Last Man Standing

When Alan Halsall, the former owner of Silver Cross, decided to accept the role of Responsible Person for Vote Leave, he had no idea what he was letting himself in for. Working closely alongside Dominic Cummings and Matthew Elliott, he had a valuable role to play in the unexpected vote to leave the European Union in 2016.

But after the win, he found himself plunged into the Referendum’s dark aftermath. Last Man Standing is a book which lifts the lid on our toxic politics. Halsall soon found himself on the receiving end of bizarre behaviour from the so-called independent Electoral Commission, which would refer him to the police without even interviewing him or anyone from Vote Leave. Soon it became clear that there was a broad narrative at work: the Establishment’s appalling desire to have the Referendum result overturned.

But this is a book which does much more than just tell that story. Halsall also describes his childhood growing up in Southport, and the way in which the aftermath of the Second World War impacted his early life. Halsall asks us to think about the meaning of our country, and the obligations we owe to our predecessors.

This is a must-read for anyone interested to know what is actually going on in our politics, and what our recent history really means. As Halsall’s hero Edmund Burke put it: “People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.