Four Chancellors and a Funeral

by Russell Jones

The sequel nobody wants. After a decade of the Tories, could it get any worse? Spoiler – it does.

Towards the end of 2021, Britain had been frogmarched into an escalating series of surreal calamities. Brexit was a disaster, the NHS was in crisis, the government was bathed head-to-toe in impropriety, senior Tories were still acting as though the public purse was their personal feed-trough, and the air crackled with anger about PartyGate. All of which led to an inglorious start to 2022: the year the UK saw two monarchs, three prime ministers and four chancellors.

From Boris Johnson, who trashed our international reputation and handed billions to his mates so they could ineptly fight a pandemic while he stayed at home, shagging and acting as a super-spreader; to Liz Truss, a drive-by prime minister who managed to kill off the queen and crash the economy in a single week. And now we’re led by Rishi Sunak, who doesn’t know how to use a credit card, drives a pretend car, and grinningly promises even more poverty.

Four Chancellors and a Funeral delivers more of Russell Jones’s signature scathing wit, combining a detailed historical record of 2021 and 2022, with acerbic commentary, all of it leavened by jokes at the seemingly endless maelstrom of failures, nincompoops and hypocrisies.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Audiobook, Humor

Hardcover

About the author

As @RussInCheshire, I write #TheWeekInTory on Twitter/X, regularly reaching an audience of over a million views per week.

My first book was a blackly comic history of Britain's political, economic, social and moral descent from 2010 to 2022, 'The Decade In Tory'. It became a Sunday Times Bestseller, which is still weird to me.

My second book, 'Four Chancellors and a Funeral' recounts the fall of Boris Johnson, the catastrophe of Liz Truss, and the start of Rishi Sunak's gap year in office.

My next book, 'Tories: The End of an Error', continues the story, covering the inevitable collapse of the Conservative Party. It will be published soon after they lose the 2024/25 General Election.

I spent over 30 years working as a software developer, analyst, and large-scale project manager.

Born in Manchester, I now live in Cheshire with my partner and an unruly collection of mad animals.
[amazon uk]

Reviews

[Neil Fulwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incisive, bullshit-free overview of the British political landscape from January 2021 - January 2023: in other words, COVID fiascos, partygate, the collapse of the Johnson administration, Truss failing to outlast a lettuce and the gaping nothingness of Sunak’s, ahem, leadership. Rich material for a satirist - which Jones undoubtedly is - and enlivened by a nice line in brutality accurate insults. Some faves:

“… lightly glazed polyp …” (David Cameron)

“… a depressed avian cyborg …” (Theresa May)

“The lumbering haystack of hooey …” (Boris Johnson)

“… the dad from a gravy advert …” (Matt Hancock)

“… a real life version of Lucius Malfoy who’s been involved in a flash fire …” (Dominic Cummings)

“… what you get when you feed Priti Patel after midnight …” (Suella Braverman)

“… a man permanently startled to discover he’s a bestial melding of a turbot and Jar Jar Binks …” (Michael Gove)

“… a rictus grin and a tiny suit …” (Rishi Sunak)

“… trapped forever at Lambrini o’clock …” (Nadine Dorries)

“… a Monopoly piece cursed into life by a passing witch …” (Jacob Rees-Mogg)

“… a wig with an idiot hanging off it …” (Michael Fabricant)

And it’s too long to quote here, but the entire *paragraph* of insult that Jones reserves for Dominic Raab is worth the cover price alone.

[Anthea West · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another masterpiece of humour and horror, meticulously documented (the notes take up nearly 100 pages.) All these events are so recent, and yet they tend to slide out of the memory like a bad dream. Great that we have this authoritative chronicle 0f UK politics and governance in 2021 and 2022, because who could possibly remember all the nonentities who were paraded before us, and the absurdity of their actions and ideas? Except of course Russell Jones.

[Stuart Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Completed just in time for the General Election. Being familiar with the author, Russell Jones, through his brilliantly funny yet frequently exasperating 'The Week in Tory' Twitter posts (@RussInCheshire), I knew what to expect within the pages of this book and it didn't disappoint. Specialising in hilariously aserbic and accurate mini-pen portraits of the main protagonists (sample: Jacob Rees-Mogg, a super-villain made of string cheese), the book plots the course from Johnson during the throes of COVID, Partygate and his downfall, the catastrophic blip of Truss, through to the first hapless months of Sunak's caretaker premiership. Meticulous with his references, Jones takes us factually through the myriad gaffs, grifts and gargantuan f*ck ups while striking a satisfying balance between humour, contempt and outright disgust.

It might be short notice, and they might not readily admit to it, but if you suspect anyone in your life might be considering to vote Tory on July 4th, just choose a handful of pages from this book at random, ask them to read them and, as politely as possible, why they'd ever want to vote Tory again.

[Aston Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being an individual who has only recently exposed themselves to politics, (due to actively choosing to being oblivious to what was going on politically).

This book offered a very frank, blunt and humorous perspective as to how Brexit and the Tories have affected the UK economically, and honestly from my understanding, just in general. Emphasising the impact of the decisions made, and the comparisons of how much trying to complete brexit, as well as the Tory Parties management of Covid was a harrowing yet confusing read.

One takeaway I’ve got from this is that some politicians contradict theiractions/words with whatever they previously said/did. Which I feel shows an utter flaw in their character as an individual, (no one is perfect, neither am I). Yet, people suffer, and everything has become costly. I am not particularly positive minded of how the effects/impact of the Tory government and brexit may continue to have in the future.

Though, overall, it was a pretty good read and I enjoyed it, even though some pieces of information weren’t as fun to know!

[Peter Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

As with his first book Russell Jones has you laughing out loud, seething with anger and loaded with frustration and despair. While he clearly has an agenda this book and its criticisms of the Conservative governments are supported with detailed footnotes and fulsome research. It is another tour de force and I would urge you to read it and think carefully about the sort of country you want. Surely we can be better than we are currently?

[Fiona Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amusing, authoritative and eye opening account of the last few years of Conservative misgovernment.
A must read if you want to know what actually has been going on behind the spin and barefaced lies.

[T.O. Munro · Rating 5 out of 5]

It seems kind of appropriate to be writing this review the day after a thoroughly drenched, utterly uninspiring and shamelessly dissembling Rishi Sunak finally set the date of his departure from office - sorry general election date.

To be honest I cannot see how any previously conservative voter who read Russell Jones' excoriating review of the last few years of Tory government could ever ever vote Tory again. As with his previous volume A Decade in Tory Jones is blisteringly accurate, brutally honest, impeccably referenced, and hilariously observant of the many vicissitudes the Tory's have inflicted upon a once great, compassionate and justly proud country.

For those intimidated by the 600+ page count, don't be put off. The sharp witted prose uses up just half of the volume while the rest is filled with bookmarked references detailing the lawyer-proof evidence to back up every assertion and observation. Frequently these are the words of the Tories themselves as Jones does what the mainstream media has so negligently failed to do, i.e. point out how the Tory words this week directly contradict what they said last week/hour/second.

Jones' brisk prose makes this a quick and informative read full of LOL moments, even if it is more of a gallows laugh out loud with events that are too sadly self-satirising to be cheerfully funny.

Given that Tory policies are so inherently awful, the book scarcely needs the kind of sharp personal observations about character and appearance that Jones' injects, but then again - they do deserve it. For example

On Rishi Sunak "This left him so weak you wouldn't be shocked to discover he was Britain's first spine donor."

On Gavin Williamson "[he] immediately proved himself to be one of those rare people who is equally incompetent with both hands; he was effortlessly clumbidextrous"

On Andrew Bridgen "So Kathryn Stone could not be outmanoeuvred by Andrew Bridgen, something that also applies to all stones."

On Steve Barclay “Steve Barclay … a man so lacking in personality he was like an explosion in a nothing factory”

However, between the barbs of invective Jones makes some horribly salient points about failings of the media and our political system - for example.

"One of the key reasons we struggle as a state is that we seem to elect either a Tory government in cahoots with that super-rich group, or an opposition that lives in fear of it. Neither is prepared to tax them effectively."

So we anticipate an election campaign that is sure to be dirty enough to make our sewage-filled privatisation-ruined rivers look like Evian spring water. Sunak has already been called out on twitter for having a Tory councillor don a hi-vis jacket and pretend to be a member of the public posing a question in an 'open forum' while only GB News and the Daily Mail have been allowed into the Tory launch event.

As Jones' observes (despite the evidence of his well-researched eloquent invective) "I don't like to dwell too much on the past. I've always preferred the future - it's where I intend to spend the rest of my life."

With an election looming and the future all to play for, read this book, vote anyone but Tory, and get your shots lined up for downing during the hopefully numerous "Portillo Moments"

[Mark Iliff · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s only three months since the Tories left office, but it turns out I’d already forgotten the sheer depth of their well of deceit, venality and corruption. Time and again I found myself thinking “oh gods, they did that too”. And if you ever find yourself wondering whether things were really that bad, Jones backs it all up in the endnotes: 1,574 of them.

But that makes this sound like a depressing read. Of course it is for its substance, but Jones writes with such a glint in his eye and such a gift for a turn of phrase that it is in truth utterly compelling. A particular strength is his ability to caricature the players in brutally apt ways. When I tell you that a super-villain made of string-cheese, an apparition of a pitiless Victorian dentist that appears to you just before you die, an aristocratic goth earthworm, a spindly mantis, a zombie Jarvis Cocker, a stupid person’s idea of a posh person, Marilyn Manson’s mum, a bewitched oboe, the mind of a tapeworm tragically wrapped in the body of another tapeworm, a Monopoly piece cursed into life by a passing witch, Nosferatu attempting to pass unnoticed at a Bible study group, and the unholy result of the Child Catcher angrily impregnating a bassoon all refer to just one person, you’ll get an idea of the riches in store.

Not glad the underlying events happened, but thrilled that Jones has skewered the perpetrators so thoroughly.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worthy follow-up to The Decade in Tory, a forensic day-by-day dismantling of the Tory government as led (ha!) by Johnson, Truss and Sunak, stopping in early 2023.

It's not quite as funny as its foregoer, partly because we're expecting the surreal descriptions. (I particularly liked Suella Braverman being characterised as 'what happens when you hide a horcrux in a guinea pig.') Mainly it's because this is an angrier book, weary at the constant idiocy, hypocrisy, lies and sleaze and graver in its analysis. The humour is more bitter, more tinged with disgust.

Fine achievement, though: impeccably sourced and documented.

[Tim Mullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A breathtaking run through of the sleaze, greed and incompetence that has taken the place of effective government in the UK especially since the ascendancy of Boris Johnson. It is very effective at putting the events together to remind the reader of just how badly governed the country has been, but occasionally the personal insults feel a little too frequent and unnecessarily personal.

[Chris Banks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was an avid follower of Russell Jones on X with his Week in Tory threads. His book Decade in Tory had me convulsed in laughter as much as it horrified me how awful the ruling party in the UK was in its first ten years in government.

I was really looking forward to this sequel and I wasn't disappointed. I couldn't put the book down.

I didn't belly-laugh quite as much as before, I think because I am very familiar with the author's style and perhaps because this book covers the most recent years up to early 2023. The memory is too present and the greed, corruption, incompetence and disregard for the law and democracy by the government and client press has become normalised. So much of it is beyond satire.

However Russell Jones's inimitable style and his attention to detail with references that back up everything he says is the perfect and appropriate record of the lows and lower lowlights of the Tory Government as they mismanaged the pandemic and contributed to the premature deaths of many of our citizens while ensuring that they and their cronies came out substantially wealthier.

[Nikkie Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't laugh half as much as I did but the previous but that's not Jone's fault. The first book looked at the ridiculous, this is a cruel sado-masochistic book that is just all too recent to ever find funny. Maybe it will take a generation for me to see the funny side.

[Edward Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the Twitter threads published by the author at the time.

[Jack Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jones’ incredibly humourous recount of all of the Tories endless numbers of scandals and mishaps reads like a fictional comedy… if only. Never before has a political book had me in stitches of laughter! The sheer absurdity of the story, put together with Russell’s comedic style of story telling makes it a must read. Two of my favourite recounts was him calling Michael Fabricant, ‘a wig with an idiot hanging off it’, and noting that day Liz Truss resigned, polling showed her approval rating was down to 9 per cent. Inflation on staple foodstuffs was up to 17 per cent, which appeared to suggest starvation was almost twice as popular as Liz Truss!