LATEST: TRUE BLUE

Five years hard work and multiple versions culminates for me on August 22nd of this year (2009) with the publication of True Blue by Fourth Estate.

The book began as a way of working together with author David Matthews, author of 'Looking for a fight' - a brilliant insider account of the crummier side of semi-professional and professional boxing.

We decided in 2005 that we would 'join' the Conservative Party. We became super activists during the general election of that year, and then set off around the country in search of the grass roots of the party.

The result was some very weird scenes and we widened out our search to take in gatherings of UKIP and Countryside Alliance activists.

The main finding is that really absolutely nothing has changed at the grass roots of the Tory party, which now consists overwhelmingly of elderly people (predominantly female) and some other fairly eccentric characters.

The Conservative Party, at the top level, has been re-themed for TV as a national advertising and branding campaign. As I write it looks like the Conservatives are in with a chance of winning the next general election. But that's only because the Labour Party is so unpopular.

There's absolutely no sign of a Conservative revival at the grassroots. They are the same people who were there at the high tide of Maggie Thatcher - just a lot older, barely spiced up with a sprinkling of carpetbaggers, professional politicos and chancers.

But this is not mainly a political book - with a capital P. It is a work of reportage and anthropology, a genuine tongue in cheek attempt to work out who the Conservatives are and what, apart from the their pacemakers, makes them tick.