Best politics books: read your way around Westminster

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 16 January 2024

Navigate your way around the goings-on in Parliament, with these insights into the processes and personalities in the corridors of power.

Politics on the Edge, by Rory Stewart

Currently topping the bestseller charts three months after its publication, this memoir of 10 years as a Tory MP, spanning four government departments, is "genuinely eye-opening stuff" and "always riveting", said the inews site. Stewart "vividly records" his meetings with colleagues, and although it's not "breaking news that David Cameron is a glib hypocrite, Boris Johnson a charming liar and Liz Truss a gibbering nitwit, it's enjoyable to read fresh evidence of it", said The Telegraph. "Primarily, though, the book is a story of frustration, bordering on despair", at how difficult it is to "get anything done" in the world of modern politics.

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Backed up by carefully crafted examples, including the "mindless" privatisation of the probation service, Ian Dunt's "lacerating analysis" explains how the British political system is broken. He "takes us through the Westminster labyrinth to reveal an omnishambles", said The Guardian. Stating that "the system is not fit for purpose", he stresses that it's not because officials are "corrupt or lazy" but because “MPs are impossibly burdened by having to do two jobs simultaneously, first as local representatives and then as national politicians". While researching the book, Dunt interviewed people from across the political system to explain "who actually gets to wield power when", said The New Statesman, which "shows up the depth of the challenge facing those who advocate reform", said The Sunday Times.

Despite the book's title, Isabel Hardman sees "a lot to admire about our politicians" and she challenges the assumption that they're "out of touch", said The Guardian. "If we treated our politicians somewhat better," said The Sunday Times, "the next generation might be an improvement. For now, however, the barnstormers and charlatans rule.” Hardman sets out to identify the causes of "the low calibre of some (by no means all) MPs, and for the failures of many as ministers". She deplores the need for candidates to spend "thousands of pounds of their own money" for a "chance of success" and the fact that "making a row does much more for a political career than boring old competence", said The Sunday Times. Hardman may not have all the answers on having more effective MPs but she "certainly asks the right questions", said The Guardian.

To mark the centenary of the first Labour government, this "absorbing, meticulous and balanced story" is told "through the eyes of the main players", said The Spectator. "Its title", explained the Financial Times, comes from the "fear-mongering phrase" used to describe the Labour leadership in the press, referring to their less-than-privileged backgrounds. Among the "fascinating details gleaned from private papers" is Ramsay MacDonald’s hunt for second-hand furniture to furnish No. 10. This "engrossing book" explains "Labour's main objective": to "demonstrate that it was fit to govern", said The Guardian, and it goes beyond politics "to expose the personalities of the extraordinary group of men who formed the first Labour cabinet".

In this "explosive new biography" the author's aim is "to restore her subject's reputation as the most significant woman in politics besides Margaret Thatcher", said The Telegraph. Marcia Williams followed Harold Wilson into No. 10 after his 1964 election victory, to act as his personal and political secretary. They had been lovers but "their sexual relationship" was "long over", said The Guardian. "Marcia was absolutely essential to Wilson, a non-negotiable part of his premiership," said the Daily Mail. She was suspected of wielding too much power at a time when "the idea of a man relying on a woman's political insights seemed far less plausible than the idea of her having some dark hold over him," said The Guardian. But "this insightful study puts her back where she belongs – at the forefront of politics", said the Mail.

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Adrienne Wyper has been a freelance sub-editor and writer for The Week's website and magazine since 2015. As a travel and lifestyle journalist, she has also written and edited for other titles including BBC Countryfile, British Travel Journal, Coast, Country Living, Country Walking, Good Housekeeping, The Independent, The Lady and Woman’s Own.