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The Decade in Tory
In 2020 the United Kingdom reached a bewildering milestone: ten successive years of Conservative rule. In that decade there were three prime ministers, each in turn described as the worst leader we ever had; ministerial resignations by the hundred; and an unrelenting stream of ineffectual, divisive bum-slurry oozing from 10 Downing Street.
The Decade in Tory is an inglorious, rollicking and entirely true account of ten years of demonstrable lies, relentless incompetence, epic waste, serial corruption, official police investigations, anti-democratic practices, abuse of power, dereliction of duty and hundreds of thousands of avoidable deaths.
With his signature scathing wit, Russell Jones breaks down the government’s interminable failures year by year, covering everything from David Cameron’s pledge to tackle inequality – which reduced UK life expectancy for the first time since 1841 – through the bewildering storm of lies and betrayals that led to Brexit, devastating education cuts, serial mismanagement of the NHS and Boris Johnson’s calamitous response to the Covid-19 pandemic. It will leave you gasping and wondering: can things possibly get any worse?
The Decade in Tory is an inglorious, rollicking and entirely true account of ten years of demonstrable lies, relentless incompetence, epic waste, serial corruption, official police investigations, anti-democratic practices, abuse of power, dereliction of duty and hundreds of thousands of avoidable deaths.
With his signature scathing wit, Russell Jones breaks down the government’s interminable failures year by year, covering everything from David Cameron’s pledge to tackle inequality – which reduced UK life expectancy for the first time since 1841 – through the bewildering storm of lies and betrayals that led to Brexit, devastating education cuts, serial mismanagement of the NHS and Boris Johnson’s calamitous response to the Covid-19 pandemic. It will leave you gasping and wondering: can things possibly get any worse?
Paperback
First published October 27, 2022
109 people are currently reading
382 people want to read
About the author
Russell Jones
2 books6 followersAs @RussInCheshire, I write #TheWeekInTory on Twitter/X, regularly reaching an audience of over a million views per week.
My first book was a blackly comic history of Britain's political, economic, social and moral descent from 2010 to 2022, 'The Decade In Tory'. It became a Sunday Times Bestseller, which is still weird to me.
My second book, 'Four Chancellors and a Funeral' recounts the fall of Boris Johnson, the catastrophe of Liz Truss, and the start of Rishi Sunak's gap year in office.
My next book, 'Tories: The End of an Error', continues the story, covering the inevitable collapse of the Conservative Party. It will be published soon after they lose the 2024/25 General Election.
I spent over 30 years working as a software developer, analyst, and large-scale project manager.
Born in Manchester, I now live in Cheshire with my partner and an unruly collection of mad animals.
[amazon uk]
My first book was a blackly comic history of Britain's political, economic, social and moral descent from 2010 to 2022, 'The Decade In Tory'. It became a Sunday Times Bestseller, which is still weird to me.
My second book, 'Four Chancellors and a Funeral' recounts the fall of Boris Johnson, the catastrophe of Liz Truss, and the start of Rishi Sunak's gap year in office.
My next book, 'Tories: The End of an Error', continues the story, covering the inevitable collapse of the Conservative Party. It will be published soon after they lose the 2024/25 General Election.
I spent over 30 years working as a software developer, analyst, and large-scale project manager.
Born in Manchester, I now live in Cheshire with my partner and an unruly collection of mad animals.
[amazon uk]
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
October 23, 2022
If you have found Russ Jones' 'Week in Tory' twitter threads to be a bit of blessed light relief over the last few years, then this book is for you.
If you are just pissed off with successive Tory incarnations claiming that they will 'fix Britain' while denying that it was tories that broke it, then this book is for you.
If you want a deep dive into a decade of mismanagement, corruption, and putting self/party interest over nation, then this book is for you.
If you are thinking of voting Tory or have ever uttered 'Bring back Boris' read this, if you have functioning braincells, and are not a millionaire and/or unashamed racist, it will give you pause.
Lightly amusing when appropriate, darkly scathing throughout- this book uses the scandals, corruptions, and idiocies of the past decade to tear down any existing facade of decency or competence within the tory party. All through their own quotes and verified statistics (see the extensive notes at the end of the book).
Every household should own a copy.
If you are just pissed off with successive Tory incarnations claiming that they will 'fix Britain' while denying that it was tories that broke it, then this book is for you.
If you want a deep dive into a decade of mismanagement, corruption, and putting self/party interest over nation, then this book is for you.
If you are thinking of voting Tory or have ever uttered 'Bring back Boris' read this, if you have functioning braincells, and are not a millionaire and/or unashamed racist, it will give you pause.
Lightly amusing when appropriate, darkly scathing throughout- this book uses the scandals, corruptions, and idiocies of the past decade to tear down any existing facade of decency or competence within the tory party. All through their own quotes and verified statistics (see the extensive notes at the end of the book).
Every household should own a copy.
November 14, 2022
As a History graduate, it occurred to me that books like this are actually quite rare: a meticulous, conscientiously-cited account of basically every awful thing that a Conservative-led Government did over a ten-year period. Normally, such corruption and mendacity would be summarised in a few sentences or at best a couple of paragraphs of a book trying to cover a longer period or make more sweeping points about an era or macro-trend. As such, I think that behind its sarcastic exterior, it's actually a really important documenting of a disastrous decade when Britain's body politic, society and public discourse were dragged to depths from which the country as we previously knew it may never properly recover.
In keeping with its Twitter source material, it is of course also very angry and very, very funny. I think the author navigates well the difficult balance between factual horror (the relentless growth in food bank usage is a darkly illustrative leitmotif throughout, and towards the end avoidable COVID deaths also increase inexorably of course) and merciless satire, even where at some points the depths plumbed by the individuals involved are so horrific it feels like humour has become almost irrelevant. Although his turn of phrase is invariably excoriating, I was pleased Jones refrained from too many attacks on Tory grandees' facial features and body-shapes - there's simply no need to "go low", when their actions and words are dreadful enough. While the demolitions of Cameron, May and Johnson are necessary and well-executed, it is on relatively minor players like Grayling, Duncan-Smith, Osborne, Davis and Patel that the zingers truly hit home.
Perhaps it's fatigue - either the reader's or the author's (or both?) - but it did feel like the "snort out loud" moments that feel like they are almost one-per-sentence at the beginning atrophied somewhat towards the end (perhaps surprisingly, given this is where the project started online - with the simply brilliant #WeekInTory threads) but on reflection this is entirely appropriate given the thousands of deaths per week we were living through as the 2010s finally came to an end. It also perhaps helps that the disasters of the coalition and pre-referendum feel more distant and almost forgotten, so utterly have they been superseded by the insanity that followed that fateful day in 2016.
It's too much to hope for that anyone other than a tax-dodging billionaire with a seat in the House of Lords who still wants to vote Tory will read this and pause for thought, but for the rest of us - and perhaps for more sanguine generations yet to come (assuming the world survives the current iteration of disaster capitalism) - it will serve as a crucial, engaging and clear-eyed testament of how badly wrong a once-decent country can go in the space of a few years when it is led by the most incompetent, venal and cruel group of people you could possibly assemble.
Truly scarier than any horror fiction, and more upsetting than any fictional tragedy.
In keeping with its Twitter source material, it is of course also very angry and very, very funny. I think the author navigates well the difficult balance between factual horror (the relentless growth in food bank usage is a darkly illustrative leitmotif throughout, and towards the end avoidable COVID deaths also increase inexorably of course) and merciless satire, even where at some points the depths plumbed by the individuals involved are so horrific it feels like humour has become almost irrelevant. Although his turn of phrase is invariably excoriating, I was pleased Jones refrained from too many attacks on Tory grandees' facial features and body-shapes - there's simply no need to "go low", when their actions and words are dreadful enough. While the demolitions of Cameron, May and Johnson are necessary and well-executed, it is on relatively minor players like Grayling, Duncan-Smith, Osborne, Davis and Patel that the zingers truly hit home.
Perhaps it's fatigue - either the reader's or the author's (or both?) - but it did feel like the "snort out loud" moments that feel like they are almost one-per-sentence at the beginning atrophied somewhat towards the end (perhaps surprisingly, given this is where the project started online - with the simply brilliant #WeekInTory threads) but on reflection this is entirely appropriate given the thousands of deaths per week we were living through as the 2010s finally came to an end. It also perhaps helps that the disasters of the coalition and pre-referendum feel more distant and almost forgotten, so utterly have they been superseded by the insanity that followed that fateful day in 2016.
It's too much to hope for that anyone other than a tax-dodging billionaire with a seat in the House of Lords who still wants to vote Tory will read this and pause for thought, but for the rest of us - and perhaps for more sanguine generations yet to come (assuming the world survives the current iteration of disaster capitalism) - it will serve as a crucial, engaging and clear-eyed testament of how badly wrong a once-decent country can go in the space of a few years when it is led by the most incompetent, venal and cruel group of people you could possibly assemble.
Truly scarier than any horror fiction, and more upsetting than any fictional tragedy.
March 18, 2023
Read this book. It will make you depressed, make you laugh, make you rage, and then it will give you a tiny, tiny sliver of hope like the little plant in the wastelands in Wall-E. Russ is a genuinely talented writer and I can only imagine how much work went into this meticulously researched and referenced book, and how soul-destroying it must have been to read about the injustice, corruption and sheer stupidity, without the benefit of someone making it funny. I laughed out loud even as the anger overwhelmed me. We owe Russ a debt for his services to humanity, bringing together this treasury of trash. Buy this, and then read it aloud in the presence of your family. Send voice notes of passages to your friends. Bring it up at work and at the pub. We're all fatigued, but don't let this era pass by and be forgotten about. It's not over.
December 6, 2022
A fun, scathing, and frankly a bit depressing account of the achievement of the last year of the UK's government. The book is well researched (albeit the sources lack variety) and flows well, considering the intense content it contains.
Warning: even if you are not British, reading the book can make you seriously sad. While the author's blistering humour helps, it is a raw account of a state of failure. Go into this expecting to question humanity.
Warning: even if you are not British, reading the book can make you seriously sad. While the author's blistering humour helps, it is a raw account of a state of failure. Go into this expecting to question humanity.
February 5, 2023
Hilarious and exhausting in equal measures. The levels of corruption, waste and crass stupidity exposed in this book are absolutely jaw-dropping. It’s satirical, it’s polemic, but it’s also a vital document to ensure none of us ever forget a decade of damage heaped on a nation by an utterly inept and venal political class.
December 3, 2022
Having found Russ's "Week in Tory" twitter threads equally amusing and infuriating I thought I'd give this a go
A lot has happened in the last ten years though and this covers all of it and has the receipts for everything it mentions. An insane amount of work!
A lot has happened in the last ten years though and this covers all of it and has the receipts for everything it mentions. An insane amount of work!
January 6, 2024
Those from the right wing will describe this as whinging, as a book for the echo chamber of the left, but they would be wrong. This is not satire, this is not some made-up propaganda - this is a listing, in humourous and despairing language, of nothing but checked facts, academically and stringently referenced in the appendix which makes up the final fifth of this huge tome.
What's striking is not just that this is essentially a history book but that a) the Covid enquiry is confirming even more detail of it, b) that the creator of all this chaos (Cameron) is back in government, and c) that we've had 2 more unelected Tory prime ministers since the book ended.
A must-read. And give it to your Tory friends and enemies.
What's striking is not just that this is essentially a history book but that a) the Covid enquiry is confirming even more detail of it, b) that the creator of all this chaos (Cameron) is back in government, and c) that we've had 2 more unelected Tory prime ministers since the book ended.
A must-read. And give it to your Tory friends and enemies.
December 13, 2022
How has ‘the Conservative Party’ (aka Bluekip) done so much damage? Why are we currently in such a mess in the U.K.?
This book is NOT a dry, boring-but-worthy read, it is absolute hilarious. It’s rude, it’s irreverent. It is highly recommended.
Thanks to Russell Jones for keeping a diary of the last decade and putting it all together in such a readable way. It succeeds in being funny and horrifying at the same time. So much has happened. I have found so many things I had forgotten. Ideal Christmas present for any of your (still) Tory voting relatives you dread having to listen to drone on at the lunch table.
This book is NOT a dry, boring-but-worthy read, it is absolute hilarious. It’s rude, it’s irreverent. It is highly recommended.
Thanks to Russell Jones for keeping a diary of the last decade and putting it all together in such a readable way. It succeeds in being funny and horrifying at the same time. So much has happened. I have found so many things I had forgotten. Ideal Christmas present for any of your (still) Tory voting relatives you dread having to listen to drone on at the lunch table.
April 12, 2023
Quite mortifying. Sadly its way too anti-Tory for any actual Tories to read it and not classify it as loony lefty propaganda, but it does make me realise that anyone who voted for the Tories in 2019, after 9 years of them ruining the country should really pay more attention next time.
Perhaps a slightly less aggressive and more balanced view would have helped me argue the points better with people going forward.
Perhaps a slightly less aggressive and more balanced view would have helped me argue the points better with people going forward.
January 27, 2025
It was a great read in a sense, don’t get me wrong it is can be seen as depressing but because of the humour it adds in with things like how the author describes certain politicians and policies etc it made it very funny, I laughed out loud at certain sentences. I would recommend it but I know it won’t be for everyone
May 4, 2024
This book will make you angry. It’s not a work of fiction but it is hard to believe that these things actually happened. Every page you read, you think well that’s a new low and the Tory Party can’t get any worse. Surely?
Read on….
Buy this book for every Tory voter you know. And make them read it, or follow them around reading it to them, shouting “See, see, this is what you voted for!”
#ToriesOut #NeverVoteTory
Read on….
Buy this book for every Tory voter you know. And make them read it, or follow them around reading it to them, shouting “See, see, this is what you voted for!”
#ToriesOut #NeverVoteTory
January 9, 2023
Those of us who have followed Russ Jones on twitter and his acerbic "The Week in Tory" threads will be familiar with his accurate skewering of our current government's frankly treacherous hypocrisy and incompetence.
In The Decade in Tory, Jones gives us a magnificent tour of misconduct in public office and venal malfeasance on a scale the country should have a collective nightmare about. As Jones points out It's absolutely fine to scream occasionally whole reading this book.
It is perhaps the British way to laugh and brilliantly satirise the moral and practical weaknesses of our political "masters" rather than - say - take to the streets in protest to overthrow them. We are after all, a nation concerned with propriety and not breaking laws or causing a fuss, unlike the Tories. That may be a failing on our part, but one can always appreciate Jones way with words, for example when he described Theresa May's awkward angular strut onto the stage at her last Conservative conference as leader as being like Vogon poetry in motion.
However, while my notes and highlights are filled with "lol" or even "lol lol lol" I often had to qualify this with "sad lol" or "angry lol" because to read this catalogue of conservative iniquity is to be enraged at what the bastards have got away with - and continue to get away with. One of humour's powers is how it lowers the traditional barriers of established thinking (like lowering the shields on the Enterprise) and gives a brief opportunity for the photon torpedo of truth to get through (I may have overworked that analogy), so it might be tempting to give copies to any right leaning people in your circle?!
The strength in Jones's account is that he gets to do something the mainstream media so rarely have done. He can juxtapose every ministerial pronouncement and policy initiative with the exactly contradictory message they gave last month/last week/last minute. He can also highlight the blatant conflicts of interest, party political bias and cronyism to the point of corruption in the awarding of contracts and allocation of resources. For example Jenrick awarding his own markedly undeprived constituency more deprivation funding than the whole of Birmingham.
The media's failure to present the obvious counterpoints to government lies may be to do with the speed with which Johnson and his acolytes spewed out the outrageous and absurd statements, or it may have to do with their unwillingness to hold the friends of their media bosses/owners to account. But here Jones is able to fact-check each statement and action with its appropriate repudiation, in ways which had me highlighting and noting "abso-fecking-lutely" and "unbe-fecking-lievable" all over the place.
At the centre of this decade of disaster lies the Brexit vote, not so much the nadir as the point of inflexion at which the collapse in government competence, honesty and standards in public life abruptly accelerated. As Jones puts it
We are trapped, victims of a scam perpetrated by spittle-flecked fanatics and implemented by vapid, overpromoted schoolboys, playing at politics until they've made enough wealthy contacts to let them cash in."
and later
"The last decade has been indistinguishable from a rollercoaster drawn by M. C. Escher, composed entirely of nauseating descents."
This is not a short book and the chapters covering each year get progressively fatter as the deluge of country-destroying democracy-undermining treachery intensifies, but what swells it to 827 pages are 228 pages filled with over a thousand references to evidence the biting statements Jones makes.
We know that information (let alone truth) is not enough to win an argument. Libertarian think-tanks, billionaire media owners and politician owning corporations have deliberately caked our democracy and critical thinking in populist bullshit. If they can only persuade people that all politicians are the same, then (enough) people will overlook the venality of the likes of Johnson and Gove and fall back on emotive tribalism, base notions of "them" and "us", to decide who to vote for and so keep their exploiters in power.
But Jones' book shows that - while no politician is likely to be perfect - they most definitely are not all the same. Nearly 75 years on from Nye Bevan's Manchester speech, his words ring as true as ever What is Toryism but organised spivvery? … No amount of cajolery can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party
And if there was anything wrong or unjust in how Jones describes his many Tory targets (over half of Tory MPs who served in the years 2010 to 2020 are named in this litany of failure) I am sure they would come out to refute his claims...
...I'll wait
In The Decade in Tory, Jones gives us a magnificent tour of misconduct in public office and venal malfeasance on a scale the country should have a collective nightmare about. As Jones points out It's absolutely fine to scream occasionally whole reading this book.
It is perhaps the British way to laugh and brilliantly satirise the moral and practical weaknesses of our political "masters" rather than - say - take to the streets in protest to overthrow them. We are after all, a nation concerned with propriety and not breaking laws or causing a fuss, unlike the Tories. That may be a failing on our part, but one can always appreciate Jones way with words, for example when he described Theresa May's awkward angular strut onto the stage at her last Conservative conference as leader as being like Vogon poetry in motion.
However, while my notes and highlights are filled with "lol" or even "lol lol lol" I often had to qualify this with "sad lol" or "angry lol" because to read this catalogue of conservative iniquity is to be enraged at what the bastards have got away with - and continue to get away with. One of humour's powers is how it lowers the traditional barriers of established thinking (like lowering the shields on the Enterprise) and gives a brief opportunity for the photon torpedo of truth to get through (I may have overworked that analogy), so it might be tempting to give copies to any right leaning people in your circle?!
The strength in Jones's account is that he gets to do something the mainstream media so rarely have done. He can juxtapose every ministerial pronouncement and policy initiative with the exactly contradictory message they gave last month/last week/last minute. He can also highlight the blatant conflicts of interest, party political bias and cronyism to the point of corruption in the awarding of contracts and allocation of resources. For example Jenrick awarding his own markedly undeprived constituency more deprivation funding than the whole of Birmingham.
The media's failure to present the obvious counterpoints to government lies may be to do with the speed with which Johnson and his acolytes spewed out the outrageous and absurd statements, or it may have to do with their unwillingness to hold the friends of their media bosses/owners to account. But here Jones is able to fact-check each statement and action with its appropriate repudiation, in ways which had me highlighting and noting "abso-fecking-lutely" and "unbe-fecking-lievable" all over the place.
At the centre of this decade of disaster lies the Brexit vote, not so much the nadir as the point of inflexion at which the collapse in government competence, honesty and standards in public life abruptly accelerated. As Jones puts it
We are trapped, victims of a scam perpetrated by spittle-flecked fanatics and implemented by vapid, overpromoted schoolboys, playing at politics until they've made enough wealthy contacts to let them cash in."
and later
"The last decade has been indistinguishable from a rollercoaster drawn by M. C. Escher, composed entirely of nauseating descents."
This is not a short book and the chapters covering each year get progressively fatter as the deluge of country-destroying democracy-undermining treachery intensifies, but what swells it to 827 pages are 228 pages filled with over a thousand references to evidence the biting statements Jones makes.
We know that information (let alone truth) is not enough to win an argument. Libertarian think-tanks, billionaire media owners and politician owning corporations have deliberately caked our democracy and critical thinking in populist bullshit. If they can only persuade people that all politicians are the same, then (enough) people will overlook the venality of the likes of Johnson and Gove and fall back on emotive tribalism, base notions of "them" and "us", to decide who to vote for and so keep their exploiters in power.
But Jones' book shows that - while no politician is likely to be perfect - they most definitely are not all the same. Nearly 75 years on from Nye Bevan's Manchester speech, his words ring as true as ever What is Toryism but organised spivvery? … No amount of cajolery can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party
And if there was anything wrong or unjust in how Jones describes his many Tory targets (over half of Tory MPs who served in the years 2010 to 2020 are named in this litany of failure) I am sure they would come out to refute his claims...
...I'll wait
April 20, 2023
I'm not a massive non-fiction reader and, when it do, it's generally books related to my interests, not politics. Yet, having chuckled along with Jones' Week In Tory on Twitter (he's literally the only person I follow on there), I really, really wanted to read his first venture into proper publishing.
The good news about this book is that you don't have to read every page. Well, I suppose you don't HAVE to read every page of ANY book but, with this one, ignoring the dozen pages of the index and the few lines of biography, has an incredible twenty-four pages listing the people who supported it's publication through crowd-funding - there's no way I'd plough through that, even if my own name was there to be found. More importantly, there is over one hundred and thirty pages of what are effectively footnotes, listing sources for the countless items mentioned throughout the book. Honestly, these probably work better as, I assume, hyperlinks in the e-book edition.
But that still leaves over five hundred pages of sleaze, corruption, condemnation and idiocy from the first ten years of the current Tory leadership of this country. A leadership, by a party that is a sick joke, consisting of Ministers who are both out of touch and only looking out for themselves (and their friends and cronies) and who have, between them, brought this country nearly to its knees and made us a laughing stock. (And all this, quite frankly, before Liz Truss got more involved than she should ever have allowed to be...)
You can probably tell that I'm very much part of the target audience. I remember much of what is covered from when it happened. I probably tutted at each individual scandal at the time. Reading about them now, one after the other, piled up next to each other, made me angry, exasperated and sad. Sad that we have been played by these incompetents for so long.
If there is one thing wrong with the book it's that, despite the humour being present in Jones' inimitable writing style, it's somehow more diluted than in the Twitter posts. A few more laughs at the expense of Johnson and his chums might have cut through the anger slightly. Maybe that's the point, though...
The good news about this book is that you don't have to read every page. Well, I suppose you don't HAVE to read every page of ANY book but, with this one, ignoring the dozen pages of the index and the few lines of biography, has an incredible twenty-four pages listing the people who supported it's publication through crowd-funding - there's no way I'd plough through that, even if my own name was there to be found. More importantly, there is over one hundred and thirty pages of what are effectively footnotes, listing sources for the countless items mentioned throughout the book. Honestly, these probably work better as, I assume, hyperlinks in the e-book edition.
But that still leaves over five hundred pages of sleaze, corruption, condemnation and idiocy from the first ten years of the current Tory leadership of this country. A leadership, by a party that is a sick joke, consisting of Ministers who are both out of touch and only looking out for themselves (and their friends and cronies) and who have, between them, brought this country nearly to its knees and made us a laughing stock. (And all this, quite frankly, before Liz Truss got more involved than she should ever have allowed to be...)
You can probably tell that I'm very much part of the target audience. I remember much of what is covered from when it happened. I probably tutted at each individual scandal at the time. Reading about them now, one after the other, piled up next to each other, made me angry, exasperated and sad. Sad that we have been played by these incompetents for so long.
If there is one thing wrong with the book it's that, despite the humour being present in Jones' inimitable writing style, it's somehow more diluted than in the Twitter posts. A few more laughs at the expense of Johnson and his chums might have cut through the anger slightly. Maybe that's the point, though...
December 18, 2022
Must read of you want to understand what an utter mess politics is right now.
May 28, 2023
"If I believed in God, I'd pray for an end to this. But God isn't listening, and not enough of the public are either. Until one or the other wakes up, a perpetual vortex of agitation is where we are all doomed to live."
📚
Recently, even here in Scotland, I've heard people espousing sympathetic views towards the Conservative government as a result of the unprecedented hurdles they faced due to Covid. However, Russell Jones' The Decade In Tory argues that Conservative rule has been a shambles since 2010, long before Covid, and really, the government didn't need the pandemic as an excuse to showcase its incompetence.
📚
The book features the recent antics of a familiar cast of characters: David Cameron (an 'entitled, indolent, vacuous dink'); Boris Johnson ( 'a nasty, inept, narcissistic, bullshitting, nincompoop'); honorary Tory Nick Clegg ('a Cabbage Patch doll of Colin Firth'); George Osborne (Cameron's 'pet sadist'); Matt Hancock (a 'human spork'); Liz Truss ('the world's smallest intellectual giant'); Priti Patel (a 'prototype Nurse Ratched'); Jeremy Hunt (a 'demonic pixie'); Michael Gove (a 'shite in sheep's clothing'); Iain Duncan Smith ('a thermonuclear moron'); Theresa May ('the nation's most intransigent Jobcentre Plus receptionist'); and Jacob Rees-Mogg ("a harrowing antique dildo"). And, in case you hadn't already noticed, the book is rather humorous in the if-you-don't-laugh-you-cry vein.
📚
Jones takes us through a 'tsunami of unmitigated failure' from the coalition, through welfare system 'reforms', to what essentially amounts to defunding of the NHS, through austerity, cuts to legal aid, culling our badger population in an attempt to reduce bovine tuberculosis that flew in the face of scientific evidence to the contrary, Brexit and, of course, Covid. I'm going to go out on a limb and say it should be required reading lest anyone is tempted to try and vote them in again.
📚
📚
Recently, even here in Scotland, I've heard people espousing sympathetic views towards the Conservative government as a result of the unprecedented hurdles they faced due to Covid. However, Russell Jones' The Decade In Tory argues that Conservative rule has been a shambles since 2010, long before Covid, and really, the government didn't need the pandemic as an excuse to showcase its incompetence.
📚
The book features the recent antics of a familiar cast of characters: David Cameron (an 'entitled, indolent, vacuous dink'); Boris Johnson ( 'a nasty, inept, narcissistic, bullshitting, nincompoop'); honorary Tory Nick Clegg ('a Cabbage Patch doll of Colin Firth'); George Osborne (Cameron's 'pet sadist'); Matt Hancock (a 'human spork'); Liz Truss ('the world's smallest intellectual giant'); Priti Patel (a 'prototype Nurse Ratched'); Jeremy Hunt (a 'demonic pixie'); Michael Gove (a 'shite in sheep's clothing'); Iain Duncan Smith ('a thermonuclear moron'); Theresa May ('the nation's most intransigent Jobcentre Plus receptionist'); and Jacob Rees-Mogg ("a harrowing antique dildo"). And, in case you hadn't already noticed, the book is rather humorous in the if-you-don't-laugh-you-cry vein.
📚
Jones takes us through a 'tsunami of unmitigated failure' from the coalition, through welfare system 'reforms', to what essentially amounts to defunding of the NHS, through austerity, cuts to legal aid, culling our badger population in an attempt to reduce bovine tuberculosis that flew in the face of scientific evidence to the contrary, Brexit and, of course, Covid. I'm going to go out on a limb and say it should be required reading lest anyone is tempted to try and vote them in again.
📚
November 29, 2023
I found this book pretty difficult to read. Not that I am an arch Tory for the record—I have been very critical and sceptical of the Conservative Party over the past few years (especially with the handling of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic)—however I find Jones's churlish and infantile descriptions of Tory politicians and figures really detracts from the quality of the research that has gone into writing this book—it reads in parts more like a guide to the Conservative Party aimed at 6-year-olds rather than an adult read.
I have absolutely no doubt that a lot of the facts presented in the book did happen as described, however the author's embittered slant on almost every occurrence and event described in a vague attempt to be humorous emphasises his personal hatred for any political position right of his own (I'll assume a hardcore champagne socialist Remainer), and Jones's particular venom for anyone who dared to vote for Brexit or supported the Tories' actions bleeds through into his style of writing, leading to a very one-sided view that doesn't invite questioning or debate. Indeed, there is hardly any mention of the opposition's reactions to the policies and actions of the Conservative Party during the book's timeline; Jones's malice echoed through childish caricatures of Tory politicians unfortunately detracts from the narrative and the presentation of the facts of what happened throughout the 2010s and 2020s.
It's a great read if you want a steamy, tabloid-style exposé of the Tories and their mistakes, interspersed throughout with the occasional wisecrack, however if you're looking for a more thorough (and balanced) analysis of the general rot of UK politics on both sides of the political spectrum, look elsewhere.
I have absolutely no doubt that a lot of the facts presented in the book did happen as described, however the author's embittered slant on almost every occurrence and event described in a vague attempt to be humorous emphasises his personal hatred for any political position right of his own (I'll assume a hardcore champagne socialist Remainer), and Jones's particular venom for anyone who dared to vote for Brexit or supported the Tories' actions bleeds through into his style of writing, leading to a very one-sided view that doesn't invite questioning or debate. Indeed, there is hardly any mention of the opposition's reactions to the policies and actions of the Conservative Party during the book's timeline; Jones's malice echoed through childish caricatures of Tory politicians unfortunately detracts from the narrative and the presentation of the facts of what happened throughout the 2010s and 2020s.
It's a great read if you want a steamy, tabloid-style exposé of the Tories and their mistakes, interspersed throughout with the occasional wisecrack, however if you're looking for a more thorough (and balanced) analysis of the general rot of UK politics on both sides of the political spectrum, look elsewhere.
September 12, 2024
As one of the people who crowdfunded this book (my name is printed at the back), and a huge fan of TheWeekinTory, I was really looking forward to this book.
However, I waited until Labour won the election before reading it for fear I would explode with apoplectic anger. (It should be obvious by now that I'm not to the right of the center. Stop reading if you don't care for Tory bashing, and certainly don't read anything by Russell.)
This is a well-written and well-researched book. It explains politics and economics and Brexit in layman's term without ever becoming dull.
It is, however, a book that will also (if you're a vaguely empathetic, non-sociopath human) make you very angry. It's a chonky book, because it's a record of the lies, corruption, deceit, incompetence and neglect of the governing Tory party over a decade - and there's A LOT of corruption, and a staggering amount of incompetence to boot. (That was one of the aspects I personally found most worrying. One would hope that the people governing our country would be more intelligent and capable than us. However, it appears the only thing most MPs are capable of doing is awarding multi-million contracts to their friends.)
Because it's a relentless, fact-checked catalogue of selfishness and greed, it's much less funny than bite-sized X posts about Tory malevolence - but nonetheless this is an important book that deserves to be read. One that I will be keeping on my shelves - not just because I paid 35 quid for it, but because the next time someone in my family talks about voting for the next privately-educated Tory wazzock, I will press them to borrow and read this tome. Or beat them over the head with it.
However, I waited until Labour won the election before reading it for fear I would explode with apoplectic anger. (It should be obvious by now that I'm not to the right of the center. Stop reading if you don't care for Tory bashing, and certainly don't read anything by Russell.)
This is a well-written and well-researched book. It explains politics and economics and Brexit in layman's term without ever becoming dull.
It is, however, a book that will also (if you're a vaguely empathetic, non-sociopath human) make you very angry. It's a chonky book, because it's a record of the lies, corruption, deceit, incompetence and neglect of the governing Tory party over a decade - and there's A LOT of corruption, and a staggering amount of incompetence to boot. (That was one of the aspects I personally found most worrying. One would hope that the people governing our country would be more intelligent and capable than us. However, it appears the only thing most MPs are capable of doing is awarding multi-million contracts to their friends.)
Because it's a relentless, fact-checked catalogue of selfishness and greed, it's much less funny than bite-sized X posts about Tory malevolence - but nonetheless this is an important book that deserves to be read. One that I will be keeping on my shelves - not just because I paid 35 quid for it, but because the next time someone in my family talks about voting for the next privately-educated Tory wazzock, I will press them to borrow and read this tome. Or beat them over the head with it.
April 11, 2023
How do you turn a catalogue of ineptitude, corruption and misery into 500 pages of joy? Ask Russell Jones how he managed it because that's what he's achieved here.
The staggering hypocrisy and extent of lies & dishonesty by a procession of chancers, gutter snipes and - yes, say it - scum, barely human in their lack of concern for fellow human beings (at least those that don't pay into party coffers), are laid out in clear, factual & meticulously researched detail, rarely requiring embellishment, in this 'novelisation' of the long running "#WeekInTory" twitter feed from the author known as @RussInCheshire. Rather than a turgid litany of misbehaviour and misdemeanours, The Decade in Tory reads lightly with a turn of phrase surprising, ingenious and piercing but always witty: Theresa May's Dancing Queen cringefest is perfectly described as "Vogon poetry in motion" for instance. Descriptions of people - JayKob ReSmog is a cross between "the child catcher and rickets" - and events - "the government was going to give you a £10,000 fine if you didn't self-isolate after getting a test that didn't exist, but you must only ask for that test if you already knew the result" - are described so clearly that you can't stop yourself laughing out loud at our own misfortune for having voted in these charlatans - repeatedly. This book is for-crying-out-loud funny.
The staggering hypocrisy and extent of lies & dishonesty by a procession of chancers, gutter snipes and - yes, say it - scum, barely human in their lack of concern for fellow human beings (at least those that don't pay into party coffers), are laid out in clear, factual & meticulously researched detail, rarely requiring embellishment, in this 'novelisation' of the long running "#WeekInTory" twitter feed from the author known as @RussInCheshire. Rather than a turgid litany of misbehaviour and misdemeanours, The Decade in Tory reads lightly with a turn of phrase surprising, ingenious and piercing but always witty: Theresa May's Dancing Queen cringefest is perfectly described as "Vogon poetry in motion" for instance. Descriptions of people - JayKob ReSmog is a cross between "the child catcher and rickets" - and events - "the government was going to give you a £10,000 fine if you didn't self-isolate after getting a test that didn't exist, but you must only ask for that test if you already knew the result" - are described so clearly that you can't stop yourself laughing out loud at our own misfortune for having voted in these charlatans - repeatedly. This book is for-crying-out-loud funny.
April 10, 2024
Magnificent.
The first full length book from the man behind 'The Week in Tory' on X (Twitter), @RussInCheshire.
At its deepest level it's an important contribution to contemporary history: the first ten years of this government documented and dissected. False claims, hypocrisy, incompetence and corruption all spotted and scrutinised, with 130 pages of fine print notes giving incontrovertible sources for each incident.
Sometimes that's enough, and a deadpan delivery lets the facts speak for themselves.
More often it's full of knockabout comedy that doesn't mask Jones's anger, often directed at Boris Johnson and his cronies.
Best of all, it's snortingly funny. His comparisons are both surreal and weirdly accurate. Priti Patel 'The Shetland Pony of the Apocalypse.' Teresa May, 'like a Meccano giraffe.' Michael Gove: 'an emotional support turbot.' Strangest and most suggestive of all, Jacob Rees-Mogg, 'the precise physical intersection of a cursèd oboe and the concept of gout.'
It's also, at times, wearying. Horrifying, infuriating, depressing. No one expects perfection, but most of the time those in power didn't even bother trying. There are sickening levels of venality and incompetence on display here, for which the Conservative party deserves to be annihilated as a political force for at least the rest of this century.
The first full length book from the man behind 'The Week in Tory' on X (Twitter), @RussInCheshire.
At its deepest level it's an important contribution to contemporary history: the first ten years of this government documented and dissected. False claims, hypocrisy, incompetence and corruption all spotted and scrutinised, with 130 pages of fine print notes giving incontrovertible sources for each incident.
Sometimes that's enough, and a deadpan delivery lets the facts speak for themselves.
More often it's full of knockabout comedy that doesn't mask Jones's anger, often directed at Boris Johnson and his cronies.
Best of all, it's snortingly funny. His comparisons are both surreal and weirdly accurate. Priti Patel 'The Shetland Pony of the Apocalypse.' Teresa May, 'like a Meccano giraffe.' Michael Gove: 'an emotional support turbot.' Strangest and most suggestive of all, Jacob Rees-Mogg, 'the precise physical intersection of a cursèd oboe and the concept of gout.'
It's also, at times, wearying. Horrifying, infuriating, depressing. No one expects perfection, but most of the time those in power didn't even bother trying. There are sickening levels of venality and incompetence on display here, for which the Conservative party deserves to be annihilated as a political force for at least the rest of this century.
May 12, 2025
A riotous summary of the lost decade under Tory misrule, both mind-numbingly accurate and achingly hilarious. At 500 plus pages it takes quite a while to read, most of which I spent either laughing out loud or screaming at the walls, such was the appalling incompetence and blatant corruption of these smug entitled bags of flatulence. Typical quotes, referring to the reasons for Brexit; ‘…shouting at the EU sold a lot of papers, and you didn’t even need to print things that were even vaguely honest, as ace hotshot-slash-bullshit reporter Boris Johnson had proven.’ Or ‘Priti Patel was there, like a smirking, razor-faced angel of death. They were joined by bellend’s bellend Chris Grayling and former chancellor Nigel Lawson, a wheezing antique chamois leather who was campaigning against our right to live in the Europe from his home in France.’ The most damning is probably ‘…the report concluded that outsourcing every major decision to a money-grubbing huckster you met at boarding school had produced a government that was “infantilised”, and our standards of leadership were now “unacceptable.”
February 24, 2023
Impeccably researched and sourced - Half the book is taken up by footnotes and attributions- this is an account of the author’s view of the total mess that the incumbent party has made of the UK from 2011-2020. If it has a fault then it’s that it is derived from his incredibly good “Week in Tory” column on Twitter in which his eloquence in coming up with new ways of describing the various government personnel is such a joy. In a book form that becomes a little formulaic no matter how good the individual pieces are.
It’s a great read, though. And to all those criticising it for being one sided, go ahead and write the counterweight, “The decade in opposition” or whatever you’d like to call it. There would be plenty of takers and it beats moaning.
It’s a great read, though. And to all those criticising it for being one sided, go ahead and write the counterweight, “The decade in opposition” or whatever you’d like to call it. There would be plenty of takers and it beats moaning.
June 19, 2023
I've been following Russ Jones on Twitter for a while and have loved his Week in Tory updates. Hilarious at times, heartbreaking at others, when you are reminded this is our country and real lives that the Tories policies impact.
The book is as meticulously researched as you'd expect. Delivered with the same satirical voice and at times sheer desperation of a person so incredulous this fiasco continues.
It did take me a while to read. Not because it's not readable, it is. But because I was getting irate before bed.
Highly recommended if you are interested in politics, if you care about people, the UK and want a deeper understanding of what exactly has been going on in Westminster from 2010-2020.
The book is as meticulously researched as you'd expect. Delivered with the same satirical voice and at times sheer desperation of a person so incredulous this fiasco continues.
It did take me a while to read. Not because it's not readable, it is. But because I was getting irate before bed.
Highly recommended if you are interested in politics, if you care about people, the UK and want a deeper understanding of what exactly has been going on in Westminster from 2010-2020.
August 17, 2025
An exceptionally researched, well-written and humorous account of Tory rule from 2010 to 2020. Despite the subject matter it’s laugh-out-loud funny which almost completely, but not quite, obscures the depressing realities within, such as the decline in ministerial quality and standards which coincide (causation or correlation?) with appalling slumps in the UK’s economy and standing in world affairs.
When it’s all detailed in one place it really is quite shocking. Sadly, we know it doesn’t get any better in the sequel covering 2021-2024.
I can’t think of anyone interested in UK politics that wouldn’t benefit from reading this although it is highly likely to anger those with any kind of interest in a fair society.
When it’s all detailed in one place it really is quite shocking. Sadly, we know it doesn’t get any better in the sequel covering 2021-2024.
I can’t think of anyone interested in UK politics that wouldn’t benefit from reading this although it is highly likely to anger those with any kind of interest in a fair society.
December 31, 2023
How did we end up here?….read this book!
A masterly account of the further degeneration of the Conservative Party over a decade in office and its direct influence on declining standards of ethics and probity in Government.
It accounts with amazingly detailed reference and facts how our nation has been broken by a cabal of liars, narcissists, spivs, xenophobes, ideologues and egotists, many of whom whould sell their own mothers down the river for a few bucks.
Brilliant, incredibly detailed, humorous, ironic,compelling, incredible and numbing. How did we end up here? …read this book!
A masterly account of the further degeneration of the Conservative Party over a decade in office and its direct influence on declining standards of ethics and probity in Government.
It accounts with amazingly detailed reference and facts how our nation has been broken by a cabal of liars, narcissists, spivs, xenophobes, ideologues and egotists, many of whom whould sell their own mothers down the river for a few bucks.
Brilliant, incredibly detailed, humorous, ironic,compelling, incredible and numbing. How did we end up here? …read this book!
March 1, 2023
A big book with a lot of references. The author takes the headlines and stories from the run of Tory governments between 2010 and 2020, and points out the incompetence, wickedness and criminality in this shower of problem cases. It’s obviously written from the viewpoint of one side of the political spectrum, but it would be hard to read through and refute all of the allegations that we’ve lived under a government of severe badness. There’s a lot of humour there too, though, not least the author’s endless supply of descriptive terms for the people he’s covering.
October 13, 2023
I bloody loved this book which I bought having followed Russ Jones’s Week in Tory on the platform formerly known as Twitter. The book is hilarious in the scathing way it shows what an appalling omnishambles we had in Government from 2010-2020. You honestly couldn’t make it up, and Russ doesn’t. Everything he states is referenced to publicly available evidence. In years to come this should be a standard reference book for history students wondering how their future was destroyed by the most incompetent, corrupt government this country has seen in modern times.
November 21, 2023
Phew. This is an epic read. Wonderfully funny but at the same time terrifyingly depressing. Possibly all governments have confusion, lies, deceit, corruption and narcissism within them but this meticulously researched and referenced work demonstrates beyond doubt is that the years since 2010 have been marked by a quite spectacular failure of the various iterations of Tory governments to 2020. We deserve better but only if we really recognise how terrible it has been and choose an alternative. Anyone interested in politics and who has or is considering voting conservative ought to read this.
January 23, 2024
Honestly, this is unrelentingly depressing. Not because it's badly written, it's not. Russell Jones's writing it fabulous, his turn of phrase - excellent. But the subject matter with which he has to work ...
My God are we governed by the most feckless, self-serving, corrupt chamber of miscreants that have walked the corridors of power.
It was sickening to live the last decade in real-time. To relive it in a single tome is properly gut-churning. This should be compulsory reading for anyone that has a vote. Get it quick though, before the bastards ban it.
My God are we governed by the most feckless, self-serving, corrupt chamber of miscreants that have walked the corridors of power.
It was sickening to live the last decade in real-time. To relive it in a single tome is properly gut-churning. This should be compulsory reading for anyone that has a vote. Get it quick though, before the bastards ban it.
July 26, 2024
Just finished this outstanding book. It's a first-pass record of British political history from 2010-2020 - very well referenced. Through most of the book, I found myself thinking - oh yes! I remember that! And with it all in one volume, it's easier to see how everything links together.
It is picky, but I'd love a "clean" version of the book. Some people would use the (funny and well-crafted) offensive language as an excuse not to take any notice. They are in many cases the people who would otherwise learn the most.
It is picky, but I'd love a "clean" version of the book. Some people would use the (funny and well-crafted) offensive language as an excuse not to take any notice. They are in many cases the people who would otherwise learn the most.
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