Ithaka Press signs memoir from ‘definitive Tory insider’ Graham Brady in six-way auction

Ithaka Press has landed Kingmaker: Secrets, Lies and the Truth about Five Prime Ministers from Graham Brady, chair of the Conservative Private Members’ Committee, in a six-figure deal.

Publishing director Sarah Braybrooke acquired world all language rights in a six-way auction from Max Edwards at Aevitas Creative Management UK. Publication is scheduled for 7th November 2024, but “will move to be released as close as possible to the general election”. 

“Kingmaker will lift the curtain on the tumultuous last decade and a half of British politics in a way that will appeal to readers on both sides of the aisle – giving a gripping first draft of history from one of the only people who was, consistently, in the room where it happened,” said Edwards. 

Brady has been chair of the Conservative Private Members’ Committee, the group that selects the new leader of the political party, since 2010. In Kingmaker he charts his life from childhood in Salford, becoming the youngest Conservative MP in the house to being “the definitive Tory insider”. Kingmaker also gives insight into the characters of five successive prime ministers and the administrations they led. Managing director of Black & White Publishing Group, Tim Whiting called the book a “uniquely gripping insight into an extraordinary period of Britain’s recent history”. 

Brady commented: “As my 27 years in the Commons draws to a close, Kingmaker will tell the story of those days from a unique perspective. The long years of Opposition, working to climb the ‘greasy pole’ and then resigning from the frontbench on a point of principle. All this led me in an unexpected direction – elected as the chairman of the Conservative 1922 Committee through some of the most challenging times: in which I have advised, sometimes sparred with five prime ministers, overseen the departure of four and the election of another three.”

Braybrooke added: “Reading Graham Brady’s lucid and deliciously unfiltered insider account of our government’s leadership battles over the last decade and a half is an electrifying experience, and one that answers many questions. Kingmaker is the political reckoning we are all waiting for.”