In July 2008, Britain's Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, wrote an article in the Guardian that many perceived to be a veiled attack on Gordon Brown, then Prime Minister and Labour Party leader. In the days and weeks that followed, Whitehall was awash with rumours that Miliband was testing the water for a leadership challenge. It never materialised.

What if it had?

In this romp through the heart of the collapsing Labour government in 2008, Tom Black presents familiar faces – the Miliband brothers, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Alistair Darling and more – in unfamiliar scenarios. Can David pull off his coup? Will he have to co-ordinate the whole thing from a train to Manchester? And does Gordon have a secret weapon up his sleeve?

With a little poetic license taken in the name of an interesting story, this tale of Whitehall skulduggery will delight political geeks and amuse fans of House of Cards, The Thick Of It, and A Very British Coup.

Also includes an afterword exploring the real world backdrop of the story, and an examination of why the events of the book did not come to pass.