Try free for 30 days

  • Out of the Blue

  • The Inside Story of the Unexpected Rise and Rapid Fall of Liz Truss
  • By: Harry Cole, James Heale
  • Narrated by: Emily Pennant-Rea
  • Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
  • 5.0 out of 5 stars (2 ratings)

1 credit a month to use on any title, yours to keep (you’ll use your first credit on this title).
Stream or download thousands of included titles.
Access to exclusive deals and discounts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
Out of the Blue cover art

Out of the Blue

By: Harry Cole, James Heale
Narrated by: Emily Pennant-Rea
Try for $0.00

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $25.82

Buy Now for $25.82

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Publisher's Summary

Liz Truss’s journey from schoolgirl revolutionary to Britain’s shortest-serving Prime Minister

The Sunday Times Politics Book of the Year

Despite being written off and mocked by even her closest colleagues, Liz Truss slowly but determinedly achieved her goal of taking over 10 Downing Street – only to instantly plunge her administration into chaos and announce her resignation after a record-breaking 44 days. How did she do it? And what exactly went so wrong?

With unrivalled access and insight, award-winning political journalists Harry Cole and James Heale provide the answers, drawing on interviews with Truss’s friends and supporters, as well as her worst critics and rivals, from Kwasi Kwarteng to Michael Gove.

Tracking Truss’s transformation from geeky teenage Lib Dem to Tory PM, with the inside scoop on her first – and only – month in office, Out of the Blue is the unmissable behind-the-scenes account of Britain’s shortest-serving Prime Minister.

©2022 Harry Cole and James Heale (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic Reviews

"An insightful and at times riotously entertaining account of the lengthy rise and abrupt fall of Britain’s 56th Prime Minister. What was intended as a prologue to her premiership is now a riveting political obituary in which every page drips with the seeds of both triumph and disaster. Cole and Heale have produced a meticulously reported account of Truss’s drive, impulsiveness, eccentricity and ideological certainty which reads like a warning from history. It has elements of tragedy but is frequently very, very funny." (Tim Shipman)

"Make sure you put your seat belt on. Heale and Cole put you in the passenger seat of the fastest car crash in recent political history. It's an unmissable romp through Liz Truss's long journey to the top, fuelled by ambition and espresso. The clues that foretold the extraordinary catastrophe are all there, as the authors reveal in gory detail how Liz Truss nearly had the last laugh, before finally, as her government imploded, the joke was on her." (Laura Kuenssberg)

"Completely absorbing and, in places, astonishing. It is the story of a gigantic error, well told. And important lessons can be learnt." (Daniel Finkelstein)

What listeners say about Out of the Blue

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

It’s what happens when ideology is pursued ahead of the national interest

Wow what a rollercoaster ride Liz Truss has given the people of Britain!

A well researched and well written book. Congratulations to the authors.

It felt like I was reading a horror movie rather than a biography. It was all a bit grubby and I felt I had to wash my hands after each chapter. In some ways I had to admire Truss’s meteoric rise to power, her intelligence and capacity for hard work. For a Yorkshire woman to get to PM at such a young age required grit and ambition.

On the other hand, it’s clear that she has a Trumpian level of emotional intelligence, and she must have been a nightmare to work for. Everything was about ‘her’ and she was described as a ‘human hand grenade waiting to go off’. You didn’t want to be near her when she did!

The most sickening aspect of her political career was her unwillingness to take advice, her single-minded pursuit of her political ideology and her willingness to experiment with an entire nation’s future prosperity on an ideological whim (massive, unsustainable, uncosted tax cuts). It was like a teenage driver careering down the wrong side of the M1 at the wheel of a high powered Aston Martin. And the results were inevitable! I just hope she hasn’t done permanent damage to the engine of the British economy.

Overall a very good book that gave great insight into the workings of British politics and what can happen when inexperienced leaders are driven by ideology rather than pragmatism and are unwilling to ever admit they can be fallible.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.