Ungovernable: The Political Diaries of a Chief Whip

About the Book

A glimpse at life behind the closed doors of Westminster, written and read by former chief whip Simon Hart.

'A remarkable insight into a critical moment. Hart’s wit and tolerance makes his record of a system in crisis all the more convincing and troubling' – Rory Stewart, author of Politics On the Edge

From Partygate to Brexit, over the course of five years, Simon Hart had a front-row seat to the most turbulent times in recent political history. Lifting the lid on the British Government, Ungovernable is the first insider account of life as chief whip.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, Brexit negotiations, and Liz Truss’s extraordinary forty-nine-day premiership – Simon Hart's seen and heard it all. And starting in 2022, under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, he witnessed successive dramas unfold, all while holding down the (often misunderstood) position of chief whip.

Astonishingly, during those whip years, Simon oversaw a near record fifteen Conservative MPs fall by the wayside. Three of these were resignations, including Nadine Dorries and the scandal of her disappearing peerage; two were defections to Labour; and the remaining ten were suspended by Simon for offences ranging from Matt Hancock’s unauthorised appearance on I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here to Lee Anderson’s comments about the London Mayor. Each one of these involved an extensive build-up, a complicated process, and a noisy and vitriolic public commentary.

None of this stopped him from becoming one of the few chief whips – of which there have been eleven since 2010 in fourteen consecutive years – to survive for an entire premiership.

In a first-of-its-kind extraordinary look at life as a chief whip, Ungovernable is a revealing, real-time, blow-by-blow account – offering a glimpse of what truly goes on in Westminster behind closed doors.

About the Author :
Simon Hart was MP for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire between 2010 and 2024. Previously a chartered surveyor, Simon cut his political teeth as the former chief executive officer of the Countryside Alliance, the UK’s largest rural lobbying group, between 2003 and 2010. He served on four select committees and then, following Theresa May’s election as prime minister in 2016, became her representative on the Committee for Standards in Public Life. He was appointed as Minister for Implementation in the Cabinet Office under Boris Johnson, and then joined the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Wales. He later resigned from his government the day before Johnson himself surrendered. In October 2022, Rishi Sunak invited him to become Chief Whip, where he became one of the few chief whips to last an entire premiership. He is married with two adult children, and lives in Pembrokeshire.

Review :
A remarkable insight into a critical moment. Hart’s wit and tolerance makes his record of a system in crisis all the more convincing and troubling He is the insiders’ insider and shows how Government works – or actually doesn’t. This is a balls-up-to-break-down account of how the Tories managed to get through multiple Prime Ministers and a large majority to fall flat on their faces. You couldn’t make it up Highly readable . . . Hart has a brilliant eye for moments of high farce Simon Hart is a secret masochist – writing a diary every night after a punishing day as Chief Whip. But the result of his labours are a joy. Engrossing, entertaining, poignant and, at times, so funny I was laughing out loud. The Whips’ Office, he says, is a "field hospital" for his colleagues. Some hospital, some colleagues. Politics in the raw, and all the better for it Extraordinary Completely wild Hilarious Spiky One of the raciest political diaries of recent years Simon Hart offers up diaries from the Johnson-Truss years that make the Marquis de Sade read like Hans Christian Andersen