William Collins scoops 'major' new Andrew Marr book after BBC departure announcement

William Collins has scooped a "major" new political book by Andrew Marr following the announcement of his departure from the BBC. 

Arabella Pike, publishing director, bought world all language rights to The Great Disruptors: Tony Blair, Boris Johnson and the Decline of the British Political System from Mary Greenham at News Presenters. William Collins said the publication date will depend on the timing of the next general election.

The book takes Blair and Johnson as the two "great disruptors" of recent times. The publisher said it will take Marr back to his "political writing roots, offering a superb and detailed analysis of contemporary politics". Blair, Marr argues, is responsible for reshaping his party away from socialism and digging deep into Tory England. He became the most successful Labour leader of modern times but left his party brutally divided. Johnson led anti-EU Britain in the 2016 Brexit referendum, mounted "what was in effect an internal coup" to take the Tory leadership, exiled a bright generation of rivals and then demolished Labour’s "red wall" in one night, he observes. 

Marr considers these two disruptive leaders as personalities, their similarities and differences, but also puts them against a broader political landscape. In his panorama, he also studies other disrupters of the political system – from Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon in Scotland to Jeremy Corbyn and Nigel Farage in England – and looks ahead to consider our near future, arguing that we are on the verge of a much rougher political decade than we think.  

Pike said: "Andrew is one of the most perceptive political commentators we have. In this book, he will unleash his very considerable voice to analyse these two big beasts of contemporary politics. I could not be prouder to be working with him again."

Marr added: "In the thick of the daily, hand-to-hand political struggle, it can be hard to get a sense of perspective – are these events big enough to change the country? Having been a political reporter since the heyday of Margaret Thatcher, I want to explain why I think our politics are going to get rougher, more difficult and even more important."

The veteran TV journalist announced this month that he was leaving the BBC after 21 years to focus on writing and broadcasting, adding he was "keen to get my own voice back" outside the corporation's impartiality rules.

Marr has sold 1.07 million books via Nielsen BookScan for £10.8m. His bestseller A History of Modern Britain (Pan Books) has sold just under 360,000 copies across all editions.