By far the most consistent and cogent attempt by a Labour MP to understand their enemy and respond with brio … required reading for anyone aspiring to be part of the drama swirling around No. 10

Andrew Marr, New Statesman

Better understand populism to defeat it, argues Liam Byrne with wonderful, persuasive verve backed by wide research. It's much less deep rooted than you might think. By the end he had convinced me how it can be done. Let him convince you!

Will Hutton

Liam Byrne is one of the sharpest minds in Westminster and never has a book been more timely. Required reading

Ruth Davidson

An important, timely and insightful book that sets out why - and crucially how - we need to fight for our democracy and social justice

Gordon Brown

A welcome shot of serious thought about populism

Financial Times

[A] short but ambitious book … in which populism is considered with rigour and originality. Byrne neatly lays out the movement's paradoxes and hypocrisies. It's against elites, but led and funded by the rich. It presents itself as a mass uprising, but relies on low turnouts for much of its electoral success. It talks a lot about freedom, but its policies are authoritarian. It promises a glorious future, but its social vision is 'soaked in the brandy of nostalgia' - one of several rich and irreverent images with which Byrne decorates his chapters … Byrne is refreshingly interested in the world beyond Westminster orthodoxies

Guardian