Customer Reviews

The Almanac of British Politics

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Excellent review of british politics. Gets even better with time. If you are interested in what is going on in a major player in europe this is the book to get. Provides excellent portraits of all the major players in this parliament and of Tony Blairs government.

This is an excellent, highly readable book for anyone interested in the nuts and bolts of British politics. Each constituency is profiled in-depth, and I reach for this book every time a by-election is caused. This new edition is highly welcome, as the old edition was made hopelessly out of date by the 1997 Labour landslide. Buy this book, and you'll know which seats Peter Snow means the next time he says "Now let's have a look at our Swingometer!"

Excellent resource for British Politics. Glad to see it has been updated to reflect the sweeping 1997 Labour Victory and Boundary Commission changes. A must for anyone interested in British Politics.

This is the 'bible' of British electoral politics, but it suffers from one major drawback - since it was published we have had the 1997 General Election which renders much of it out-of-date. The next edition is therefore eagerly awaited. Basically the book consists of an account of each parliamentary constituency, detailing its location, social and political mix, and boundary changes imposed since the previous election in 1992 (which in some cases make drastic changes to its political flavour). The really fascinating element of this analysis is the prediction made as to the likely outcome of the 1997 election - the authors followed the common belief that the (then) opposition parties would catch up on the Conservatives, but failed to predict the size of the landslide that overwhelmed John Major's government on 1st May 1997. In my own constituency, for example, the prediction includes the line "there will be no more close contests in Bosworth" - the sitting MP saw his majority slashed from 19,000 to 1,000!

The constituency profiles also include potted biographies of the sitting MPs and, in some cases, of the people thought likely to replace them. These are 'warts and all' sketches that are often highly amusing. My own MP, we read, was described as "so stupid that he couldn't find his own bottom with both hands and a compass" - by someone who is now a government minister!

As a student of the political scene I turn to this book constantly when an MP or a constituency hits the headlines, and I always learn something new from it. It has a value despite the turn of events, but I won't be alone in my eager anticipation of the next edition!