes accounts from behind the scenes that reveal why decisions were made by the campaign teams and ultimately led to Britain deciding to leave the European Union. Tim Shipman should be proud of a book written within weeks of the seismic events.

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An excellent insight into UK power play politics!

Entertaining and addictive book!
Highly recommended as it gets into the nitty gritty of UK modern day politics!

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Engaging with some short comings

If the topic interests you, I recommend this book, even if I’m not sure it hit me with any great revelations.

Probably the biggest shortcoming in my view is the absence of any discussion of the actions of the EU or European leaders, especially concerning the limited deal they offered Cameron. Whilst I can appreciate that the author consciously wanted to focus on the British angle, a chapter or two would have been of significant interest in contextualising events.

That aside, an engaging yarn, well told, without obvious, aggravating bias.

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Fabulous and frightening insight.

The people have spoken, the bastards - but politicians seem even bigger bastards. This was a great but frightening tale of stupidity, naivety, deceit, indecision, opportunism, condescension, cowardice and incompetence shown to a staggering degree by the political elite of
all shades. The same people who lecture us about governing for all, understanding the concerns of us ordinary citizens, who ask us to tighten our belts and pull together, who tell us they genuinely care about preserving and improving the NHS, about supporting effective mental health for all, funding our schools and libraries and looking after and actually caring for our old people - but year after year fail to deliver because in their narrow line of vision, self interest is a much higher priority than the national interest. However you voted, there are no heroes here. We are certainly governed by "Here today, gone tomorrow" politicians but it seems that most want to extract as much as they can for themselves today so they can enjoy a very comfortable tomorrow.

My Dad, like thousands of other men and women spent years of hardship and being shot at during WW2 to defend the concept of democracy. The suffragettes suffered abuse and prison to get the vote for women but despite this I increasingly feel disenfranchised. I no longer feel that voting for any party makes the slightest difference to the self serving political classes we now endure. Tim Shipman's book was excellent but it leaves you feeling even more despondent and impotent than before. I remember seeing the slogan " Dont vote, it only encourages them" as a joke but I now feel even more strongly that the joke is on me. We still have a parliamentary democracy in this country but the connection between the people and the government appears to be hanging by a thread and even that is being stretched by the self seeking career politicians, special advisers and assorted hangers on that this book exposes.

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13 people found this helpful

Absolutely riveting!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would definitely recommend this book (which I listened to as an audiobook) to anyone interested in how the referendum came to be won and lost. Rupert Farley's narration adds to the sense of atmosphere and he does a good job of getting the 'tone' of the key players.

It is a fascinating 'fly-on-the-wall' account of the mixture of focused ruthlessness and sheer ineptitude that ran through both sides' campaigns and all the political parties.

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9 people found this helpful

a must read covers the lot

great book makes Craig Oliver a lightweight. extremely well narrated. My best book for a long time.

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4 people found this helpful

The Ultimate Brexit Story

In the future, when history students are studying what the hell happened in Britain during the infamous Brexit Referendum, I have no doubt Tim Shipman’s Brexit books will be on the to-read syllabus. This is the most highly detailed and well-sourced recount of what the hell happened during the referendum.

As a Brit, I find this book infuriating. Not because it's wrong or bad because it's neither of those things but because the players representing Remain put their own interests ahead of the nations. You can't deny that if Cameron put country ahead of the party, the Leave campaign would have been less effective. If Corbyn campaigned more instead of doing the bare minimum, it would have swung more Labour Leavers to vote remain. It was a mess and still is. What the decisions that were taken during this time will lead us to I don't know.

The narration in this audiobook is first class.

If you're interested in British politics and how it works or just want more info on Brexit than I recommend this book to you and its follow-up.

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Long but gripping

Absolutely loved this in depth, juicy, political unpacking of the Brexit drama. The errors and successes of both sides are engrossing, informative and at times frustrating.

The reading is excellent - no annoying cadence. Slight accents for the cast do hit the right note and don't grate.

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