HarperCollins brings forward release of Liz Truss biography and adds details of downfall

HarperCollins has brought forward the publication of a Liz Truss biography by Harry Cole and James Heale to include the dramatic events that led to her downfall last week.  

The book by the Sun’s political editor Cole and Spectator writer Heale, originally called Out of the Blue: The Inside Story of Liz Truss and Her Astonishing Rise to Power, had been scheduled for December. 

Retitled Out of the Blue: The Inside Story of the Unexpected Rise and Rapid Fall of Liz Truss, it will now be available as an e-book on 1st November, with a hardback and audio release following on 24th November.  

The publisher said: “Despite being the longest serving member of the then current cabinet and now the shortest-serving prime minster in the history of British politics, the origins, interior life and inner workings of Truss remain virtually unknown to millions of voters, even as her combustible policy decisions threaten to reverberate for generations. 

“With unrivalled access and insight from Truss’ closest friends and supporters, as well as her worst critics and rivals from Kwasi Kwarteng to Michael Gove, Cole and Heale chart the rise of the studious teenage Lib Dem who transformed into the queen of the Brexiteers. They track her journey through some of the most powerful jobs in cabinet and an unexpected rebranding from stiff Tory loyalist to free-wheeling social media star before chronicling from the inside of the most earthshattering implosion of a party, a government and a leader in modern political history.” 

Cole and Heale said: “The irony is not lost on us that our biography of a politician whose rise and fall was built on her ability to shapeshift with startling speed, has itself now needed a lightning retool to keep up with her. 

“When we begun writing Out of the Blue, our aim was to demystify at that time one of the most unknown prime ministers in UK history. It was intended to offer an honest and nuanced portrait of Truss’ life and character as a lens to which the rest of her premiership could be viewed through. 

“However, events have now conspired to make Out of the Blue something we could never have envisioned at the start of writing; a complete chronicle and now post-mortem of Truss’ rise and fall from power. 

“During our writing of the new epilogue, what became clear to us was that throughout the book as it was originally written – there were many captured moments and insider observations throughout Truss’ life and career that foreshadowed with sometimes alarming transparency exactly how this was always going to end. 

“Therefore, we’re excited to get Out of the Blue out to readers as soon as possible as a now complete and historic account of one of the most mystifying and explosive prime ministers of all time, whose decisions and mistakes will shape British politics hereafter.”