Why Populists Are Winning

and How to Beat Them

Bloomsbury presents Why Populists are Winning, written and read by Liam Byrne.

'Required reading' Andrew Marr, New Statesman

In 2024, two billion people went to vote – and populism won big. Donald Trump returned to the White House. Marine Le Pen surged in France. Reform UK became Britain's most successful far-right party in modern history. Across the West, authoritarian populists now govern one-quarter of the world's democracies.

But is this peak populism – or the populists' tipping point?

From the counting halls of inner-city Birmingham to the trading floors of Wall Street, from the Heritage Foundation war room to the algorithmic outrage machines of social media, Liam Byrne exposes the forces propelling the populist surge – and reveals how to stop it.

Drawing on original polling of thousands of voters, interviews with leading thinkers, and on-the-ground reporting across Britain, Europe and America, Byrne decodes the populist playbook. He reveals populism's five tribes, showing which voters can still be won back. He traces the millions flowing into Britain's populist media-political complex. He maps the rhetoric populists use to weaponize fear and nostalgia. And he warns: democracies rarely collapse in normal times – they fall after the next crisis, when hope collapses.

WHY POPULISTS ARE WINNING sets out a bold plan to rebuild the radical centre of Western politics. It is a field manual for democratic renewal – written for anyone who refuses to let fear win.

©2026 Liam Byrne (P)2026 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Reseñas de la Crítica

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)

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)

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)