A nadir for Nadine: this book is a conspiratorial, badly written mess

SO, what's the story about Nadine Dorris's The Plot, subtitled, The Political Assassination of Boris Johnson? - just so you know, the subtitle sums up the gist. The former Culture Secretary and the joke there was on us - gave up her parliamentary seat in August to write this book, which entailed interviewing no fewer than 50 terrifically important people, almost all of them anonymous, except Boris, who served her tea on a tray.

- Melanie McDonagh

"Each person I interviewed... told me the same thing, that I was uncovering something dark and deeply undemocratic".

Which is? "There is a small group of men, most of them unelected... operating at the heart of the Conservative party... for 25 years or more they have set out to control the destiny of the Conservative Party... It is a story that has never been told... a shocking tale of corruption and unaccountable power."

They include Dominic Cummings; Munira Mirza and her husband Dougie Smith; Simon Case, cabinet secretary; staff of The Spectator; Sue Gray and Lee Cain. Or, as one informant said, "there's one behind every desk in No 10".