This book would not exist without the painstaking piecing together of events, meetings and conversations in interviews with the key participants in the weeks immediately after the ‘five days in May’. I am indebted to Gordon Brown, Peter Mandelson and key members of Gordon’s No. 10 team: Iain Bundred, Justin Forsyth, Joe Irvine, Gavin Kelly, Kirsty McNeill, David Muir, Sue Nye, Nick Pearce and Stewart Wood.
Peter Mandelson’s notes of meetings between Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg, and Sue Nye’s shorthand notes of Gordon’s phone conversations with Nick Clegg were especially valuable. Tony Lloyd gave me a good account of evolving sentiment inside the PLP. A number of Lib Dems and civil servants also spoke to me, but prefer to remain anonymous.
This is my second book in two years with the brilliant team at Biteback. Iain Dale, Sam Carter, Suzanne Sangster, James Stephens, Namkwan Cho and Katy Scholes did another great job. So did Adam Tyndall, my researcher.