Losing It

The 2024 general election produced the worst defeat in the Conservative Party's history. Five years after winning a commanding majority, the Tories lost half their vote and two thirds of their seats in parliament. In Losing It Michael Ashcroft examines the seismic result and its causes. Drawing on extensive polling and analysis - as well as conversations with voters across the country, who describe in their own words how the Tories squandered not just the election but their reputation for competent government - this is a pitiless account of how the Conservative Party came to be seen by those who elected it to office. Before the Tories can begin any kind of recovery, they need to understand and accept what happened and why. This book sets out the reasons in uncompromising terms.

LORD ASHCROFT KCMG PC is an international businessman, philanthropist, author and pollster. He is a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party and currently honorary chairman of the International Democracy Union. He is founder and chairman of the board of trustees of Crimestoppers, vice-patron of the Intelligence Corps Museum, chairman of the trustees of Ashcroft Technology Academy, a senior fellow of the International Strategic Studies Association, a life governor of the Royal Humane Society, a former chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University and a former trustee of Imperial War Museums. Lord Ashcroft is an award-winning author who has written twenty-nine other books, largely on politics and bravery. His political books include biographies of David Cameron, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Rishi Sunak, Sir Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner, Carrie Johnson and Kemi Badenoch. His seven books on gallantry in the Heroes series include two on the Victoria Cross.