Kingmaker: Secrets, Lies, and the Truth about Five Prime Ministers

by Graham Brady

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER, THE MOST REVEALING POLITICAL MEMOIR OF THE YEAR.

'Refreshingly honest' The Telegraph

'Shows us how power really works at the commanding heights of British politics ... essential' The Times

David Cameron. Theresa May. Boris Johnson. Liz Truss. Rishi Sunak. Five prime ministers, one explosive memoir. Kingmaker lifts the lid on the leadership battles that have defined British politics for a decade and a half.

The last fifteen years have seen turbulence at the center of politics that is perhaps unique in British history. From coalition to Brexit, Covid to Partygate, Trussonomics to this year's election, our government has never felt so fractured. And as Prime Ministers have come and gone, one man has been at the heart of every leadership challenge, seeing all, but saying nothing. Until now.

Elected to Parliament in 1997 as the youngest Conservative MP in the house, Brady comes from a lower middle-class background and fell into politics age 16 when he joined a campaign to save his grammar school. Sir Graham Brady was the Chairman of the 1922 Committee since 2010. As the leader of the group with the power to choose a new leader of the Conservative Party, it was his hand that held the executioner's axe over five consecutive Prime Ministers' heads.

With unique access to every key decision-maker of the past fourteen years, it offers insights into the character and choices of successive Prime Ministers and the administrations they led. Ultimately, it reveals where our most recent leadership failures originate, and asks hard questions about who will be fit to lead us tomorrow.

Genres: Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

Published June 5, 2025

Reviews

[Rufus Liverman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did like some of this book, his final reflections are very insightful and overall it is an interesting book gives some really good reflections on the conservatives. HOWEVER did he really have to go on about grammar schools for so long, I get that it’s important to have something to be in politics for I respect that massively but there was a point in the book where he had been in Parliament for nearly a decade and it seemed like the only thing he did was moan about how terrible the situation with grammar schools was. Overall I did enjoy this book but it was not as good as some of the other political books I have read.

[Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that I can only review in contrasint halves. Firstly, as a self-confessed Westminster politics geek, this was a fascinating and alluminating read. It spoke to so many of my interests, from Parliament and process to PMs, Cabinets, personalities and elections. Perhaps oddly, I enjoyed reading over the 14 years of Tory governments from Cameron to Sunak with a little hindsight and after much of that dust has settled. It was just supremely interesting to learn more about Graham Brady, someone I've been aware of for a long time and watched with interest and intruige, and his perhaps unqiue role as Chairman of the 1922 Committee. However, secondly, I did not enjoy certain aspects of learning more about his personality and politics. He is a Thatcherite, pro-Brexit, old-school right-winger. Moreovoer, he writes with a sometimes unbearable sense of indulgence and entitlement. I get the impression that he has a very high value of himself and his ability to call decisions right that PMs are in the middle of navigating. It's also plain that he would've given up the role as Chair at any time had he been offered a Cabinet position. His writing is, at times, arrogant and self-centred. But on the whole, a fascinating read. It is perhaps the most I've enjoyed a politics book since Rory Stewart's Politics on the Edge, for its clarity, style, narrative and overall by how much it informs its reader. A great read.

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book straight after finishing Strangeland by Jon Sopel - both cover the dramatic political events of the last ten years. Whereas Jon Sopel is an outsider reporting on UK politics, Sir Graham Brady is very much an insider - so if you are interested in the Westminster fish bowl then this is the book for you! If your interest is in the impact on society of the result of all this Westminster positioning, infighting, negotiating and jockeying for position, then probably not.

If the detail of Westminster politics is your thing then the writing is good and the plot moves forward at a reasonable pace. The author duly reveals information that isn't normally made public - e.g. how many "letters" were in his safe and how close he was to calling on the PM to go over the period. But this is a political autobiography so he also takes the opportunity of polishing his own record as a conservative politician and the importance of his role in political events over the period.

[Lewis Stanton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating insight of Prime Ministers at arms length. Sir Graham Brady was chairman of the 1922 committee from 2010 to 2024. This committee advised on the fate of 5 British PM's, from Cameron to Sunak. Sir Brady was the man who received the letters of no confidence which is ult

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good yet rather depressing account in the eye of the Tory storm.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lol. He repeats himself a few times, and BLOODY loves grammar schools, but a really interesting insight into the 1922 Committee and a glowing testament to the importance of the backbenches !!