There is only so much you can fit in any book, and this one is bursting with information and proposals explaining clearly the changes that are needed. If there was room for one more chapter, I would have liked to see something about how those changes could actually be achieved. And it's incredibly disturbing and depressing, especially when you discover that it's actually the House of Lords which is just about the only part of the whole system that is anything close to being effective...and that contains bishops who, let's face it, have no right to have any influence on the political landscape of our nation!! Lifting the lid on British politics, How Westminster Works . . . and Why It Doesn't exposes every aspect of the system in a way that can be understood and challenged, from the heights of Downing Street to the depths of the nation's newsrooms, from the hallways of the civil service to the green benches of the Commons. the House of Lords is a corrupt and antiquated relic of a bygone age. However, due to the corrupt and autocratic nature of the elective dictatorship, it actually functions as a restraint on power. It's cap, it's just that the governing party is much, much worse.

There are, however, some points of light. The select committees are faintly praised as a process where MPs are somewhat freer to contribute openly and consider the greater good beyond the party line. The Prime Minister is at the same extremely powerful (being able to replace ministers at will and immediately, to the detriment of understanding the subject matter and good policy decisions), but also somewhat weak, due to limited own capacity for policy, as they have only the small staff that can be fitted into Number 10 Downing Street - a building unfit for modern work of government. Based on interviews with some of the leading voices in politics, from former occupants of No.10 to key figures in Whitehall, Westminster and Fleet Street, Ian Dunt provides exactly what people in power have always tried to avoid: a full description of the mechanisms of British government. And a vision of how we can fix it.

Summary

Purchasing a book may earn the NS a commission from Bookshop.org, who support independent bookshops This is an interesting and well put together account of how the UK's parliamentary system works and an eye-opening account of its many flaws. Here and there Dunt finds reason to be cautiously cheerful. The House of Lords has shown remarkable independence, a real ability to affect the outcome of legislation by managing its own timetable and contributing much-needed expertise (the cross-bench system, he argues, works particularly well). And select committees turn out to offer a model of how things should be done – listening to the evidence and privileging cooperation and compromise over crude partisanship. The general theme is the dominance of machismo (exacerbated by winner takes all nature of the first-past-the-post system) and unnecessary rush in everything - from legislation to ministerial tenure that results in bad policy and terrible decision-making. Dunt continues with his explanation of the causes of weaknesses in the whole Westminster system. He is even-handed and, whilst his politics are progressive, he is not partisan. No part of Westminster escapes his systematic criticism of the role it plays in a dysfunctional system.

The first problems with our political system start before we even get to Westminster, though. The chapter on ‘The Vote’ explains how there really is no public say in choosing a parliamentary candidate and that all the power lies with the party. The Lords, probably the part of the Westminster structure most likely to face cries to reform, also receives credit for being a place that still manages to perform its vital work, in spite of, rather than because of, the system within which it exists.This book is simply the best explanation I have ever read on the workings and stallings of British Government. Eminently readable and held a ground of neutrality throughout.