Robert Peston predictions are at the centre of an evening event in Bramhall on 19 Jul 2026, where the ITV political editor will discuss his new thriller The Kill Switch. He will also take questions and sign copies after speaking at St Michael and All Angels Parish Church.
St Michael and All Angels Parish Church
The event is titled An Evening with Robert Peston. Peston is bringing the same Westminster experience that shaped his reporting into a novel built around political power, AI fears and a government tech deal.
In The Kill Switch, journalist Gil Peck has spent decades breaking stories about Britain’s political elites. The book’s central shock comes when the Prime Minister, Stella Barnsbury, collapses during an interview on Gil Peck’s podcast, then dies within 48 hours. The novel says foul play is confirmed, and Gil and Jess become the prime suspects.
The Kill Switch
The book also turns on a shadowy contract with a global tech giant, alongside megalomaniac technocrats, malevolent AI super-intelligence and cutting-edge brain implants. That mix places the story close to the political and technological fears Peston says he will talk through at the event.
He is not arriving as a first-time author. Peston has written four non-fiction books, including How Do We Fix This Mess?, Who Runs Britain?, Brown's Britain and WTF?. The Financial Times called WTF? “mandatory reading” for anyone seeking to understand Brexit, Trump and the collapse of confidence in western liberalism.
Questions After The Talk
For attendees in Bramhall, the practical part of the evening comes after the talk: questions first, then book signings. That gives readers a direct line to ask how much of The Kill Switch came from Westminster reporting and how much from the anxieties around AI that the novel brings to the surface.
