As Minister of State at the Foreign Office, Alan Duncan was once described as Boris Johnson’s ‘pooper-scooper’. For two years, he deputised for the then Foreign Secretary, now Prime Minister. Few are more attuned to Boris’s strengths and weaknesses as a minister and his suitability for high office than the man who helped clear up his mistakes. Riotously candid, these diaries cover the most turbulent period in recent British political history – from the eve of the referendum in 2016 to the UK’s eventual exit from the EU. As two prime ministers fall, two general elections unfold and a no-confidence vote is survived, Duncan records a treasure-trove of insider gossip, giving biting and often hilarious accounts of petty rivalries, poor decision-making, big egos, and big crises.

As a young civil servant, Jeremy Heywood’s insightful questioning of the status quo pushed him to the centre of political power in this country for more than 25 years.He directly served four Prime Ministers in various roles including as the first and only Permanent Secretary of 10 Downing Street, the Cabinet Secretary and the Head of the Home Civil Service. He was at the centre of every crisis from the early 1990s until 2018 and most of the key meetings. Invariably, when faced with a new policy initiative a Prime Minister’s first response would be: ‘but what does Jeremy think?’

How Not to Be a Political Wife is an unflinching account of life at the heart of politics, and what it's like to have politics rip the heart out of your life. It’s a story of high hopes and dirty tricks, broken friendships and divided loyalties, laughter and glamour.Recollections, as a great woman once said, may of course vary, but this is my story, the way I remember it, written with no fear, no favour – and no fucks left to give.....