Coalition Diaries: 2012-2015

Acclaimed as one of the sharpest political intellects of his generation, David Laws saw his ministerial career nosedive before it had begun when, after only seventeen days as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, he was forced to resign when unintended breaches of parliamentary expenses rules came to light.

You can’t keep a good man down, however, and he returned to government, where he was also responsible for the implementation of the coalition agreement and planning the Lib Dems’ strategy in the run-up to the 2015 election. David began writing a diary in March 2012 and continued writing it throughout his ministerial career and up to the 2015 election, which devastated the Liberal Democrats in Parliament.

Frank, acerbic, sometimes shocking and often funny, Coalition Diaries chronicles the historic Liberal Democrat-Conservative coalition government, offering extraordinary pen portraits of all the personalities involved, some of whom were cast aside at the election or put to the knife after Brexit, while others are active in today’s government.

There are few - even from within my own party - whose inside story of the 2010-15 coalition I would trust more than David Laws’s. Matthew Parris

David Laws has written what deserves to become the definitive account of the 2010-15 coalition government. It is also a cracking good read: fast-paced, insightful and a must for all those interested in British politics. Paddy Ashdown