Audiobook: Tories: A Tragedy

'Fantastic' – James O'Brien

The brilliant mind behind the Secret Tory presents 14 years of Tory rule – as told by William Shakespeare

'O, for a muse of fire that would ascend

The brightest heaven of pretention!

A kingdom for a stage, Tories to act,

Oligarchs to behold the swelling scene!’

So begins The Tories: A Tragedy. In this brilliant new work of political satire, Henry Morris presents fourteen years of Conservative (mis)rule in the only form in which such misfortunes could be portrayed: as a Shakespearean play.

In five acts that take in five prime ministers, The Tories: A Tragedy is a captivatingly realised Jacobean tragedy, replete with Machiavellian manoeuvrings, hilarious mechanicals and poignant verse. Publishing in the shadow of the most significant election since the Tories came to power in 2010, this exhilarating, original book is an alternative history of a disastrous reign – a drama that will appeal to those who love Shakespeare, comedy, Shakespeare’s comedies, and those who simply love to laugh at the Tory party.

With a keen eye for parodies and humor, Morris masterfully weaves ideologies of conservatism and liberalism into a theater of politics. His playwriting process, a performing art in itself, brings to life the parties and their top players in a non-fiction narrative that is as entertaining as it is enlightening.

HarperCollins 2024