Tom McTague

**Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction** ‘Powerful, precise, morally engaged, wonderfully alert to character, context and the greater purpose of political life’ Rory Stewart ‘Will stand for many years as the authoritative political history’ David Kynaston ‘A cut above other Brexit accounts . . . even the most passionate Remainer – or Leaver – should enjoy it enormously’ Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times The definitive history of Britain’s tumultuous relationship with Europe – as it’s never been told before. In a story of vaulting ambition and underhand politics, acclaimed writer Tom McTague chronicles the battle of ideas, events and personalities that first took the country into the Common Market in 1973, only to take it out of the European Union in an explosive referendum a little over forty years later. McTague examines the conflicts that raged between the leading politicians of the twentieth century as they fought for the future of Europe – and the lesser-known actors in Britain’s great post-war drama: the Eurosceptic student radicals, Cold Warriors, eccentric billionaires and political strategists who turned the tide of history. A riveting story of the clashing ideals that have pulled at Britain’s public imagination for more than seven decades, Between the Waves raises that most elemental of questions: who are we? ‘A sweeping, impressive and ambitious history of modern Europe’ Helen Lewis, author of Difficult Women

'Between the Waves is powerful, precise, morally engaged, wonderfully alert to character, context and the greater purpose of political life' Rory Stewart, author of Politics on the Edge'Britain’s best political writer' Sebastian PayneThis is the definitive history of Britain’s tumultuous relationship with Europe – as it’s never been told before. In a story of vaulting ambition and underhand politics, of nation, identity and belief, acclaimed political writer Tom McTague chronicles the battle of ideas, events and personalities that first took the country into the Common Market in 1973, only to take it out of the European Union in an explosive referendum a little over forty years later. Drawing on unpublished sources and exclusive interviews, McTague unearths the roots of ideological conflict that raged between the leading politicians of the twentieth century as they fought for the future of Europe – Charles de Gaulle, Harold Macmillan, Jean Monnet, Enoch Powell and Margaret Thatcher. Alongside these famous figures are the lesser-known actors in Britain’s great post-war drama: a coterie of Eurosceptic student radicals, Cold Warriors, eccentric billionaires and political strategists who turned the tide of history. A riveting story of the clashing ideals that have pulled at Britain’s public imagination for more than seven decades, Between the Waves raises that most elemental of questions: who are we?'A sweeping, impressive and ambitious history of modern Europe' Helen Lewis, author of Difficult Women

On 18th April 2017, Theresa May stunned Britain by announcing a snap election. With poll leads of more than 20 points over Jeremy Corbyn's divided Labour Party, the first Tory landslide since Margaret Thatcher's day seemed certain. Seven weeks later, Tory dreams had turned to dust. Instead of the 100-seat victory she'd been hoping for, May had lost her majority, leaving Parliament hung and her premiership hanging by a thread. Labour MPs, meanwhile, could scarcely believe their luck. Far from delivering the wipe-out that most predicted, Corbyn's popular, anti-austerity agenda won the party 30 seats, cementing his position as leader and denying May the right to govern alone. This timely and indispensable book gets to the bottom of why the Tories failed, and how Corbyn's Labour overcame impossible odds to emerge closer to power than at any election since the era of Tony Blair. Who was to blame for the Tories' mistakes? How could so many politicians and pollsters fail to see what was coming? And what was the secret of Corbyn's apparently unstoppable rise? Through new interviews and candid private accounts from key players, political journalists Tim Ross and Tom McTague set out to answer these questions and more, piecing together the inside story of this most dramatic and important of elections.