Whether it’s five days, three men or one document, the 2010 general election showed that even the smallest things can change the face of history. Remember the film The Butterfly Effect? Well, it’s like that, but with more politics, less Ashton Kutcher and, you know, actually interesting.
In his new book 5 Days To Power, Rob Wilson studies the negotiations that led to the political earthquake of a Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government, collating information from key figures in all three political parties who were involved in the discussions and crafting the most comprehensive account of the talks that shaped our current political climate. And he comes to the conclusion that the most important figure of those tumultuous days in May was... the guy from the civil service.
No really, Rob says it in this article on ConservativeHome.
Now, we don’t know if it’s just because he’s a great writer (shameless PR), but the theory, which says that without a chapter in the Cabinet Manual entitled ‘Elections and Government Formation’ our history could have been dramatically different, does make sense. Alright, so without Gordon Brown or David Cameron or Nick Clegg or David Laws (another person who we have a book with, another moment of shameless PR) or any of the major negotiators, then we wouldn’t have our current situation. But we at Biteback like Rob Wilson for celebrating the men behind the scenes, because the men on stage get all the press these days.
You can now buy Rob Wilson’s full account of the five days (and butterflies) that changed the country forever, 5 Days To Power in paperback and e-book format for £9.99 and £4.60, respectively.