How Westminster Works... and Why It Doesn’t

British politics is broken.

Anyone sitting down to watch the news will get the sense that something has gone terribly wrong. We have prime ministers who detonate the economy, secretaries of state who are intellectually incapable of doing the job and MPs who seem temperamentally unsuited to the role. Expertise is denigrated. Lies are rewarded. And deep-seated, long-lasting national problems go permanently unresolved. Most of us have a sense that the system doesn’t work, but we struggle to articulate exactly why. Our political and financial system is cloaked in secrecy, archaic terminology, ancient custom and impenetrable technical jargon.

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.

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.

'With typical incision, wit and flair, Ian Dunt masterfully deconstructs and skewers our corrosive political culture. An indispensable analysis of how we got into this mess', The Secret Barrister

'The inner workings of Westminster are undeniably important, but making them interesting takes talent - commentators like Ian Dunt are rare and valuable things', Tom Chivers

'Ian Dunt is an acute observer of what's gone wrong with our politics and why', Alastair Campbell

'A blistering account of the irrationality and sheer absurdity of Britain's dysfunctional political system. Forensic and unflinching, Dunt lays bare the failings of the Westminster machinery, and picks through the wreckage to identify what needs to change to give us a fighting chance of decent governance. If you want to understand why this country is in such an alrighty mess - and what we might do to fix it - read this book', Caroline Lucas MP