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  • Politics on the Edge

  • A Memoir from Within
  • By: Rory Stewart
  • Narrated by: Rory Stewart
  • Length: 16 hrs and 20 mins
  • 4.9 out of 5 stars (27 ratings)

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Politics on the Edge

By: Rory Stewart
Narrated by: Rory Stewart
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Publisher's Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

From the former Conservative Cabinet minister and co-presenter of 2022's breakout hit podcast The Rest is Politics, a searing insider's account of ten extraordinary years in Parliament

Over the course of a decade from 2010, Rory Stewart went from being a political outsider to standing for prime minister - before being sacked from a Conservative Party that he had come to barely recognise.

Tackling ministerial briefs on flood response and prison violence, engaging with conflict and poverty abroad as a foreign minister, and Brexit as a Cabinet minister, Stewart learned first-hand how profoundly hollow and inadequate our democracy and government had become. Cronyism, ignorance and sheer incompetence ran rampant. Around him, individual politicians laid the foundations for the political and economic chaos of today.

Stewart emerged battered but with a profound affection for his constituency of Penrith and the Border, and a deep direct insight into the era of populism and global conflict.

Politics On the Edge invites us into the mind of one of the most interesting actors on the British political stage. Uncompromising, candid and darkly humorous, this is his story of the challenges, absurdities and realities of political life; a new classic of political memoir and a remarkable portrait of our age.

©2023 Rory Stewart (P)2023 Penguin Audio
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic Reviews

Brilliantly written, completely gripping, and darkly funny - this is one of the most devastating insider accounts of Westminster I have ever read. An instant classic of political memoir. I have to warn you that this book contains mind-boggling scenes featuring some of the leading politicians we've been cursed with over the past few years, several of which were so excruciating I had to read them through my fingers. (Marina Hyde)
At last a politician who can write. In a decade at Westminster, Rory Stewart worked alongside - indeed for - most of the con-artists and dimwits of recent governments. The problem is not just one of personal calibre, however. The book suggests it is the party political system itself that tends to stifle innovation and practical change. Opinionated, lucid and thought-provoking. (Sebastian Faulks)
An illuminating and excoriating insight into politics and power. Candid, angry, funny, and self-revelatory (Jonathan Dimbleby)

What listeners say about Politics on the Edge

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Really interesting and insightful

Fascinating views and observations of behind the scenes in politics. Equally frustrating and funny at times. Rory is a great story teller. Even if you don’t agree with all of his politics, he’s a fascinating, intelligent person.
Amazing audiobook. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

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Great insight, great read

I really enjoyed this insight into a fascinating and turbulent period of British politics. As neither English nor a Conservative I still gained a great deal from it. read brilliantly, well done to the author.

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Incredible book, highly recommend!

An incredibly eye opening insight into not just the bizarre bureaucracy and workings of the British government, but a fascinating story about a truly admirable and intelligent man. Incredibly well read, the story is captivating and the author does an excellent job at telling it and incorporating all the characters in an entertaining, but also very serious way. I would honestly recommend anybody I know to read this masterpiece.

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brilliant book

Great book, excellent detail, expertly read. Fascinating, harrowing, entertaining. well done Rory; now what's needed are solutions.

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A compelling read! Highly recommend.

Quite a shocking insight into British politics & the events that gave way to Boris Johnson becoming PM.
Very impressed with Rory’s character & ethics & grateful that he wrote this fascinating book. It can’t have been easy to relive the events.

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An important insight into the workings of parliament.

A place where self interest and the thirst for power are the motivators for most of the mps and those with good intentions and the desire to effect beneficial change for the country face tremendous obstacles. The mainstream media is shown for what it is. We need more mps like Rory.

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Impressive

Really enjoyed Rory’s writing and his in depth discussion and analysis of his time in Politics. Would recommend it to anyone who wants to understand how the Westminster system works. Excellent

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  • Lukasz Rewerenda
  • 26-11-2023

A great insight into English politics

...which confirms the sad, trivial truth: successful politicians are unscrupulous liars, and the system of professionalized politics actively resists any honest outsiders. Nothing new under the sun.

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  • Jane Waters
  • 24-11-2023

Strikingly metaphorical cover

Just brilliant from a brilliant engaging man. Confirmed all my worst suspicions on politics and politicians . Tragic really tragic that the good seem to have no place !

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  • Joona Lukala
  • 07-11-2023

Interesting and well written

I listen rest is politics podcast every week and this book gives interesting insight to Rory’s political life.
Highly recomended!

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  • Bri
  • 06-11-2023

Very Good

It really does you no favours being honest and not crawling into the gutter. He would have been a great PM for the country if there had been a party to lead, sadly populism won out.

This book while clearly making (huge) efforts to be as kind as possible was a scathing indictment of the Conservative Party and British politics in general. Rory lifted the curtain in a very honest and reflective way. I would like to have heard more about his personal life and if this book hadn’t been autobiographical we would have heard more of his achievements.
Nicely narrated by the author but if you want voices or impersonations it’s the other Rory you want.
Somehow he got through the entire book without calling Boris Johnson a €ũnT, impressive!

Keir Starmer

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  • bean481
  • 25-10-2023

Engaging and depressing

I'm almost aghast that I actually picked up a book by a Tory type. But Stewart is one of the few, perhaps the only one, that I could bare to listen to. I'm left with a profound grief that he never became PM and a perspective that the country has since been trashed by all successive Tory leaders. The book describes his efforts to bring sense to the British political scene yet alas concludes that he utterly failed. Or rather, the Tory Party failed him.

God help the UK.

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  • Haraldur
  • 07-10-2023

The honest MP

Great view into recent political shambles that is the Tory party.
An honest account of a personal journey through the corridors of power. Probably would have become the PM if he had bided his time.

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  • Marwan Al Rasheed
  • 23-09-2023

Great book even if youre not that interested in politics

Its hard not to respect and like Rory after listening to what hes been through. Great story even if youre not into politics. Some very good lessons on management and dealing with big issues.

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  • Thomas Lindsay
  • 21-09-2023

Open & Honesty

A very interesting insight into the journey of being a politician in the UK.

Thanks Rory, a shame we don’t currently have your talents in government hopefully in the future, when we get over this populist wave.

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  • alison k.
  • 20-09-2023

Politics, behind the scenes

It was great to hear in detail about the world of being a politician. It was well written and it was the addition of small details that made it all the more memorable and interesting. I particularly liked the section about him being minister for prisons, it was informative and thought provoking.

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  • Gudbrandur Magnusson
  • 16-09-2023

Extraordinary

The story is battery thsn any thriller, and the reading by Rory Stewart himself is extraordinary

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  • Thalia
  • 16-09-2023

So good I immediately listened to it a second time!

I found this a fabulous book despite the fact I’m left of centre. If only our politicians who are still in politics could come across as people in their own right and talk to the general public as if they were individuals and having a conversation rather than delivering a message. So sad to see so many treating politics as being a career at the expense of their own constituents.

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  • phil chadwick
  • 16-09-2023

Could not stop listening

I am admittedly biased, as I love Rory Stewart but this is a very informative and very funny book. Rory is absolutely unique in his ability to see both sides and explain both sides genuinely. When he explains his frustrations dealing with the civil service as a minister, he offers explanations as to why the people he worked with might have wanted to do things differently.

The book is full of the honesty that characterises Rory Stewart. There are several laugh out loud moments as he describes his bewildering interactions with Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.

His description of the behaviour of the other candidates in the leadership in the election lay bare
the dirty game of party politics, and the liars who thrive playing it.

A fantastic book, one I will read again for sure

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  • Matt
  • 17-09-2023

Interesting, gossipy but lacking self awareness

Certainly interesting and gossipy enough about the senior politicians he describes while being quite fair and balanced to them. The Brexit chapters brought back waves of bad emotions from the time and were quite hard to revisit. But in many chapters, Rory does come across as quite arrogant and that no one else but him can see the blindingly obvious such as on prison reform. Recommend listening to it on 1.5 speed as he’s a slow narrator.

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9 people found this helpful

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  • Positive Person.
  • 16-09-2023

Rory for Prime Minister!

Humble, penetrating, affecting and so very well read. I’d have voted for you Rory. Hope you’re off to do something better than hanging out with these guys.

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  • Christopher Farrelly
  • 22-09-2023

Brilliant and terrifying

Best book I’ve listened to all year. Rory is a great narrator. It’s also a bit scary the state our politics is in. I hope Rory decides to get back into politics to help us get out of this mess.

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  • Mr. Richard P. Gilgar
  • 16-09-2023

Tough but must listen

Rory Stewart’s performance is by a distance the best in my 30 something library of audible books.

I had to take significant breaks between listens. I had to listen to other things. But in the end I knew that I had to return and listen because to avoid it was to embrace an ignorance that would be a shameful.

It reminded me of a Stewart Lee gig, brilliant but horrible.

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 15-09-2023

Excellent Insider Account of the Shallowness of UK Politics

A comprehensive take down of the disastrous last 13 years of government, politics & media in the UK. Full of shocking and occasionally hilarious anecdotes of duplicitous, venal, and idiotic government ministers & MPs. Rory Stewart comes across as serious, analytical, and honest, in a Conservative government that is the opposite. The PM we needed, but got Johnson & Truss instead.

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  • R J Hutchinson
  • 22-09-2023

Brilliant - and also rather worrying

Rory is the PM we could and should have had, and we'd have avoided the chaos of the last few years. You can feel his frustrations trying to do the right thing in an archaic and corrupt political system which keeps knocking him back. He comes across in this and his podcasts as a genuine, and above all honest politician who just wants the best for his constituency and country. His narration is great, especially some of the accents! Loved it.

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  • Niki
  • 01-10-2023

The best political memoir I’ve read

This memoir stands out to me as a finest example of the story of a political career and it’s obvious from the first word to the last you’re experiencing something unusually special. The words are beautifully crafted, the dialogue is natural and Rory’s narration is funny and moving and brings the words to life. The contempt with which Rory says “Matt Hancock” made me laugh. It really is an exceptional book.

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  • MR A D J BIRD
  • 29-09-2023

Brilliant. Didn’t want it to end.

I found this insightful and gripping. At times he threatens to say ‘I told you so’, and talks himself up, but he checks himself and tries to be as humble and self-reflective as a political memoir can be.

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