It will be something of a homecoming for Cleo Watson when she takes to the stage at Hay Festival to talk about her debut novel, Whips, with Robert Peston, ITV News' political editor and the author of The Whistleblower.

Cleo was born in Brecon and grew up in and around Hay – her parents Robin and Liza ran a language school near Llangorse, now run by them and her brother Archie as a wedding venue, Tall John's House, and was a weekly boarder at school in Monmouth. "I'm really excited to be coming back," she says. "I would love to move out of London," she says, adding that she has already put a metaphorical pin in Hereford and the surrounding area, denoting the areas she dreams of moving to.

But it is her life in the political sphere that has provided the inspiration for Whips – which has already seen comparisons with Jilly Cooper's Rivals. Cleo worked as an intern on President Barack Obama's re-election in 2012 and served in 10 Downing Street as Theresa May's political adviser, before re-entering the famous door at Dominic Cummings' suggestion as Boris Johnson's co-deputy chief of staff before leaving soon after Cummings and head of communications Lee Cain departed.

Cleo reveals that what, from the outside, looks perfect fodder from fiction "didn't feel like that at the time with Covid, but I think from the writer's perspective, it was an interesting set of characters to be around and situations to be in. It was a real opportunity and a privilege and for writing this book it's been absolutely vital."

Whips is set in Westminster in the 2020s, and Cleo offers a tale of intrigue and scandal inspired by her time at the heart of the British establishment – when Bobby Cliveden decides to campaign against the closure of her local mental health unit, she ends up in the heart of the UK’s bustling political centre, and discovers a secret, soft-skilled machinery behind so much political change at the very highest level of government: women.

As Whips is published, Cleo is already halfway through the sequelv– it's a two book deal, but I have lots of ideas for how I'd like to spin it on further!". She also harbours ambitions to write a very different series: "I'm really keen to write a series inspired by my time growing up around Hay. It will centre on young farmers and the rural community. It's perfect for fiction. I think about it a lot while I'm living in London."