Study in blue: from Conservative party centre to Chateau Despair – in pictures

This image of Margaret Thatcher was found in a damp cupboard at the abandoned Westminster office
Photograph: Lisa Barnard, courtesy Gost Books

And here's Iain Duncan Smith, discarded on the floor. It was on the steps outside this office that he resigned in 2003
Photograph: Lisa Barnard, courtesy Gost Books

The office stopped functioning as Tory headquarters in 2004. In its last days, it was referred to as Chateau Despair by the Party rank and file who walked these corridors
Photograph: Lisa Barnard, courtesy Gost Books

From grim, greying net curtains to still-locked safes, each room exudes a feeling of eerie desolation
Photograph: Lisa Barnard, courtesy Gost Books

Barnard photographed the empty office in 2009, before it was redeveloped to become 'Europe House'
Photograph: Lisa Barnard, courtesy Gost Books

Deflated balloon, one of a series of remnants Barnard collected to photograph for her book
Photograph: Lisa Barnard, courtesy Gost Books

Official ribbon left at Chateau Despair in distinctive Tory blue
Photograph: Lisa Barnard, courtesy Gost Books

Well, do you?
Photograph: Lisa Barnard, courtesy Gost Books

A lone firework rocket rests against a wall
Photograph: Lisa Barnard, courtesy Gost Books

A small photograph of Maggie can be seen, still pinned on a board
Photograph: Lisa Barnard, courtesy Gost Books

The official photo room has seen better days, too
Photograph: Lisa Barnard, courtesy Gost Books

Time to bolt from the blues … here's the lobby entrance – and exit
Photograph: Lisa Barnard, courtesy Gost Books