Staggering Hubris: The memoir of Boris Johnson's most classic spad: The 'Rona Years, Vol. 1

by Josh Berry

Unless you're a woman on Tinder between the ages of 19 and 30 in the Clapham area or a high-end cocaine dealer operating in South West London, you probably won't have heard of Rafe Hubris, BA (Oxon).

Despite that, he's a crucial figure in the life of our nation. As Boris Johnson's most classic special adviser (spad) at Number 10, he helped the UK government skillfully and efficiently control the COVID crisis, containing it for good by the end of 2020.

In the first of what will doubtless be many memoirs as Rafe travels his own inevitable journey to the premiership, this fly-on-the-wall account documents his Year of 'Rona in its entirety (and iniquity).

Even non-Oxbridge audiences (for whom the author has taken care to keep his language as accessible as possible) will come away from this volume struck by how lucky we are to have him. Floreat Etona!*

*Note for non-Oxbridge listeners: this means "May Eton flourish" in Latin.

Latin is the language of ancient Rome and its empire.

Genres: Comedy, Audiobook

369 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 8, 2021

Reviews

[Deb Lancaster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vary vary good. And actually is the most coherent explanation I've seen yet for the shit show that is our gov

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vary, vary good

[Katie Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're a fan of Berry's satirical social media videos depicting Rafe Hubris - a caricature of an arrogant, narcissistic, and entitled Tory SpAd serving the PM through the pandemic - you'll enjoy this book! I found myself hooked by this book from the start; it's an incredibly easy read due to being written in the form of multiple diary entries. I would say, however, that I enjoyed the more "realistic" (albeit - one would hope - still exaggerated) scenarios that Berry constructed, rather than, for example, Berry's depiction of Cummings, which was rather far fetched, and thus, to me, not as comical. I would also say that Berry's choice to pack so much content into the book did inevitably result in a lack of depth in paces; however, this didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book, and in Berry's defence, an awful lot happened in 2020! Overall, I'd thoroughly recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick and easy, yet very entertaining read that is sure to provoke some laugh-out-loud moments.

[James R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taking a character from a social media comedy account and stretching the idea to a full-length book is bold but it pays off here. The premise is that Rafe Hubris is a fictional special advisor inside the UK government during the events of 2020. The real-life politicians are (somewhat) exaggerated versions of their public personas. Some of the bits that seem most preposterous are actually rumoured to be true (E.g. Dominic Cummings getting the sack for calling Carrie Johnson Princess Nut Nuts) which highlights how the current crop of politicians in Government are so hopeless that they almost transcend satire. Regardless, I found this book to be a funny examination of a truly terrible time. The jokes wear a little thin towards the end but it's otherwise well put together and an enjoyable read.

[Emily Rennie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hilarious and relevant book to kick-start the year. Josh has managed to make his character Rafe completely insufferable and yet somehow I still felt really sorry for him. I can also fully believe a lot of this happened in the Tory government. Hope there's a volume 2 in the near future, because somehow I doubt he'll be running out of quality content anytime soon!

[Samuel Hare · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cant recommend the audibook version enough, Josh Berry's accents are utterly hilarious.

In the words of Rafe Hubris BA Oxon (he went to Oxford), a vary vary strong book, really quite classic. Big daddy cum cum would be proud.

[Suzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant: or as Rafe might put it, "on aime le voir". If you enjoy his Twitter parodies, you'll enjoy this a lot: I did!

[Polly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Painfully funny and also sadly very believable

[Tim Ewins · Rating 5 out of 5]

He’s right, I really do love to see it. This book is effortlessly hilarious all the way through. Cutting edge comedy. Big daddy cum cum and Matt Cock in his hands in particular. Spot on.

[Ross Borkett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining satire. Best listened to for the full effect

[Sian Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a big fan of Josh Berry’s Rafe character on Twitter which has brought so delightful humour in the darkest of times. The book does not disappoint! Made me laugh out loud in places.

[Sim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious, and the politicians are parodied so well

[Mr R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved it. This book has been written vary, vary wall.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first comedy book. This humour was right up my street. Fantastic

[Jem Ashby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was just sublime. One of the funniest books I’ve read this year - maybe ever. Hard to separate the fact from the fiction in 2020, and this book rises to the task of sending up that absurdity. I was laughing out loud form start to finish, the prose is whip smart and perfectly executed. Berry was born to write comedy. Cannot wait for the next volume.