The Brexit wounds are still fresh, so what better time to get the views of David Cameron’s communications chief on how the whole thing played out. The book takes the form of daily diary updates. After opening with the cataclysmic climax to the UK’s vote, we are taken back to the beginning of the referendum campaign. Most of the events covered here seem familiar (and why not, they were covered comprehensively on the wall to wall television and radio news updates I avidly watched) but it was interesting to get the inside track as the campaign momentum ebbed and flowed.

The key elements for me boiled down to:

- The vote quickly boiled down to the economy (the remain team) versus immigration (the leave team). In the end the latter was deemed to be the issue that carried the vote.
- The leave team lied, consistently and comprehensively. They made up facts and got away with it.
- The remain team failed to garner proper support from Labour and from the SNP.
- The remain team failed to gain the support of any effective media champions. The popular press came out mainly in support of leave.
- The polls were all over the place and failed to provide the information that might have caused the remain team to adjust their campaign strategy.

Craig Oliver is clearly an intelligent man and a highly articulate communicator, but he comes across as a bit holier-than-thou here. He may well have known more than just about all the MP’s he sought to coach on how they should get their points across, but he does go on and on about how poor the politicians seem to have been at grasping the key messages. David Cameron and George Osborne escape this criticism, but just about every other MP on the remain side comes in for some stick.

Oliver also criticises the BBC (the biggest communication engine in the UK) for letting the leave team get away with lies and for failing to give equal airtime to truthful facts (remain) and made-up facts (leave). But I can't help thinking that as director of communications part of his role must have been to manage this relationship. In this he patently failed.

Predictably, both Michael Gove and Boris Johnson come out badly (as does Theresa May), but more than that most politicians come across as being more concerned with their own career aims than they were about the ultimate outcome of the vote. Again, Cameron and Osborne escape this criticism.

Overall an interesting account of a key event in British political history. Rather depressing, but insightful nonetheless.history-politics memoirs-biographies non-fiction31 s Susan2,783 586

Subtitled, “The Inside Story of Brexit,” this is the first in what will, undoubtedly, be many books about the referendum. It does, however, have a very interesting author – both in terms of his level of involvement and his access to the major players and in his obvious commitment to the Remain campaign. Craig Oliver was David Cameron’s Director of Politics and Communications and this book takes us through January, 2016, with Cameron renegotiating a deal with Europe, up until the aftermath of the referendum.

The beginning of the book opens on the 23rd of June, 2016, with early suggestions that Leave has lost and Remain has won. Oliver is feeling that it will be close, but he is confident and, indeed, Nigel Farage concedes defeat. However, in politics, as we know, anything can change and, as the results begin to come in, optimism turns to pessimism. The Prime Minister texts, “How worried should we be?” Of course, we now know the result and this book then asks what went wrong and why…

The referendum was a central promise in the Conservative 2015 election manifesto. It is clear, from this work, that Oliver believed that the electorate would not vote against their own pockets and that the economy would trump immigration as the primary concern. It was also assumed that the three million voters who had not voted in the recent general election would not turn out to vote in the referendum, when, many disaffected voters did, in fact, turn out to vote Leave. History is usually written by the winner – this is the story of the referendum from the losing side.

This book begins with cries for the Remain Campaign to be more proactive and this is a theme which follows through the book. Another theme which resonates through the book is the disunity within the Conservative Party. So, within these pages, you read of the difficulty of getting the Labour party involved with the Remain campaign, and you can really sense Oliver’s sense of frustration with Jeremy Corbyn and the members of the Labour Shadow Cabinet, of his dis of Michael Gove (which deepens as the book progresses), of Boris Johnson and his late decision to campaign for Leave and of Theresa May’s attempts to sit on both sides of the fence – a ‘submarine’ strategy of not being dragged into any particular side which worked very well for her.

This was a campaign which many people, including myself, followed avidly. Through it all, though, you cannot help feeling that Oliver is often aware of what, ‘the man on the street’ thought, but just did not know how to answer their concerns. The Remain Campaign threw everything they had into the argument for the economy, but never really addressed the issue of immigration in a way that made much of a difference against those campaigning for Leave. Also, although Nigel Farage is mentioned, he is often mentioned disparagingly, or not taken seriously; despite the fact that he was seen, and heard, everywhere in the campaign. Whatever Oliver thought of him, it was obvious that he was ignored at Remains peril. Lastly, he often seemed to misjudge how things were seen by those undecided voters. For example, he applauds Obama’s visit to the UK, in which he warned the country that they would be, “at the back of the queue.” He is keen to say what a useful visit it was, how Obama would change minds and how positive his message was for Remain. Yet, many people at the time commented to me how disgruntled they were at Obama’s ‘interference’ and I felt that was one thing which really backfired in the Remain campaign.

Overall, though, this is a really fascinating view of the campaign from the inside. Oliver comes across as incredibly hard working, focused and dedicated. He obviously thinks highly of Cameron and is keen to promote him as both an excellent Prime Minister and a down to Earth guy (when he calls Cameron he is invariably with his children or mowing the lawn). Although there is lots of insider gossip, Oliver is never really unpleasant about anyone. You sense he quite s Boris for instance, although the one person he really criticises for being disloyal is Michael Gove. I found this a really interesting account of one of the major political events of my lifetime. I was, literally, glued to the news reports and newspapers throughout this period. As Oliver himself admitted though, the most listened to news report is the 8am bulletin on Radio 2 and he seemed to be pitching his message elsewhere. With the politicians obsessed with broadsheets and in-fighting, they really failed to capture the imagination of the average person, which cost them dearly.



20 s Hjalti1 review

Fínasta bók sem gefur áhugaverða innsýn í Brexit og bresk stjórnmál. Bókin fjallar aðallega um stjórnmálamenn og kosningabaráttuna en kafar ekki djúpt ofan í ástæður og (hugsanlegar) afleiðingar Brexit. Höfundurinn, Sir Craig Oliver, var aðalspunameistari David Cameron og því er þetta einhliða frásögn eins og við er að búast. Frásagnarstíllinn er léttur og persónulegur, eiginlega í dagbókarstíl. Áhugaverðast finnst mér hvað kosningabaráttan hefur verið kaótísk og stefnulaus, aðallega hjá útgöngusinnum, a.m.k. eins og Oliver lýsir þessu. Mæli með bókinni fyrir þá sem hafa áhuga á pólitík og samtímasögu. 4 s Ty Bradley100

This book is an excellent narrative on the Brexit campaign, with lessons that can be applied to political communications more generally. The author was David Cameron's Communications Director, and effectively decided much of the Remain campaign's strategy. Oliver stresses message discipline in campaigning, and you can see this in his writing too, as he continually comes back to the main problems with the campaign. The day to day workings of the campaign are super interesting, I loved learning about all the different personalities involved. Oliver is incredibly skilled at communications, and this shows in his ability to explain this story and its implications well.2 s Lena , süße Maus279 6

I read this to get out of my " leftie echo chamber" and am proud to announce that I've successfully made it through 400 pages of this torie's diary entries!2 s Joseph Cope45

I didn't get very far with this. Written from diary entries, there is little context or reflection. An extra star though for comments re some new carpets and what was had for lunch in the back of a car. Clearly this is one persons perspective, quite raw, and written very close to the action. As that it probably works OK if you have the patience and an interest in the minutiae of politics (Andrew Marr loved it). For sure it is an interesting topic- how did it all go so wrong? - but for myself I will need to find a more considered account.1 Graham1,309 64

The story of the Brexit referendum, as told from the point of view of an aide to David Cameron working on behalf of the Remain side. UNLEASHING DEMONS is as fast-moving, powerfully told and exciting as you'd expect from this febrile period, and no matter your views on the eventual outcome, this makes for a gripping read. Oliver delivers a down-to-earth and naturalistic prose style in which character is everything, while at the same time offering more than reasoned criticism towards the various failings on the part of many people and institutions involved. A proper "insider's view" of a pivotal moment in the UK's recent history.non-fiction politics1 Old Bob132

This is an interesting account of one of the greatest days in recent British history. The people ignored Remain's lies and voted for independence.1 Kharis313 7

Excellent book and a real glimpse into Downing Street at a crucial time. I learned a lot about the plotting of communications and their relationship with the press. What I didn't realise was how 'rehearsed' the cross party debates were and how scripted some of them had to be - it is a worry that MPs cannot answer questions without a script that is written by someone else. It also totally highlights Labour leadership lack of engagement in the whole campaign. Was the leader a 'closet leaver?'. Many assume so. But Labour certainly did not want to be seen to 'unite' with conservatives - which begs the question - if they can't unite under a supposedly common cause, which many argued was for the greater good of the country - how can they lead a government and unite the united kingdom and Europe at this crucial time when the country right now is so divided on many issues? They probably can't. Seems to also highlight some home truths - the campaign admit being unable to answer questions about immigration (and so didn't want to draw further attention - although quite rightly they didn't want to keep changing what they saw as their core message) because there was or is no plausible solution and instead focussed the argument on the economy. Was very well written in an engaging way. Hard to put down.1 Michael Heath-Caldwell1,250 15

In the age of the crabby electorate that voted for 'Boaty McBoat Face the 'Remainers' dogmatically persist in down playing the migration issue, which has impacted on so many UK residents.

'Remainer' organisers tried using fear tactics, threatening a one-off referendum, no second chances, to coerce the electorate to vote 'remain,' but are now backsliding non-stop to reverse the decision.

Cameron's last meeting with Merkel after the referendum show how dogmatic about open migration she was. this shows the EU making redundent the constituent nation states which no longer represent the people in them and become nothing more than ad hoc administrative zones.

Craig Oliver's book now exposes that the UK has no control in the EU and no control getting out of it, and that the disaster of Brexit is preferable.
britain history1 Jakub Dovcik167 23

A diary of the Communications director of the Remain campaign is a torturous read. Most of this has been analysed, so just a few points that struck me:

- So much of the thinking of people within the Remain campaign was spent on navigating the political situation of the day from the perspective of the government - everyday scandals, policy announcements and so on, everything was a part of the narrative and that must have been really exhausting - also not something that Brexiteers had to deal with
- Gove shines more than Cummings. Dom is actually present very little in Craig’s narrative, where Gove takes the centre antihero stage. Boris Johnson is presented as merely a celebrity, not the driver of the events.
- It is fascinating to read how much were Remainers actually aware of some of the points that are now used against them - the fact that Project Fear was not working, and actually so much of their time and energy was used in combating *the narrative that they are executing Project Fear*. They knew that the economic argument for staying in the EU does not work for people who fear that they are losing out at the moment and that they have nothing to lose. Yet they were unable to maintain a strategic message discipline.
- Remain fell into a cacophony of narratives, whereas Leavers could be nimble in their lies and falsehoods. Managing all the parties (where Corbynites and Theresa May did all they could not to be seen as decisive in their stances) must have been extremely difficult. Fascinating to read about the number of interventions by Peter Mandelson and later Alastair Campbell - who knows how it would have unfolded, had the Remain run a tighter ship.
- Craig Oliver obviously adores David Cameron, but he is presented as quite a hopeless leader, definitely not in the driver’s seat of the events. Who knows what would have happened had the Tories had a better-skilled leader and PM.
- The biggest blame for allowing the spread of misinformation and lies is attributed by Oliver to the BBC ‘due to their sheer size’. One knows what to expect from The Telegraph, but BBC running every false story from the Leavers was something the Remain campaign never managed to combat.

Overall, a depressing, but actually interesting read. Having recently met Craig Oliver, I can tell how changed and scarred he was by this period and the book is an honest, insightful and interesting tale of how it all unfolded. policy society uk-prime-ministers ...more1 Jennifer457 19

This certainly is what it claims to be - an insider's view on Brexit!
I guess that wasn't really what I was after when I ordered it, though. It is such an insider's view that we are introduced to a huge range of characters, the vast majority of whom were not major players in the events. And for someone who is just interested in an analysis of why it all happened the way it did, I must admit it was a case of massively too much detail.
It seems to me that you would have to be a complete political tragic, and an English conservative voter to be interested in this much detail, or to be familiar with most of those names or interested in their daily meetings and views on the daily grind of government.
The reason why I say I think you need to be a conservative voter to fully enjoy this is that it is a bit hampered by the usual attitudes held by those who go into politics: total conviction that they are the sole proponents of intelligent, well informed opinions; that there were few, and only minor options other than those taken by their side; that their other allies and the press let them down, and an over emphasis on the admittedly shameful and underhanded tactics of the Leavers.
I would have appreciated a little more soul searching about the reasons why the Remainers' campaign failed, the limitations of slogan and fear driven politics, and a more concerted effort to understand the reasons for the disenchantment of the Leave voters. I think someone with more nuanced views, some of the figures in the conservatives who campaigned for the Leavers, or the Labour people who were perhaps roped into a position which didn't entirely suit them, may have had more insightful thoughts to offer. Oliver doesn't go any deeper into this question than an analysis by pollsters and statisticians of the reported views and turnouts of various voting groups. For these reasons, I think that this will be fully read, and with enthusiasm by a very small audience.

That said, if the above description fits you - you will almost certainly enjoy this record; and the analysis at the end of the voting trends, and some of the breakdowns of votes which are not otherwise readily available, are interesting to the casual observer from another English speaking country with a mild interest, me. Ali Ilman76

Unleashing Demons, the inside story of Brexit by Craig Oliver.

When the referendum took place over 4 years ago, I was only a wee lad. Still am!
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