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    Kompromat: A Brexit Affair
    Kompromat: A Brexit Affair
    Kompromat: A Brexit Affair
    Ebook357 pages4 hours

    Kompromat: A Brexit Affair

    By Stanley Johnson

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    2016. The world is on the brink of crisis. Who could have predicted how events would play out? In this satirical thriller, Stanley Johnson, former MEP and father to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, just might have.

    In Britain, the British Prime Minister Jeremy Hartley is fighting a referendum he thought couldn’t be lost.

    In the USA, brash showman, Ronald Craig is fighting a Presidential Election nobody thought he could win.

    In the USSR, Igor Popov, the Russian President, is using both events as part of his plan to destabilise the West.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPoint Blank
    Release dateJul 13, 2017
    ISBN9781786072474
    Kompromat: A Brexit Affair
    Author

    Stanley Johnson

    A former Member of the European Parliament and father to the Prime Minister, Stanley Johnson has written widely in both fiction and non-fiction.

    Read more from Stanley Johnson

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    3.5/5

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    • 5/5
      In Britain Jeremy Hartley has announced 23rd June 2016 as the date for a referendum on whether or not the country should remain in or leave the European Union. Whatever the British people decide will have repercussions, not just across Europe but across the whole world and, in the months leading up to the vote, it is hardly surprising that powerful influences will be brought to bear on the outcome of the referendum. European, American, Russian, Chinese, and even Australian, interests are at stake – and the stakes are certainly high! Some are keen to see a Brexit vote, others have an investment in Britain remaining in the Union but what they all have in common is, by fair means or foul, a determination to ensure that their country’s, and/or personal interests, are best served by the result. Kompromat is a Russian word meaning compromising material, usually concerning illicit sexual encounters, drug-taking, prostitution, dodgy business deals etc. in fact anything which can be used to blackmail a target; this material can be genuine, but is often fabricated. Kompromat is at the centre of this bitingly satirical look at recent political events – in fact the novel even covers the results of the June 2017 General Election so Stanley Johnson must have added the final chapters only very shortly before the book was published! The story explores all the machinations which went on behind the scenes as politicians jockeyed for position in this fictional story. Who was in whose pocket? Who was being blackmailed, and by whom? In fact could anyone be trusted to be telling the truth, and could there be any such thing as political, let alone personal, integrity? There were times when it felt quite exhausting trying to keep up with all the dealing, double-dealing and double-crossing which was taking place across the world! Although the author stresses that this is a work of fiction, all the main characters felt very recognisable (a Prime Minister who, convinced that he couldn’t lose, promised the electorate a referendum; an unlikely US Presidential candidate; a Russian President who liked to flex his muscles, both physically and politically – maybe these characters sound all too familiar!) and I found myself feeling very amused by some of the “alternative” names given to a few of them. Set against the contemporary backdrop of geo-political manoeuvrings, “fake news”, use of the internet and the almost instant soundbites of tweeted responses to emerging news, this political thriller paints a vivid picture of the complexity of modern-day politics, as well as the potential for international mischief-making.This really is one of the best books I have read this year. It is an exciting political thriller and its quite brilliant satirical explorations really do hold up a mirror to the unpredictable and volatile nature of contemporary politics. There were lots of laugh-out-loud moments throughout (who would have thought that Brexit could have a funny side!) but it is also all too chillingly credible. I admired and enjoyed the author’s immediately engaging writing-style which I think is due in part to his considerable ability to create strong voices for each of his characters and to his ear for convincing dialogue, but also to his journalistic discipline. His pacing of the developing plots was excellent, so there was never a moment when I felt I wanted things to move along more quickly. I have not come across any of his earlier thrillers but, if they are as good as this one, then I’m keen to seek them out. Although this is a very easy and engaging read, it is also highly thought-provoking and the themes which emerge would make it an ideal choice for reading groups – I’ll certainly never look at politics in quite the same way again!Stanley Johnson’s experiences, as a former MEP, a journalist, active environmentalist and author of a considerable number of other books, mean that he has been able to bring a convincing integrity to this novel. The fact he was a firmly committed “Remainer”, whilst his son was such a keen Brexiteer (even though it is said that the latter does not feature in the book!) added an extra authenticity to the exploration of both sides of the debate. This is a book which I have no reservations about recommending to anyone who enjoys satire and political shenanigans!
    • 3/5
      This book was provided by the Early Readers group.'Kompromat', a Russian word those of us in the US have probably been exposed to by now, is a satirical novel based on recent political events both in our country and its European and British neighbors. It has the feel of being hastily produced in order to capitalize on the worldwide notoriety Russia is receiving for meddling in the affairs of other nations. Although the names have been changed to protect 'the innocent', in most cases the players are barely disguised and it's easy to determine who's who.The plot isn't very complicated. The book is written by a Brit from his country's perspective, it's centered around the Brexit campaign, the American presidential election is prominently in the background, and Russia's strongman is trying his worst to have an outsized impact on all of it so that it benefits Russia. There's lots of silliness (our Trumpian-like presidential candidate being 'inadvertently' shot by the Russian Putin-like leader in the butt with a tranquilizing dart during a tiger hunt and ending up with 3 listening devices implanted in his body, for example), much deviousness, a little sex, political intrigue, etc. The writing is OK, the dialogue has its ups and downs and could have stood for a little more editing, and the conclusion is predictably goofy.I've seen this book described as a 'political thriller' but to me it's more of an Onion level satire. It's OK, but after you 'get the joke' it isn't difficult to see where its all heading.
    • 3/5
      Imagine a world where Britain cuts off it's nose to spite it's face... A world where Russia meddles with the US election, a world where a supremely unqualified and unlikeable man becomes President over a very qualified woman. Wake up from that nightmare yet? Welcome to Kompromat! (or reality. Take your pick)I was hoping this would be funnier but with the exception of changing the names to protect the not so innocent, it really wasn't humorous. Not enough satire for my liking.
    • 2/5
      This is a thinly veiled story of world politics between (about) 2014 and 2016. A very rich businessman is running for President, England is debating Brexit, the Chinese are spying and gently pushing world politics in a direction that will help them, and Russia is interfering in (especially) the U.S. presidential race by backing the rich businessman. It is predictable cliched. I suppose if you don't closely follow politics, it could be interesting, but for those of us who follow politics closely, it is sub-par.
    • 4/5
      If you’re one of the millions of people on both sides of the Atlantic who look back on the elections of 2016 and say, to yourself or at the top of your lungs, “What just happened?” this satirical new political thriller is for you.Its characters are such thinly disguised versions of today’s leading political figures, you can be forgiven for thinking you’ve inadvertently picked up a recent copy of The Times. Much-needed is the list of its many characters—from the US, Russia, Germany, China, various other countries, four “key animals” and, most numerous of all, leaders of the UK. “Kompromat” is a Russian word—a portmanteau meaning compromising material, and in this novel—as, possibly, in real life—most of these countries hold plenty of it on each other. As the book opens, a 2016 US presidential candidate is participating in an international wildlife expedition that hopes to radio-collar a tiger. Events go wrong almost immediately. The candidate ends up in a hospital where the Russians plant a bug in his body. The CIA, ever on the ball, figures this out, and replaces it with their own bug. And they’re not the only ones. By the book’s end, America’s new president unwittingly has unwittingly become another “Voice of America.” Meanwhile, the British have problems of their own. Its Secretary of State for the Environment is approached by the Russians, who have singled him out as a leading light of the “Eurosceptic wing” of the Conservative Party. He learns the Prime Minister agreed to the Referendum on EU membership (the “Brexit” vote) for a reason no more complicated than money. Apparently, the PM believed the vote would never actually occur and, even if it did, it wouldn’t succeed, and the Party would receive money for doing nothing. Author Johnson devises numerous amusing and convoluted scenarios in which the hapless politicians become entangled. In his scenario, these byzantine schemes are organized and carried out by the Russian Security Service—the FSB, heir to the KGB—“ to change the whole structure of international politics.” The book is not only entertaining, it makes you think “what if?” and, as more news drifts out of world capitals, perhaps “why not?” Johnson is a former politician and member of the Conservative Party, and a former employee of the World Bank and the European Commission, who has held a number of prominent environmental posts as well as being an environmental activist. In the time preceding the Brexit vote, he co-chaired Environmentalists for Europe. Although he’s on record as opposing the Referendum, his son Boris was a key leader of the “leavers.” The book is in development for a six-part television series too.
    • 4/5
      This is a tremendously clever satire on the tragi-comic world in which we live. The chaos of Brexit, the rise of China, the long arm of Russia, a domineering Australian media mogul and a precipitously declining US are all too familiar but equally fair targets for Stanley Johnson's stinging, sharp wit. It's a decent thriller in and or itself; in any other circumstances, the characters and the twists and turns of the plot would be scarcely believable. Such are current affairs, though, that the story challenges you to confront Johnson's hypothesis as a credible an explanation as any other for the collective hysteria that appears to have gripped the world as we know it. The publishers deserve credit for getting this work to print as soon as the ink dried on the 2017 British parliamentary elections. Stanley Johnson has an impeccable pedigree for this kind of writing - former Member of the European Parliament, environmentalist and journalist; the breadth and depth of his experience and insights deliver a story that will leave you wondering whether fact is indeed stranger than fiction. It's an easy read, enjoyable and thought provoking. Looking through Mr Johnson's previously published works, he is eminently qualified to offer this theory - as plausible as our current reality - on why the established order appears to have been subverted by men and women drunk on power and insatiably greedy for more. I certainly intend to read more of this author's work. Depressed at the apparent disintegration of the world order and civil society as I knew it, I had made a promise to myself to take refuge in books and cut down on my online news intake. Little did I know that this fantastic book would upend my world at precisely the intersection of fact and fiction. Disclaimer: I received an advance review copy from LT's Early Reviewers program in return for an impartial review of the work.

    Book preview

    Kompromat - Stanley Johnson

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