Chris bryant parliament the biography
Parliament: The Biography
(It’s a signed copy from the excellent Foyle’s— though I don’t think either of us noticed that until she had brought it back to America and put it into my eagerly grasping hands.)
Let’s start off with the author. I think with any book tackling an institution as old and as complex as Parliament, you would, at least, hope that the author has done their research- but in the case of Chris Bryant, he’s done that and has some bona fides of his own— he’s still a Member of Parliament for Rhondda (and Minister of State for Data Protection of Telecoms with the current government). He’s been an MP for about a quarter of a century now so at the very least, he’s spent quite a bit of time in the institution he’s writing about.
The first volume of this two-part biography (‘Ancestral Voices’) covers the roughly five-hundred-year period between the 13th Century all the way up through when Parliament began to emerge in what most people would consider its modern form. While the institution at first was small- the first mention seems to be around , when a group of knights were summoned to council ‘in Parliament’ around the time of Henry III, what is interesting is that there were attempts to try and limit the power of the Monarchy from the very start.
Don’t get me wrong: in no way does Parliament resemble a democratic institution throughout this book. Towards the end, we see the infrastructure of something resembling democracy emerge. Elections happen on a semi-regular basis. Seats changed hands— but there are also were also things like rotten boroughs and a lot of seats in the House of Comm
The history of Parliament is the history of the United Kingdom itself. It has a cast of thousands. Some were ambitious, visionary and altruistic. Others were hot-headed, violent and self-serving. Few were unambiguously noble. Yet their rowdy confrontations, their campaigning zeal and their unstable alliances framed our nation.
This first of two volumes takes us on a year journey from Parliament's earliest days in the thirteenth century through the turbulent years of the Wars of the Roses and the upheavals of the Civil Wars, and up to , when Parliament – and the United Kingdom, embracing Scotland and Ireland – emerged in a modern form.
Chris Bryant tells this epic tale through the lives of the myriad MPs, lords and bishops who passed through Parliament. It is the vivid, colourful biography of a cast of characters whose passions and obsessions, strengths and weaknesses laid the foundations of modern democracy.
This magnificent book Bryant is a fine historian. His understanding of political processes shines through. After this epic the next volume will be eagerly awaited
A bravura ‘biography’ of Parliament… both charming and important… A carefully constructed and lucidly written adventure story about the institution that – like it or not – still shapes our lives
Admirably comprehensive… and written in the kind of lucid, elegant prose now rarely associated with our elected representatives
a fascinating study into the lives and reputations of those who, honourable or not, have sat as parliamentarians compelling reading
This book tells the story of our greatest national institution. It is well-written, contains much truth, and a great deal of important information. It is a wonderful idea.
Lively a warts-and-all account of how MPs have first survived and subsequently shaped and initiated policy
This is a wonderful, wry view of the history of parliament "from the inside". Chris Bryant is a great myth-buster. If you ever tho The history of Parliament is the history of the United Kingdom itself. It has a cast of thousands. Some were ambitious, visionary and altruistic. Others were hot-headed, violent and self-serving. Few were unambiguously noble. Yet their rowdy confrontations, their campaigning zeal and their unstable alliances framed our nation. Over the last two hundred years Parliament has witnessed and effected dramatic and often turbulent change. Political parties rose – and fell. The old aristocratic order passed away. The vote was won for the working classes and, eventually, for women. The world was torn apart by two extraordinarily bloody wars. And individual politicians were cheered for their altruism or their bravery and jeered for their sexual or financial misdemeanours. A sweeping history of Britain's political system One of the most thoughtful accounts I have read Parliament is a very good read, with interesting anecdotes and observations enriched by the fact the author is an MP An entertaining read CHRIS BRYANT is a British Labour Party Politician who has been Member of Parliament since He was Minister for Europe in the last Labour Government and Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Shadow Leader of the House of Commons in the Shadow Cabinet. Parliament: The Biography (Volume I - Ancestral Voices)
This first of two volumes takes us on a year journey from Parliament's earliest days in the thirteenth century through the turbulent years of the Wars of the Roses and the upheavals of the Civil Wars, and up to , when Parliament - and the United Kingdom, embracing Scotland and Ireland - emerged in a modern form.
Chris Bryant tells this epic tale through the lives of the myriad MPs, lords and bishops who passed through Parliament. It is the vivid, colourful biography of a cast of characters whose passions and obsessions, strengths and weaknesses laid the foundations of modern democracy.
This second volume of Chris Bryant’s majestic Parliament: The Biography has a cast of characters that includes some of British history’s most famous names: the Duke of Wellington, Sir Robert Peel, Gladstone, Disraeli, Lloyd George, Churchill and Thatcher. Its recurring theme is reform and innovation, but it also lays bare obsessive respect for the past and a dedication to evolution rather than revolution, which has left us with a fudged constitution still perilously dependent on custom, convention and gentlemen’s agreements.
This is riveting, flawlessly researched and accessible popular history for anyone with an interest in why modern Britain is the nation it is today.About Chris Bryant
Before entering parliament Chris was a priest in the Church of England. His previous books include biographies of Sir Stafford Cripps and Glenda Jackson as well as, most recently, his two-volume Parliament: a Biography.