Minority Verdict

Drawing on his unique perspective as the man responsible for the party's target seats and polling, the 133-page book gives Lord Ashcroft's view of the Conservatives' progress since their third defeat in 2005, the reasons for the party's failure to win an overall majority in 2010, and David Cameron's decision to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. Minority Verdict follows Lord Ashcroft's influential analysis of the 2005 election campaign, Smell the Coffee: A wake-up call for the Conservative Party, which called for the party to modernise and re-engage with voters having come to be seen as untrustworthy and out of touch. Lord Ashcroft said: "There has been speculation as to my view of the Party's performance in the election, and of David Cameron's subsequent decision to forge a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. By putting an end to speculation, Minority Verdict sets the record straight. This is a record of what I really thought at the time, and what I think now. And if there is to be a public debate about this subject, Minority Verdict represents my first and only contribution to it. I do not intend to comment beyond what is contained within its pages."